VFS Announces Winners of the 39th Annual Student Design Competition

Fairfax, Virginia, USA — The Vertical Flight Society (VFS) today announces the winners of its 39th Annual Student Design Competition: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute took first place in the Graduate category and University of Maryland in the Undergraduate category. In addition, a team of four schools in Turkey — Erciyes, Eskisehir Osmangazi, Necmettin Erbakan and Samsun Universities — took Best New Undergraduate Entrant honors. Bell was the sponsor of this year’s competition with a total of $12,500 in prize money.

Each year, the VFS competition challenges students to design a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft that meets specified requirements, providing a practical exercise for engineering students at colleges and universities to promote student interest in VTOL engineering and technology. 

Academic teams from around the world submitted entries in this year’s competition, with a total of 14 proposals from four different countries. Executive summaries for the top-winning entries from the 39th Student Design Competition are available at www.vtol.org/sdc, along with past winners.

The 2021-2022 Student Design Competition was entitled, “eVTOL Air Taxi for Passengers with Reduced Mobility (PRM).” New electric propulsion technology is shaping a future for advanced air mobility (AAM) that could transform the way people and cargo are moved. To live up to this vision, designers must account for a broad spectrum of travelers that includes persons with disabilities of all types. This calls for an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) concept that factors the unique requirements for such passengers.

The goal of this year’s Request for Proposals (RFP) was to develop an all-electric eVTOL aircraft that supports (PRM) customers. The effort was comprised of a conceptual design of an eVTOL aircraft to execute the required mission while accommodating PRM riders, and the detailed design and analysis to substantiate the critical aspects of the results. The UK charity Aerobility provided advice and support on the competition parameters.