The budding technocrats of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jamshedpur have won accolades at the SAE Aero Design Contest organised in association with NASA and lockheed Martin, the primary aircraft manufacturer of the US Army.
A group of 18 engineering students under the banner of Team Phoenix from NIT Jamshedpur participated in the SAE Aero Design Contest (West) in California between April 12 and 14.
A total of 37 teams from across the globe participated in the prestigious international competition. Team Phoenix though ended up at the 11th position internationally in the regular category but still managed to win accolades for the novel ideas used. The team received certificate from NASA as the consolation.
The team made two flying models (without any name) for two categories—regular and micro. The regular model was required to lift a maximum weight while flying. The four pound aircraft managed to lift 12 pounds in this round which made them stand 11th.
The model in this category was made out of balsa wood and was flown by nitro methanol at a speed of about 60 kmph. ‘We are happy with the response we got during the contest. However, due to lack of funds, only three of the team members could travel to California. If we had received support we could have come up with better results,’ said Pratibha, the captain of Team Phoenix.
She said that the journey to USA has been inspiring for the team and they are looking forward to toy with novel ideas. ‘We have plans to get good sponsorships which will let more team members to be present. Team members always mean great help and support in times of need,’ she noted.
NIT students earlier too have won accolades and appreciation for their performances abroad. Team Top Gun visited the SAE Aero Design Contest (West) in Texas and was one of the best performing teams among 75 teams.