SAE Aero Design East Competition 2005

This page is a list of Aric Wagner’s responses to questions posed to him by Sarah Turnwald, who is a reporter from the WSU Guardian.

  1. How did you prepare? (time, effort, strategy, etc..)

 

A lot of our time went in to the initial design. We spent 3-4 months designing the plane without building a single piece. Because our plane was designed in such a way that it could easily be put together, we only spent approximately 2 weeks building the entire plane. Another part of our strategy was to have enough parts of everything to build a second plane which was already half built before we arrived at the Competition. This paid off with when our plane crashed on Friday.

 

  1. What went through your mind when the plane crashed Friday?

 

At first sight, I thought that our plane was completely destroyed. Once we got to the scene, we realized that it was just going to be a long night.

 

  1. What allowed your team to be so successful? what do you contribute your success to?

 

I think that we were successful because of all of the hours designing the plane as well as having a great Pilot. Because our plane was a conventional design, unlike some other teams at the competition, our plane was more easily put back together after the crash. Other teams came prepared with different parts for their plane, however, because their designs were so unconventional, they had a hard time putting them together in a timely fashion.

 

  1. How would you describe the competition?

 

I think the competition was a lot of fun. Seeing the differences in other teams designs showed the diversity in the way others think.

 

  1. What did you gain from the experience?

 

A lot of teamwork was gained from the experience and a lot of knowledge was used in designing the plane. I also think that some of the other team members gained hands on experience that they can use in the future.

 

  1. Any other comments

 

Overall, I think that it was a great experience. For any other teams that would like to take up this project, I recommend staying highly motivated and possibly begin designing the plane the moment Senior Design class starts at the beginning of the quarter.

 

Aric Wagner