May 24, 1999

NJIT PLACES 4TH IN INTERNATIONAL AERO-DESIGN EASTŪ COMPETITION

NEWARK - May 24, 1999 -

     New Jersey Institute of Technology earned 4th place in the Aero-Design EastŪ Collegiate Design Series - an aircraft engineering competition among students from colleges and universities around the world.

     The six member team from NJIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering traveled to Deland, Florida for the competition, held April 9-11. The team was led by Bill Davidson of Vineland, NJ who piloted the radio-controlled aircraft. The remaining team members were Steve Fecho, Jr.of Kenilworth, NJ, Hussein Jabir, an NJIT resident, Larry Klebes of Cinnaminson, NJ, Sammy Chaar of Hackettstown,NJ, and Rolando Salvador of Jersey City, NJ.

     Forty schools from Europe, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United States were challenged to design, construct and test the performance of a radio-controlled aircraft. The winning design would be the one to lift off and land within a prescribed distance while carrying a maximum load over a circular flight path.

     Finishing with 177.28 points, The Technical University of Warsaw, Poland took first place, followed by the University of Missouri-Rolla with 161.35, The University of Akron with 151.73, and New Jersey Institute of Technology securing 148.27 points.

     "This is only the second year that NJIT has entered this competition, yet NJIT's team, "Critical Mass" finished first in the state against competitors from Rutgers, Princeton, Stevens Institute of Technology and The College of New Jersey," said Steve Tricamo, Faculty Advisor for the Society of Automotive Engineers at NJIT.

     The Aero-Design EastŪ competition is divided into two parts - Design and Flight. In the design competition, the contestants present their design and demonstrate the accuracy of their calculations in predicting the maximum weight they can lift. The flight competition determines which aircraft can carry the most cargo.

     "Our students did an outstanding job. Their oral presentation was given using the airplane itself and various wing sections that had been tested in our wind tunnel. One of the judges commented that our written report was one of the best he had read," stated Tricamo.

     The Aero-Design EastŪ competition is sponsored by the Society for Automotive Engineers, a network of over 75,000 engineers, business executives, educators and students from more than 97 countries whose common goal is advancing the engineering of mobility systems.