The UMSAE aero design team has progressed along their desired schedule as planned and has finished construction of the 2010 aircraft. The use of advanced jigs has allowed us to produce an incredibly accurate aircraft. The jig for the wing has allowed us to manufacture a wing that has a dihedral that is within 1/32 of an inch on either side. It has also insured that there is no sweep in the wing, but unfortunately there was a small amount of twist. However, final steps taken in the construction of the wing allowed us to remove the unwanted twist.

The fuselage of the aircraft has proven to be remarkably sturdy in tests conducted. The final fuselage is now constructed, with everything coming together as originally planned. The interface for the wing has a snug fit and will allow the transfer of the load to the landing gear as estimated. In addition to this, with minor changes made, the wing will be square to the fuselage resulting in problem free takeoffs. There was one issue noted with the torsional rigidity of the tail boom. To ensure that the construction is sound and that there will be no flutter in flight, we are planning to test the tail section at flight speeds. These tests will determine if flutter will actually be an issue. Once the test is completed, the team will then conduct some actual flight testing to see how the plane actually performs.

Once testing is finished the team will ship the aircraft for competition and will be flying down to compete shortly afterwards. Work on the final technical presentation is currently underway. There are high expectations for the 2010 aircraft and we are greatly looking forward to meeting them.