TerraBreak.org: An independent Design/Build/Fly (DBF) support site

This is just an FYI.

I've managed to enter all the data we collected about the a/c at competition to their respective team page, plus a little extra we've collected through email/forums. The Podium page is updated for the most part. I know I'm missing a couple of positions in the 45 and above listing.

In addition, I'd like to thank Kadir Burak Özer and Nick Anderson for correcting the mistypes/guesses I made while David Levy was listing off the results. This got me off my butt to go in and make a full university/team listing of the results in the news post below.

If you have any additional data, our would like to send in a >250 word summary to include on your teams' page, please fill my inbox ;).

Unfortunately, the pictures are not my domain... so, you might email Mike to get cracking on that.

By the way, I don't think this was ever mentioned on the front page, but all data we are putting up is going onto the team pages live this year.

So check back -- we'll be entering lots of data over the next few days, and all the team pages will be updating as we go.

The boat has sailed, and another DBF is in the books. Some fun facts:
There were 165 flight attempts, of which 50 were successful scoring flights. 47 teams completed tech inspection, out of 51 teams that showed up. With the only team that didn't get inspected being from Slovenia... only because DHL lost their box :(. Hopefully they'll have better luck next year. Now for the big number: 33 teams got scoring flights! That's just phenomenal, way to go contestants!

Now for the results:
47. UMD - Team Cheburashka
46. Daniel Webster College - Elephant Chipmunk
45. UArkansas - Discovery
44. Utexas Arlignton - Maverick 5000
43. U BUffalo - The Coefficient of Uncontrollable
42. U Tenn - VOLocity
41. Turkish AF Academy - Cevheri
40. Strathclyde - The Tartan Specials
39. SDSU - Aztecs
38. WV - Gold
37. Case Western Reserve University - Optimist Prime
36. St. Louis - Parks Aircraft Inc.
35. UFL - Swamp Thing
34. Western Michigan - Pegasus
33. Rose Hulman - Flying Elephants
32. PSU - Nittany AirLions
31. U UTah - Team S pi() Plane
30. UIUC - Colbert Force One
29. Auburn - The Planesman
28. RPI - Rensselaer Redhawks
27. U Oklahoma - FLW
26. VT - Quadrilateral Collateral
25. UCF - UCF Airways
24. ITU - UcAri
23. UArizona - Phlying Fugoid
22. Penn State - Spirit of Happy Valley
21. Wash State University - CougAir
20. Cal Poly Pomona - Margin of Doom
19. MIT - Cardinal *lowest RAC
18. UWashington - The Growler
17. Technion - Bottlefly
16. UC Irvine - Zot Airlines
15. Wichita State Uni - Wu Hall
14. WVU - Blue
13. Cal Poly SLO - Tamland & Friends
12. Purdue - Shadow Drag
11. UCSD - TLAR IX: Cursor
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10. USC - Mad SCillz
09. MIT - Concrete
08. Wichita State University - AeroShock *High Report Score = 98
07. Georgia Tech - Team "Sierra Hotel"
06. ITU - ATA-9
05. UC Boulder - Air Buffs A420
04. UTexas Austin - "Orange Bullet"
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03. OSU - Orange
02. UTexas Austin - The Hornworks
01. OSU - Black

there are 5 minutes to go; but that hasn't stopped Virginia Tech from re-teching and trying to make it out to the flight line. Surprisingly, the queue hasn't been empty this afternoon, as of 4:30 the flight attempts for the day stood at 77.

The top 5 has stabilized at 1. OSU Black; 2. UA Autin The Hornworks; 3. OSU Orange; 4. UT Austin 'Orange Bullet'; 5. University of Colorado Boulder Air Buffs A420.

Well the winds are strong, but they're not out of control. Teams are still making flight attempts; however the carnage is getting significant.

Also, I got the following from OU the fire victims:

Hello Tim

The cause of the fire was overheating of the main battery packs. This caught the cellophane wrapping on fire which propagated to the wood payload box. This advanced to the carbon fiber epoxy and spread throughout the entire structure, leaving only charred carbon cloth. The event was met with rousing laughter and drew the largest crowd of the day. Luckily, there were no casualties, thanks to the efforts of seasoned pilot Chip Robberson, and the fact that the payload mission contained only cargo pallets. We appreciate the opportunity to create such a wonderful display.

Sincerely,
The University of Oklahoma, Design Build Flame

We'll see y'all next year, and we'd like to congratulate you on your first scoring flight @ competition! Maybe next year we'll see y'all higher up on the board.

It all started with a small box, with two bells inconspicuously mounted to the Cessna hangar support. The tag read "prop. of Boeing", and it rings when there is a wind warning.

Yup, the competition site is under a high wind advisory from 12:15 to 7pm. Tom read off the warning, and all activity in the Hangar stopped; followed by a mass exodus of teams to the flight queue. No one is waiting around anymore.

Well, we just came for the crosswinds!

The day has started off heavy as the teams are trying to get flights in before the wind picks up around noon. Current forecasts are calling for 25mph, with atleast one shift. Some teams are trying to squeeze in before it kicks up, other teams that planned for the stronger wind are waiting around the hangar. The scoreboard has been shuffling a bit, as team finish up their 5 attempts; we'll try to give you a score update soon.

We're also updating the data we've managed to collect. Tech inspection kept us very busy through 3:30 yesterday, so we didn't have a lot of time to collect it.

Today was a busy day on the flight line. I counted 79 flight attempts, of which 37 were successful.

Saturday saw lots of well built, stable aircraft. However, we did see a DBF first -- fire! More pics to follow, but here's a teaser:

Larger versions of the above pictures: Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4.

I'll see yall tomorrow on the flight line!

The contest has begun! With 40 teams through tech inspection, and very favorable weather (I'm serious- there's almost no wind in Wichita today!), the flight line has been very busy. So far, OSU Black is leading the pack with the tops scores in both missions, and a total score of 13801.8. UT Austin Orange Bullet is in second with 5787.0.

One special casualty: the first fire in competition history goes to Oklahoma U. No word on cause, but the plane burned to the ground on the runway after landing. Photos will be posted ASAP.

More fun to come from Wichita as the weather forecast is calling for hot and windy tomorrow (80 degrees and 20-plus winds!)

60...

That's the number of reports successfully submitted. That, folks, is a record!

Also, for your information/consumption: 16 teams have passed tech inspection so far!

This includes:
Purdue
MIT Concrete
OSU Orange
UCI
UC Boulder
UT Arlington
OSU Black
GT
Wichita State Wu-Haul
Wichita State Aeroshock
University of Washington
Rose Hullman
Arizona
ITU AtA-9
CSU Pomona
ITU UCARI

Competition is off to a roar, you should be here too!

-CwicSeolfer

I think by now most of the staff is en route or close to it. We'll be coming in from all parts of the country this evening, and will see all of you during Tech Inspection tomorrow or Saturday!

Best of luck to all teams, and come say hi if you see us! Our 2008 shirts are particularly festive, and I'll be the dude on the flight line with a camera and blue hair ;)

Hey y'all.

In an effort to reduce our workload while at competition, we're requesting info from everyone ahead of time. This also gives us a chance to test some of the new back-end code Mike's been working on. We're looking for: wing span, LOA, Empty Weight, Motor Model, Propulsion Battery Model, Propulsion Battery Composition (i.e. #), etc. You can either
1) email me
2) PM me on the forums
3) Respond with the info in the forum thread

If you've got data, but want us to delay it's posting 'till friday night, we'd be open to that as well (just make sure to say that in the message you send us).

Thanks! And we'll see y'all *real* soon!