Wright plane getting ready to roll
Senior mechanical engineering and aviation technology students are experimenting with “The Wright Stuff” to construct a modern-day replica of the 1905 airplane flown by the Wright brothers.
Ten students from Utah State University were chosen to work on the project out of 21, said Nick Alley, a first-year master’s student in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and the project’s manager.
At a presentation Tuesday evening, Alley said the students have put in 4,000 hours to produce the research required to build a working aircraft.
“I hope everyone realizes what these students have done here,” Alley said.
What they have done is to redesign the original aircraft using modern materials to improve the stability, stall susceptibility, drag and to make it safer and more user friendly, Wayne Goodrich, a student working on the project, said.
“And it’ll still be good lookin’,” Goodrich said.
Using computer programs and simulations such as Wings 2000, students analyzed the effects of their redesigns.
Eric Peterson, a senior in mechanical engineering said they have great confidence in the reliability of the computer models’ predictions because they have been tested against wind tunnel experience and compared to other programs.
Although the plane will actually be flown, Dave Widauf, aviation programs coordinator in the industrial technology and education department, said the plane will not be making any cross-country flights because the fuel tank capacity will only allow for flights of about an hour, and the plane will not be able to handle cross winds more than five miles per hour.
“It’s to prove a concept and to celebrate the Wright brothers,” Widauf said. “If it gets off the ground and flies around a football field, we’ll be happy.”
Widauf said USU is the only organization to do anything like this.
“There are three or four others doing exact replicas, but they’re more for historic value. We’re doing something unique,” Widauf said.
The group is using local materials such as Kevlar and graphite because Widauf said they thought those would be what the Wright brothers would use if they were building the plane today.
A quarter-scale replica model of the 1905 plane was displayed at the presentation, and students will begin full-size construction of the USU version this summer.
Another student working on the project, Ben Case, said the group hopes to have the plane built by the end of summer, but it will all depend on how the building process goes.
To this point, Case said many of the students have been putting in 20 to 30 hours each week, and many spent 60 hours over the Olympic Break working on the project.
Alley said the students worked on the project out of “personal devotion” because they only received two hours of credit for their participation.
Amy Hintze, the only female working on the project, said they have been required to spend 12 hours each week since September, even during school breaks.
“It’s been a lot of work,” Case said. “But it’s more than just a senior project. It’s been really fun because of the magnitude of the project. It’s an actual plane that will be used.”
Alley said he only knew two of the students when he put together the team.
“I basically went on faith and lucked out,” Alley said. “But I also talked to the faculty.”
Hintze said she enjoys seeing the models and mock-ups actually built.
“The best part is seeing your ideas and thoughts in real life,” Hintze said.
Already the group has been featured at several Olympic venues and has received second place with their presentation at the Western Regional American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Student Conference on April 4 through 6.
Eventually Widauf said he hopes to use the plane to provide education and to get kids excited about technology, engineering and aviation.
“My vision is to have an outreach tour throughout Utah,” Widauf said.
Widauf said the project will also highlight USU and their mechanical engineering and aerodynamics programs.
“We’ve got a great program here. I think we’re one of the best-kept secrets around,” he said.
Tuesday the group presented their project to the university.
More information will be available in a few weeks on the group’s Web site at www.usuwrightflyer.org.