Students take to the skies in the 2010 Birdman competition
A team of enterprising students from the School of Engineering Sciences faced formidable flying conditions on a blustery weekend earlier this month as they took part in the Worthing International Birdman Festival.
The final-year undergraduate students designed, built and tested an aircraft to fly off Worthing Pier as part of the quirky competition, but the British summer weekend offered unseasonal conditionals with a 15 knot wind in the wrong direction resulting in most competitors struggling to launch their flying machines.
With the biggest craft of the weekend it was hit and miss as to whether the University of Southampton students' huge glider would make it up to the 10 metre high platform. Gusts of wind nearly blew it out of their clutching hands, as it was carried up the ramp to the platform, and during the ascent a strong gust of wind inverted the canard, damaging the control system.
A hasty repair left team leader and pilot Scott Wallis with limited control and, after a well timed leap he was unable to pull out of the ensuing dive, crashing spectacularly into the sea after 22.5 metres, which was the third furthest flight of the competition. "Once at the top, the 4 minute window started, with frantic repairs to the canard to allow a short, but unfortunately uncontrollable flight, taking place" Scott explained. "Once the canard was finally fixed, and with less then 30 seconds to go, I felt a lull in the crosswind, and that was it, I ran full pelt at the edge of the pier, and then I was off. The nerves subsided as the sense of freedom, and elation that it was working took over, until a few blissful seconds later (during which the craft showed adequate roll control, and minimal pitch control from what was left of the canard control system) the canard struck the water, shattering the left hand boom, and ensuring a very wet pilot."
Scott led a team of 8 students in building the craft dubbed ‘the flying dolphin', the 10 months of work included computational simulations and testing a scale model in the University's RJ Mitchell wind tunnel to optimise their design. "Looking back at it now, the sense of achievement was outstanding, and the project has given me some long lasting memories and friendships" Scott reflected. "Now, as I head back to work at Atkins, as a graduate stress engineer, the project has taught me a lot about applying what we learnt at university to real world situations, and I look forward to next year, when I will be back to try again."
Several of the participants will be continuing their studies at the University of Southampton next year including James Gill who will be starting an EngD studentship in ‘Minimising the Environmental Impact of Advanced Aircraft' and Alex Barbor who will be starting a PGCE in Secondary Maths.
The Birdman project is just one example of the engineering initiatives students work on; others include racing cars, spacecraft, airliners, fighter aircraft, unmanned air vehicles, helicopters and wind turbines. www.soton.ac.uk/ses
To see the video clip of the team's flight visit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKA8I9lSEGE&NR=1
For more information about the International Worthing Birdman competition visit
www.worthingbirdman.co.uk