The Fly-off for the 1997/98 Cessna/ONR Student Design/Build/Fly
competition was completed Saturday 25 April at Westport Airport
in Wichita Kansas. The conditions were very challenging
due to high and gusting winds but several teams were able to complete
the specified mission profile, and many others made noteworthy
attempts.
All 17 teams who completed the written report phase of the contest
also made the Fly-off and all contestants made at least one flight
attempt. This is twice as many teams as made the Fly-off
for last year, and is a great sign for the future of the competition.
Rules for the 1998/99 competition will be up on the contest web
site, and e-mailed to all of this years participants, in a few
weeks.
A further sign that the contest has a good future is the press
and TV coverage we have obtained for this years competition.
The event was noted on the local Channel 3 news, and will be reported
in RC Report and Radio Control Modeler.
I would like to personally thank and commend all the students
who participated in the contest this year for their efforts.
Although the contest was developed by the AIAA Technical Committees,
it is for the students. We are very glad to see that you
find it to be worth while. I also want to thank our financial
supporters, Cessna and ONR, with a special thanks to our hosts,
Cessna Aircraft and the Wichita RC Club, for making this competition
possible.
So, without further ramblings, here are the scores for the 1997/98
competition.
| 1. Univ. of Southern California | 1042.8 | 12 Laps x 86.9 Written |
| 2. Texas A&M | 516 | 6 Laps x 86.0 Written |
| 3. Syracuse University | 162.2 | 2 Laps x 81.1 Written |
| 4. Univ. of Texas, Austin | 138.8 | 2 Laps x 69.4 Written |
| 5. Utah State University | 91.9 | Written |
| 6. University of Illinois, UC | 90.1 | Written (6 laps best attempt) |
| 7. Washington State Univ. | 87.0 | Written |
| 8. Queens University, Canada | 85.6 | Written |
| 9. Oklahoma State Univ. | 82.5 | Written |
| 10. West Virginia | 81.5 | Written (5 laps best attempt) |
| 11. MIT | 79.8 | Written (3 laps best attempt) |
| 12. University of Alabama | 69.5 | Written |
| 13. Virginia Polytechnic Univ. | 67.2 | Written (6 laps best attempt) |
| 14. University of Arizona | 64.1 | Written |
| 15. Univ. of Central Florida | 58.3 | Written |
| 16. Univ. of California, Los Angeles | 55.5 | Written |
| 17. San Diego State University | 47.0 | Written |
(Laps noted as "best attempt" are flights which failed
to meet the required criteria for a scored landing.)
Congratulations to all the participants, and we look forward to
seeing you again next year.
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