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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Engineering Students Finish 31st in Tornado-shortened Competition


Engineering Science Instructor Christopher Kumar bravely led a team of MCC students to a 31st place finish out of 68 teams at the 16th Annual Cessna/Raytheon Design-Build-Fly Competition in Wichita, Kansas on Saturday, April 14th.    Engineering Science students Steven Powers, Benjamin Rothstein, and Alyssa Palmieri guided MCC's aircraft to a successful flight in strong winds and made a miraculous landing after losing power to one of their two engines.  The competition soon came to an abrupt end as severe weather and tornadoes pounded the Wichita area.

This is the second consecutive year that MCC was the only community college in this competition which attracts the top aeronautical engineering schools in the nation.  This year’s contest required students to design and build an aircraft that was could fly a maximum number of laps within a 4 minute flight time then climb to a 100 meter altitude and discharge 2-L of water.   A comprehensive design report was also a required element of the competition.

The MCC Design-Build-Fly team will be discussing their project and competition experience at the MCC Scholars' Day on Saturday, April 28th.

Pictured in the attached photo: MCC Engineering students Alyssa Palmieri, Steve Powers and Ben Rothstein.




John Wadach
Engineering Science and Physics
04/19/2012