Design-Build-Fly

The Team
The joanneum Aeronautics team for the DBF competition consists of bachelor and master students from the FH Joanneum – University of Applied Sciences in Graz. Since everyone has individual strengths, an effective team structure was created to maximize the overall performance. The team was divided into three major branches: Management & Marketing, Engineering and Technical Documentation.
The Design-Build-Fly Contest
The AIAA invites all university students through the Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design, Design Engineering and Flight Test Technical Committees and the AIAA Foundation to participate in the Cessna/Raytheon Missile Systems Student Design Build Fly competition. The contest provides a real-life aircraft design experience for engineering students by giving them the opportunity to validate their analytic studies.
Student teams will design, fabricate and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio controlled aircraft which can best meet the specified mission profile. The goal is a balanced design possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.
To encourage innovation and maintain a fresh design challenge for each years’ participants, the design requirements and performance objectives are updated for every new contest year. The changes will provide new design requirements and opportunities, while allowing for application of technology developed by the teams from prior years.
May we introduce: ÖAMTC Flugrettung
The next sponsor we want to introduce to you is ÖAMTC Air Rescue. ÖAMTC Air Rescue is our main sponsor this year. So, we would like to start with a statement from them: "New technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles will permanently change medical care in the...
May we introduce: ACS Logistics
In the next few blog posts we want to introduce you to three of our sponsors. We would like to start with ACS Logistics. The headquarters of the company is located in Hörsching near Linz in Austria. Two other locations are in Graz and at Vienna Airport. ACS Logistics...
Let’s get started for DBF-2022
Like our predecessors, we had to wait until this particular day to get the official acceptance for this year’s DBF-competition. But what is it all about?We are especially proud to be able to announce that we are one of the selected teams which got the approval for the...
New Year. New Competition. New Challenges.
Of course, we take part in the DBF Contest again. After the successful submission of the Proposal, the team was busy working on the design of the UAV with the name Stingray. This year the team consists of 43 enthusiastic aviation students of the FH Joanneum and is...
Fly-off 10th October 2020
After an abrupt corona-related end of the 2020 DBF competition in March, the team decided to organize a final event to celebrate and round off this year’s project. As soon as we were allowed to enter the FH JOANNEUM laboratory again our competition aircraft Mosquito...
The Best non-American Contender
The Best non-American Contender (ex aequo with The University of Alabama and Khalifa University)We are very proud to announce that we reached the 8th place which makes us to the best not in America located university. The COVID-19 crisis also struck the AIAA...
The journey of DBF19 ends, but not without causing further sensation
It started in Graz in autumn 2018. We, 29 aviation students of the FH JOANNEUM, took previous students as a role model and prepared us for the participation in the DESIGN-BUILD-FLY contest in Tucson, Arizona. The time in the US was very successful: We achieved the 3rd...
DBF-2020 Team is ready for take-off!
Wichita, we are on the way! Like our predecessors, we had to wait until this particular day to get the official acceptance for this year’s DBF-competition. But what is it all about? We are especially proud to be able to announce that we are one of 113 teams which got...
DBF19 Official Roll Out
Thank you for your support! On March 1st the teams’ official competition aircraft “BOBBY” was presented at the Roll Out Event. Numerous sponsors and other guests gathered in the aviation laboratory at the FH Joanneum in Graz, where the DBF-2019 team members awaited...