Design Build Fly at UCLA 2024

About DBF at UCLA:

Design Build Fly (DBF) at UCLA is a student-led project under the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) UCLA branch. We are dedicated to providing members of all backgrounds and skill sets with a collaborative hands-on experience in aerospace engineering. Through the team's participation in the annual AIAA Design Build Fly competition, members are given the opportunity to collaborate in an iterative process to design and build an aircraft that will compete against over 100 other collegiate teams around the world.

Our goal is for each of our 50+ members to gain valuable skills not taught or applied in the class curriculum, including design and manufacturing techniques in addition to soft skills, such as teamwork and leadership. Key industry skills such as SolidWorks, MATLAB and Arduino are covered in our 10-week training course and are regularly used in the design and manufacturing processes.

Competition:

Every Fall, AIAA releases a new theme and set of mission requirements for their competition in the Spring.

Last year's competition took place in Tucson, AZ with the theme of "Electronic Warfare" including surveillance and jamming missions. At competition, we placed 15th out of 99 teams, were the first team to complete all missions, and did not crash!

This year, the competition is taking place in Wichita, Kansas and the theme is "Urban Air Mobility." The flight missions will involve medical supply and passenger transport.

Why we need your help:

This year, we are trying to bring 20 of our dedicated members to competition --more than we have ever brought before. With this increased roster size and the fact that the competition is across the country, it is very difficult for our team to attend without financial support.

Donations are used for aircraft design and construction, transportation and lodging for the competition, and member training.