American Institute of
Aeronautics
&
Astronautics
Rice University Chapter
About Us
Rice’s chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has two types of events––chapter meetings, and the competition team. Chapter events expose Rice students to opportunities in aviation such as educational field trips, networking events, and speaker series. The RC plane team consists of a group of highly dedicated students who design, manufacture, test, and compete with RC planes. As part of the wider national AIAA organization, AIAA Rice is committed to helping students pursue careers in aviation and aerospace, and to being an active chapter by attending national meetings, conferences, and competitions.
The chapter was founded in the summer of 2022 by Nancy Lindsey for the 2022-2023 academic year. Expanding rapidly since its founding last year, the chapter has grown to over 30 members representing a diverse set of majors, including mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, materials science, physics, and math.
A group of AIAA members at the Wings Above Houston Airshow in October 2022
The DBF team with OWLer in April 2023
One wing of the Primary Aircraft under construction in November 2023
In April of 2023, the chapter attended its first competition––AIAA Design, Build, Fly––with its first aircraft, EA-23R OWLer. While OWLer faced stability challenges in the prevailing wind conditions, the team took away valuable lessons about optimizing for stability to ensure successful flights for the future.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, AIAA Rice’s RC plane team, Rice Flight, participated in the SAE Aero Advanced competition. Rice Flight was one of only 3 teams to successfully take off, deploy our autonomous glider, and land in competition, out of 17 total teams in the advanced category. Our ‘Primary Aircraft’, Albatross, has a 9’8” wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight of 31 pounds, including 5 pounds of water payload. After designing and manufacturing from May 2023-February 2024, we were able to successfully fly Albatross at several test flights before the competition in March, and again after competition with additional sensors to help with future research. In April, we presented the full system at Rice’s 2024 Engineering Design Showcase, and we won the $500 award for ‘Best Aerospace or Transportation Technology’.
The Primary Aircraft with three PADAs (1lb-autonomous gliders) at SAE Aero Design East in March 2024