6/1/2023 Debra Levey Larson
Written by Debra Levey Larson
Anyone who has participated in a competition knows the team photo and the final rankings don’t tell the whole story. And, although the Illinois Design Build Fly team didn’t place high this year, DBF President Shirley Shah considers it a success in other ways.
Shah, along with six team members and team adviser and pilot-in-command Professor Jason Merret, competed in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design Build Fly Flyoff in Tucson, Arizona.
“Last year in the 2021 -2022 competition our plane did not fly. This year, we made it to the competition and, although it wasn’t exactly what we hoped for, we still got there and were able to complete mission one which was to fly multiple laps without a payload,” Shah said.
Shah said the competition included about 99 teams, so there were “a lot of people in the middle of the desert for several 12-hour days.” Rather than using a small space inside the big AIAA tent, the team set up its own tent and could watch the other planes taking off and landing.
One thing that cost the team was a 10-point penalty because their written report was 2 megabytes over the file size. For comparison, teams were awarded one point for flying three laps, so a 10-point penalty is a big loss.
“Without that penalty, we would have placed about 10 places higher, and that would have put us higher than we were last year, so I count that as an upward trend,” Shah said. “We suffered a few mishaps, but I was happy that we were able to fly.”
According to AE Professor and DBF adviser Jason Merret, it is Shah’s leadership that will serve the team well in the future.
“One of the most difficult decisions a team leader can make is for the long-term health of the team,” Merret said. “Shirley made the decision late this year to focus on developing team members for future years, knowing that it would have its impact on the scoreboard. Her commitment to properly teaching the newer members of the team was evident and I am certain that will pay off in the long run. I am proud of what Shirley has accomplished and I look forward to working with the members she developed.”
Shah came to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the fall of 2019, spending the last two months of her first year in college at home in California due to the pandemic. The next fall, Shah opted to be on campus, even though most classes were only offered online.
“I went to the virtual DBF meetings and volunteered to help with whatever I could,” she said. Eventually that school year, members met masked but in-person for build sessions. In the fall of 2021, Shah became president of the registered student organization and continued in that role on the team this past year. About being president for two years, Shah said, “I think I've definitely gotten a little bit better with my people management and delegating. I wasn’t very good that my first year. I’ve learned a lot technically, too, about remote-controlled aircraft and building.”
This year’s challenge was making the aircraft capable of flying multiple laps with a heavy payload (simulating an electronics package) and an antenna mounted on a wingtip (simulating a signal jamming antenna) as quickly as possible. Another important mission was to have the aircraft built in a way that it can rest inside a standard shipping box. A person representing the ground crew, must be able to assemble it under five minutes to a flight-ready state.
“I think, team wise, I'm just proud of all the progress, the delta, the changes we made from last year, because we were actually able to make the plane fly this year,” she said. “We're on an upward trajectory and I’m very proud of that.”
Shah is a 2023 graduate with a major in aerospace engineering. She will be an intern for the summer at Joby Aviation, then begin a master’s degree program in aerospace engineering this fall at UCLA.
Looking back on this year’s DBF effort, Shah said she’s proud of the team members who went above and beyond in their commitment to the team, such as sophomore Tushar Khosla who served as the flight test lead engineer for this year’s team.
“My primary role this year was making sure the aircraft is always maintained airworthy and all the aircraft controls are tuned to our pilot’s liking before each flight,” Khosla said. “At the competition this year, the aircraft had some small damage to the airframe during ground handling. We were able to fix it, but having experienced this, I think I have a better idea about potential hazards to our aircraft and am more prepared for next year. I’m optimistic that doing a better job with handling the aircraft will boost our performance at the next competition.”
Khosla said UIUC Design Build Fly teams have a history of doing well at competitions. He believes the team has recovered from the knowledge lost during the pandemic and now has a strong base, ready and motivated to take on next year’s challenge.