A.P.A.E - Air Cargo Challenge

First flight of Vespa airmodel - FlyUMinho''07

After repair our airmodel we made the first flight. You can see in http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=sljly4ei60A

Best Regardes

Álvaro fernandes
Team Leader

lead barons: equipment tests

a short movie of us putting our equipment through a series of tests in order to optimise performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqFeX6gqW3U

Regulations UPDATED

Due to the large amount of teams still in competition, we are forced to cut the time available to perform the presentation.

So, in article 8.1.5. Oral Presentation – 30 points, where it says "It should take 20 minutes maximum, with no tolerance.", it is now written "It should take 15 minutes maximum, with no tolerance.".

Plus, we will provide 5 minutes extra to allow questions from the audience.

Information Request: contacts,flight and food.

we have sent an email requesting you the following information:

- Time and flight number of arrival.
- Time and flight number of departure.
- Are there any vegetarians or someone that requires a special care on food?

and we provided in the same email, our phone contacts that you should use before and during the event.

AERACES Team

Hello! My name is Luís Cruz and I’m the AERACES Team Captain and I’ve participated in previous national AirCargo Challenge editions. We are one of the teams from Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal and our team members go from 4th and 5th year Aerospace and Mechanics Students to 1st year Aerospace Engineering students.

Our project has gone smoothly and now we begin the construction phase.

Bellow you can see the final configuration of our airplane and also some of its characteristics. For more information please visit our website at http://aero.ist.utl.pt/~aeraces/index-en.php where you will find more information about the team and our sponsors. We will be updating our website with pictures from construction as it advances.

Span: 1584mm

Length: 1100mm

Height: 548mm

Estimated MTOW: 8.5Kg

Other Features: Ducted propeller, Integral Horizontal Stabilizer, lightweight Construction

A competition to represent University of Swansea at this event

Dr Michael Clee is coordinating the team from Swansea (Wales), or should we say prospective team? He is undertaking a small local competition to determine who really is going to represent their university at the Air Cargo Challenge because only one can be sponsored to participate. So far there are two teams with high quality that are working to win this representation. We, as organizers, support this project and we find it an excellent initiative. We asked Dr. Michael Clee to write an article about this and here it is.

University Of Wales Swansea Mini Air Cargo Challenge

As part of the level three Aerospace Engineering Programs at the University of Wales Swansea the students are required to work in groups of 4 to 6 to complete a design project. The aim of this project is predominantly to introduce the students to the concept of working in teams to fulfil a design specification. The projects are usually linked to industrial partners and encourage the teams to work with project and business plans and culminating in a presentation with question and answer sessions.

This session saw two of the groups designing UAV’s for counter surveillance applications. The eight students in these two groups looked upon this project with considerable enthusiasm and excitement. However, when I muted the idea of changing the design task in order for the possible entry into the “Air Cargo Challenge” the enthusiasm was amplified ten fold. This created a dilemma as the students were already one third to one half ways through the design of their UAV’s. Consequently neither team was keen to drop their design concept and form one larger team to concentrate on the design of one plane for the competition.

I realised then that the only way forward was to introduce a competitive approach in the university. Hence the “Mini Air Cargo Challenge” was born the format of which mirrors the “Air Cargo Challenge”. The two teams are required to design and build an aircraft for entry to the “Air Cargo Challenge” which will then be assessed by a panel of academics from within the School of Engineering. The assessment will be based on the competition assessment and the wining aircraft will be the one to go to Lisbon for the proper “Air Cargo Challenge”.

And Finally Some Quotes from the Students

"designing a radio controlled aircraft that can take off in no more than sixty metres with the heaviest load possible, complete a flight pattern and land safely presents of challenges”

“after some deliberation the decision was made to undertake a design that closely resembled a cargo aircraft”

“initial research included aerodynamics, flight control systems, airframe design, construction techniques, material selection, and flight dynamics”

And my Favourite

“the main outcome from the initial research meetings was to build an aircraft as light and stiff as possible to enable the maximum weight to be carried”

Dr Michael Clee

University of Wales Swansea

Correct small error on regulations

There is a small error on the regulations. About the control volume for the cargo bay: “During the technical verifications, juries will use an orthogonal volume of 180x80x80mm”. Dimensions on the drawing for the control volume are correct, but this text says otherwise. So remember, it is really 160x80x80mm NOT 180x80x80mm.

Thank you for those that spotted the error and told us right away.

Programme updated

Programme has been updated with the Hostel's GPS location. It is a 5* Youth Hostel (probably the best in Portugal), located right in Lisbon's centre.

more info: CLICK HERE

Regulations UPDATED...Again....

Almost nothing has changed. We keep on updating just to clear any doubts about this issues.

6.5.2. Payload Distribution

The payload can’t have any effect on the structural stability of the aircraft, and must be fixed in the cargo bay to prevent its movement during flight.
The weight distribution on payload placement should be balanced so that the horizontal localization of the stack’s gravity center, matches the geometrical center of the stack.

8.6 Penalties

Wrong size of the cargo bay-Min. 40 points up to Disqualification

6.4 Cargo Bay

(added)
The cargo bay can have any shape as long as it accomplishes the design (see Attachment 1). During the technical verifications, juries will use an orthogonal volume of 160x80x80mm (see Attachment 2) made of card box that will be introduce in the evaluated cargo bay in order to simulate the cargo plates and ensure that every team respected the minimum cargo volume as stated in regulations.

Attachment 2
(added)

Regulations UPDATED

To clarify the cargo bay design drawing in attachment 1 of the Regulations, we have updated sections 6.4, 6.5.1 and 6.5.2. We've also made adjustments to correct translation errors. You may also click here to see a photo of a cargo bay and how payload is placed.

6.4. Cargo Bay

The volume of the bay will be checked during the dimensional inspection and Project analysis. The cargo bay may be bigger, to allow the payload positioning and adjustment of the gravity center, but always keeping the exact spacing of 80mm between the two 8mm-diameter supports. [....]

6.5.1. Payload and load support

Payload consists of the sum of the weight of lead plates. The payload should have a support constituted by a transversal rectangular section in horizontal direction and 2 vertical orthogonal plans (cargo bay). The plates are introduced through the two 8mm-diameter supports and must guarantee the equal weight distribution as required in section 6.5.2.

6.5.2. Payload Distribution

The payload can’t have any effect on the structural stability of the aircraft, and must be fixed in the cargo bay to prevent its movement during flight.
The weight distribution on payload placement should be balanced so that the horizontal localization of the gravity center matches the geometrical center of the stack.