Those magnificent men and women in their flying machines- Imperial students learn to fly

Mechanical engineering undergraduates enter the Red Bull Flugtag with their winged invention, ICarus - News

Thursday 5 June 2008
By Colin Smith

A team of magnificent men and women plus their flying machine will enter one of the world’s craziest manpowered airborne competitions in Hyde Park, London, this week to test their university project (7 June, 2008).

Undergraduates from Imperial College London’s Department of Mechanical Engineering have been designing and building a glider as part of a third year project. In their spare time, the team will test how well it flies by entering the Red Bull FlugTag Competition, which sees daredevil pilots from across the UK flying and crashing their homemade machines into Hyde Park’s Serpentine.

For the past two months, David Mulholland, Alex Edgecombe, David Macknelly, Andrew MacDonald and Elizabeth Hyde have been designing, testing and building their glider in the Mechanical Engineering workshops, which they have named ICarus after the Greek mythological character who flew too close to the sun, melted his wings and plummeted into the ocean.

They have constructed ICarus from a combination of plywood, redwood and aluminium with Styrofoam ribs for the wings which will be covered with a lightweight material called ceconite and painted to look like the feathered wings worn by Icarus during his mythical flight.

A graphic design of ICarus

David Mulholland will fly the craft while the rest of the team, dressed in Grecian togas, push him and the glider off a six metre ramp before thousands of onlookers.

The team believes their design specifications are so sound that they will smash the competition’s record of 59 metres for the longest flight distance and unlike ICarus finish with a soft landing into the Serpentine.

Team leader, David Mulholland, said the project has been really enjoyable. He attributes his enjoyment to fact of being able to put his theoretical knowledge into practice in the workshop on the ICarus project. He said:

“I’ve really enjoyed the whole process from concept development to the actual construction of Icarus. It’s definitely been one of the highlights of my academic career. It is great to do something practical after weeks of theory and our supervisor is really supportive of this project.”

The team working on ICarus

As part of the project, the team have been learning how to practically apply their engineering skills by drawing up technical specifications, developing and evaluating concepts, creating detailed designs and building their glider.

During the construction process the team has been learning about stress analysis. In particular, they have been working out how to design the glider’s structure to be lightweight and yet strong enough to take the loads and stresses of flying whilst carrying a passenger.

Project supervisor, Dr Andres Kempf, from Mechanical Engineering’s Multi-Scale Flow Dynamics group, said the ICarus project is showing students exactly what engineering is all about. He added:

“From concept development to construction, students are getting the hands on experience they need to learn how to engineer a product. Most importantly, students are able to apply their skills in an enjoyable way which serves to reinforce the learning experience. I wish the team the best of luck in the competition. I hope ICarus smashes records.”

More than 40 teams, with names including Little Fluffy Clowns and The Wrong Brothers will be flying and plunging their crafts into the Serpentine as part of the Red Bull Flug Tag Competition from 1pm in Hyde Park on 7 June 2008.