GENERAL AVIATION RAeS Light Aircraft Design Conference

RAeS International General Aviation Design Competition 2020

The RAeS design competitions are aimed at promoting major innovation in the general aviation aircraft sector and past winners have triggered several exciting projects. The results for the 2020 competition were announced at this year’s General Aviation Design Conference. The competition was again run in conjunction with the Light Aircraft Association.

Its mission was to define a vertical take-off, battery-electric aircraft able to evacuate the injured from a storm-swept island in the Caribbean. The scenario was the island of Dominica which was devastated in 2017 by Hurricane Maria.

The mission was to fly a stretcher case, attendant and pilot to another island. The aim was to achieve maximum range with reserves. This had to be backed up by a comprehensive design report and flown in a simulator. Most powertrain parameters were defined at 2020 levels.

This was the toughest design competition yet but has led to some excellent designs. Once again, winners came from around the world.

The A2CAL team from Berkeley US won first place with its APTOS BLUE design that used extensive laminar flow, high aspect ratio wing and composite structure to achieve an exceptional 463km range.

The sliding front canopy allows the crew entrance and egress from both sides of the aircraft while allowing a laminar flow along 50% of the fuselage length. Eight rotors are used for VTOL, two of which rotate for forward flight. The remainder fold into booms. It cruises at 113kt on 38kW.

Skunk Werkz from Imperial College, UK, was second with its Vertical Takeoff Life Saver (VTOLS 1). This international team included several from China who watched the results at 2am! They used an even higher aspect ratio with a double-wing to provide adequate strength.

The Orca eVTOL team from Pécs in Hungary won third place with this tri-wing design. It also used laminar flow wings and fuselage, with entry towards the rear and it produced a particularly good design report.

TONY BISHOP

The competition has been organised thus far around the calendar year. However, there is pressure to change to fit in with the academic year in future, with the competition announced around May, in time for supervisors to fit a project within their curriculum. So the next competition will be announced in May 2021 but not closed until after the end of the summer term in 2022. Readers are invited to submit ideas for the next competition which must be targeted at innovation in GA aircraft. Send ideas to knowledge@aerosociety.com.