Dayton Engineer

By Morgan Brewster, marketing communications intern

The IT Flies! aircraft simulation competition is a tradition very close to the heart of the University of Dayton School of Engineering. Every year, the Merlin Flight Simulation Group and the School of Engineering host student teams from the United States and the United Kingdom on campus in the Flight Simulation Laboratory in Kettering Labs. During the competition, test pilots from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots "fly" the student-designed simulations and contribute significantly to their aircraft design knowledge-base. This year, IT Flies! celebrated 10 years of friendly competition across the globe on April 17th.

The IT Flies! competition is the only aircraft competition in the world that uses a flight simulator and allows students to have their designs actually flown and evaluated by test pilots and engineers. 

“Hosting students from across the globe in the IT Flies! competition for the last 10 years has been incredible in terms of fostering connections among students, faculty, and test pilots across the nation and the world,” said Sidaard Gunasekaran, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and organizer of the IT Flies competition. “No other equipment in the academic circle adds significant value to student learning like the Merlin Flight Simulator. Whether it is for a class or for a competition, flying student designs in the simulator and getting feedback from test pilots is a unique and memorable experience. It brings a new dimension to experiential learning.” 

Due to COVID-19, the IT Flies competition in 2020, unfortunately, had to be canceled. This year, things looked up as students and faculty prepared for a virtual competition. “We had six teams: two from UD, two from University of Manchester and two from Mississippi State,” Gunasekaran recalled. “We connected the flight simulator screen on Zoom, and international students saw the test pilots fly their plane in real time and heard the pilot’s feedback.” 

This year’s competition teams had a wide range of designs, from landing cargo to a design similar to that of the Boeing midsize airliner. Students presented their designs and findings to a panel of judges, then their designs were tested using the MP521 simulator on UD’s campus. 

This year, the students design teams were asked to create a video presentation of their design to be passed on to the judges.

• Entry 1 - Aquila (University of Manchester) 
• Entry 2 - Sparrow (University of Manchester) 
• Entry 3 - Big Bertha (Mississippi State University)
• Entry 4 - Unsafe Travels (Mississippi State University) 
• Entry 5 - Switchblade (University of Dayton)
• Entry 6 - Bird of Prey (University of Dayton) 

After going through all the flights, the judges met via Zoom and decided the winners.

• 1st Prize: Sparrow (University of Manchester)
• 2nd Prize: Switchblade (University of Dayton)
• Best Presentation: Big Bertha (Mississippi State University)

Congratulations to all who won and also to those who participated to make this year’s extraordinary 2021 virtual competition a reality!