Momentum - November 2017 - 10

STUDENT
GENERATION

Bearcat Airlines plane coming
in for a landing amid a
multitude of onlookers on the
first day of competition.

FACULTY
Like any good team, this idea of smart, tireless drive
towards producing results stems from the top. Mark
Fellows, an adjunct professor at the university, has
mentored these students since 2014, turning what was a
strong yet inconsistent team into the one we see today.
As a retired aerospace engineer himself, Mark has had
an extensive career of managing aircraft programs,
and he passes that knowledge onto his students. The
lessons he passes on revolve around managing a team
of different personalities, getting the most out of what
little time they have to improve upon their designs, and
emphasizing a team approach to solving the complex
challenges that the SAE Aero Design Competition brings.
Managing a student team project like the Aero
Design competition can be a daunting task, especially
if the leaders have no prior experience. One of the
most important aspects to a competition like this
is understanding the timeline one has to work with,
utilizing their team members to the best of their ability,
and keeping the morale high. Mark's lessons touch on
all of these key principles. Above all, he stresses the
importance of flight testing and the impact it can have
on an aircraft design's success.
Within the first month of the school year, teams
are split, schedules are made, and materials testing and
design reviews have already begun on campus. More
often than not, by the time the first prototype of an
aircraft can be assembled, winter has arrived. Despite the
freezing temperatures, teams fly their planes through the
winter, taking advantage of any opportunity they can.
In December 2015, the Regular Class team "Aerocats"
woke up to a snow-covered landscape on the morning
of a planned flight test. Rather than reschedule, the
team headed straight for the runway. They cleared the

10 November 2017

Photo credit: Mark Fellows

runway in an hour and successfully completed three flights. Stories of
dedication like this are not uncommon when it comes to the Bearcats.
The 2015 and 2017 Regular class teams completed a staggering 21 and 9
separate test flights, respectively, the latter carrying out those flights on
four separate prototype aircraft. Both teams placed first Overall in the
SAE Aero Design competitions.

LOVE OF TEAM
All the research, testing, and flying would be for naught if it weren't
for these teams coming together for the competitions. An admiring
characteristic of the Bearcats is their genuine love for the team. For
Cincinnati, every spring culminates in the team's trip to Texas or
Florida for one of SAE's two annual Aero Design competitions. These
teammates have all school year to better get to know one another, build
on each other's strengths and weaknesses, and enjoy late nights in the
build room.
The final competition weekend gives the team one last chance to
capture that energy together. Despite some long nights spent debating
building techniques or design changes, they use this weekend to enjoy
all their hard work, bringing a light-heartedness to the competition that
you can sense from just being near them.
So what makes a school like the University of Cincinnati so
successful? Professors and researchers extending from the reaches
of Neil Armstrong's influence, students with first-hand experience
developing and implementing the latest techniques and findings in the
aerospace engineering field, a management style passed down from a
knowledgeable leader, and a determination to carry on the Cincinnati
Bearcats winning tradition all surely have something to do with it.
Alex Ruble, who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in
2017 with a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and is
now working for QuEST Global Services, wrote this article for
MOMENTUM.

MOMENTUM
Momentum - November 2017

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