Third place in the overall ranking and even a silver medal in the flight part was won by students from the Chicken Wings team at the competition in the USA, For the third time, the student team from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology went to the SAE Aero Design, which took place on April 4-6 in California. And this time, thanks to the Asterix aircraft, they brought home their best result in the competition so far.
"The name of the aircraft was quite clear this time. Two years ago, we flew at SAE Aero Design a model called Obelix. This year's plane is a bit smaller and we also hoped that it would do better than its "bigger brother", so we named it Asterix," says Chicken Wings team leader and FME student Filip Zubaľ.
Asterix did not owe anything to the comic book character and was pleasantly surprised with his speed and agility. "The specific task of the "micro" category was to transport water. In addition, the aircraft had to meet the given parameters. Points were awarded not only for the water transported but also for the wingspan, the empty weight of the aircraft and the length of the runway. The biggest bonus was for taking off within three meters, which we managed, and thanks to that we won a beautiful second place in the flight part and third place overall," says Zubaľ.
66 teams from all over the world participated in the competition in three categories. In the "micro" category, in which BUT students participated, 22 teams from countries ranging from China to Brazil competed, including the domestic U.S. team. A total of four students flew from Brno to the competition, but a team of more than twenty people worked on Asterix for several months. "It is always difficult to choose who will go to the competition, we try to take into account the commitment of the team members. Unfortunately, competitions in the U.S.A. are logistically and financially demanding. It would not have been possible without the support of the faculty and sponsors. PBS Group was an important sponsor of the team this year," says Zubaľ gratefully.
Just a blank piece of paper
The Brno "chickens", as the Chicken Wings team is nicknamed, were working working on the design of the aircraft starting from September. "That's when we usually decide which competition to go to and then the design part follows. We always start with a thorough analysis of the rules to know what is required of us and how to score as many points as possible. Then comes the most creative part – we start with a blank piece of paper and we really have to invent the whole plane from scratch. In the case of the Asterix, we used a delta wing for the first time," says Zubaľ.
The delta wing can be imagined as a triangle. It has unique aerodynamic properties and design advantages, but – as it happens – also its intricacies. "Delta wings are very difficult to calculate. That's why we had to do various experiments, especially in the wind tunnel, where we tested several designs. Thanks to this, we obtained important data and then evaluated what would be best for the competition task," says Zubaľ. Although each team approaches the solution in its own way, the best ones are said to end up with similar solutions that were most suitable for the task. "In our category, the winning was from China and they also used a delta wing," he adds.
The students then built a prototype to test the selected concept in real conditions. "After successfully flying the prototype, we started working on the design itself, creating a 3D model of the final form of the aircraft. That was roughly at the turn of December and January. From that moment on, it was just a matter of fine-tuning and adjusting the discrepancies between the model and reality to make everything work as it should," says Zubaľ, who is leading the team for the first season, although he has been working with chickens since 2022. "Because I am currently studying for a doctorate, I enjoy research and experimental testing the most. Team members have the opportunity to experience and learn something new that is not normally seen in the classroom. And of course, competitions bring a lot of experiences and it is really great to see that the plane we have built flies and thrives," says Zubaľ.
The team is currently doing well, but because there are never enough skilful hands, Filip Zubaľ invites all who are interested to come and see the Chicken Wings. "Of course, we have students from the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, but also from elsewhere – for example, from the Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering or from the Power Engineering. And we will be happy to welcome people from other faculties of BUT. The only thing we require is the desire to get involved," concludes Zubaľ, adding that next year the team is considering a competition in Stuttgart, Germany... or maybe in the U.S.A. again?
We would like to thank all sponsors for their support of the Chicken Wings team, especially PBS Group.