CUAir achieves 2nd place

CUAIR achieved a second place finish from among 59 registered teams at the Student Unmanned Air Systems Competition held at the Patuxent Naval Air Base in Maryland on June 14-17, 2017.  The competition is sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Systems International.  Cornell was edged by the University of Sherbrooke (Canada).  The competition was very close.  Cornell was the highest ranked domestic team and the only one among the top four.  Teams from the U.S. (all parts, including Hawaii) and throughout the world (Canada, Romania, Israel, Poland, Turkey,  India) competed.  CUAIR's second place finish establishes them as the number 2 ranked team in the world for 2017. 

There are three phases of the competition: a written report that describes the airframe, system integration, autopilot, other electrical components, etc; an oral presentation that describes the flight-readiness of the aircraft; and the flight mission itself (waypoints, target recognition, etc.).  CUAIR's report was ranked #1 from among the 55 submitted, and its presentation ranked #2 from among the 47 made - the highest rankings achieved in these categories since Professor Tom Avedisian became the team's faculty advisor in 2012.

This team deserves a lot of kudos and recognition.  Brendan Quinn, the team lead, was an outstanding leader who ensured that all activities were executed with high quality throughout the year.  Congratulations to Brendan and all the members of CUAIR on their significant accomplishment.

For more information about the competition and photos:  AUVSI SUAS