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International Competition Marks SAE Aero Design West

25 May 1998

International Competition Marks SAE Aero Design West

    WARRENDALE, Pa., May 25 -- Bugsmasher, Spruce Moose,
Anteaters and The Blue Baron are some of the names of the 27 radio-controlled
aircraft in the 1998 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West,
being held at The Boeing Company in Long Beach, CA and Mile Square Park in
Fountain Valley June 5-7.
    There is a strong international flavor to the competition also as teams
from Warsaw, Poland, and Istanbul, Turkey, are traveling to Southern
California to take part in the event.
    Each team has designed and built a radio-controlled aircraft that is
capable of carrying a payload of 10-25 pounds over a circular flight path,
taking off and landing within a prescribed distance.
    A similar competition, Aero Design East, held in Daytona Beach, Florida in
April, was won by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University of Daytona Beach.  In
1997, Aero Design West was won by the University of Akron, which has two
entries in this year's contest.
    The Elliot and Dorothy Green Award of $1,000 will be given for overall
first place, as well as a $500 award for best design and another $500 for best
flight.
    Aero Design is one of eight competitions in SAE's 1998 Collegiate Design
Series.  Admission is free to spectators, but there is a $3 park entrance fee.
The flying competition will take place Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and
Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.