The Vertical Flight Society announces the winners of its inaugural Design-Build-Vertical Flight (DBVF) Student Competition. The University of Michigan took first place with a prize of $2,000. The team from the University of Maryland took second place and the Ohio State University took third place; the teams will be awarded cash prizes of $1,000 and $500, respectively. Photos are available in the VFS gallery.

The remote-control electric-powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) DBVF competition seeks to encourage interest in unmanned aircraft technology, and small air vehicle design and fabrication. The competition is designed to develop hands-on skills and familiarization with eVTOL and advanced air mobility (AAM) technology at the university student level, helping to prepare the next generation of engineers and leaders to push the limits of this exciting technology into the future.

Although the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of the fly-off portion of the competition, each team submitted a final technical report and made a virtual presentation of their design and findings to a panel of judges on April 15-16.

There were a total of seven academic teams that submitted entries in this year’s competition. The 2020-2021 request for proposal (RFP) challenged the teams to build a general aircraft, with requirements restricted to the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) Group 1, which limited the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) to no more than 20 lb (9.1 kg).