The Edvard Rusjan team presented this year’s competition aircraft, Brvinc, at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. The team will travel to the United States in April to compete in the international Design/Build/Fly (DBF) competition.
The event attracted strong interest from students, partners, and other visitors, who had the opportunity to see the result of several months of development, design, and aircraft construction.
The audience was addressed by the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Dr. Jernej Klemenc, who wished the team great success in the competition. The Vice Dean, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miha Brojan, emphasised that the team is not travelling to the US merely to participate, but with a clear goal — to achieve an outstanding result. The team’s mentor, Senior Lecturer Dr. Igor Petrović, highlighted the importance of project-based work in transferring knowledge into practice and developing students’ engineering competences.
This Year’s Competition Challenges and Tasks
This year’s competition requires the development of an aircraft capable of towing a banner, while also performing several additional tasks. In addition to basic flight operations, the aircraft must carry “passengers” (rubber ducks) and cargo (hockey pucks), deploy and tow a banner during flight, and successfully complete a series of missions within a limited timeframe.
The competition consists of multiple missions — ranging from demonstrating flight capabilities without payload to more demanding tasks with added load. Performance is evaluated based on the number of completed laps, the amount of transported cargo, and landing accuracy.
The team placed significant emphasis on connecting the work of the CAD team (design) with the actual construction of the aircraft. Considerable attention was also given to the development of mechanisms, which had to meet all technical requirements while remaining as simple and efficient as possible.
Special focus was given to the banner towing system — from the selection of materials and rope to the attachment method. This was also the part most frequently tested in flight, where the team continuously identified and addressed shortcomings.
About the Design/Build/Fly Competition
Organised by the AIAA since 1997, the Design/Build/Fly competition has nearly 30 years of tradition and attracts dozens of universities from around the world each year, including some of the most prestigious institutions.
The Edvard Rusjan team enters the competition with extensive experience and an excellent track record, including victories in 2015 and 2019, as well as a second-place finish in 2023.
As the team departs for the US, we at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering wish them a successful performance and keep our fingers crossed for another outstanding result.
Photo: archive UL FME and archive Edvard Rusjan Team
