Single-engine jet design wins NASA aircraft contest

InTech, Sep 2004

A SINGLE-ENGINE JET AIRCRAFT designed by undergraduate engineering students from Virginia Tech and Loughborough University in the U.K., won the Best Overall Award in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) 2004 Revolutionary Vehicles and Concepts Competition.

The competition, sponsored by the NASA Langley Research Center's Aerospace Vehicle Systems Technology Office and the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) Hughes Technical Center, challenged students to develop innovative concepts and systems for future aircraft.

The team designed the"Centuria"jet as an aircraft that could replace singleengine, piston-powered vehicles in the general aviation market, team advisor Dr. Jim Marchman said. To succeed with this concept, the students had to design a new jet engine optimized for low flight speeds at low altitudes-not the typical jet environment.

"Most designs for general aviation jets aim for high performance and high-altitude flight/'Marchman said. "The Virginia Tcch/Loughborough team's unique concept is for a plane that would meet the needs of the thousands of single-engine general aviation pilots whose flying is usually done at altitudes below 10,000 feet and speeds below 250 knots."

For more information about Ccnturia and the team, go to www.aoc.vt.edu/ design/ccnturia/indcx.html.

This marks the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past seven years that Virginia Tcch/Loughborough University teams have won first place in NASAsponsored university design competitions.

This year's team included 15 Virginia Tech students-10 aerospace and ocean engineering (AOE) seniors, two industrial and systems engineering (ISE) seniors and three freshmen in general engineering-and 11 fourth-year aeronautical engineering students from Loughborough. The team's advisors are Marchman, professor of AOE in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, and Gary Page, professor of aeronautical engineering at Loughborough.