October 05, 2009

Cal Poly Takes Second in National Aircraft Design Competition

Student aircraft designers from Cal Poly continued to soar at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) annual Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition.

Cal Poly's Hummingbird Aeronautics won second prize at the 2009 competition for its design of the Tersus, a 150-seat "environmentally compatible" transport aircraft.

"There were 22 entrants from 10 universities including some international schools this year and that made for a very, very tight competition," said Cal Poly's faculty adviser Robert McDonald. "Once again, we're very proud of our team's strong effort."

Hummingbird Aviation, which included aerospace engineering students Ashley Evans, Kevin Lovell, Marko Pavlov, Jason Stavro and Jonathon Wilson, received a $1,500 prize from the AIAA Foundation for their second-place design. Virginia Polytechnic University was awarded $2,500 for first prize and Georgia Institute of Technology received the $1,000 award for finishing third.

The AIAA is the world's largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession and includes more than 35,000 individual members and 90 corporate members worldwide. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.

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