“Aeronautics is neither an industry nor a science, it is a miracle” -Igor Sikorsky

Our Purpose:

MACH’s purpose is to inspire engineering students to pursue hands on engineering experiences in the field of Aerospace Engineering to supplement their course studies. We priorities learning through doing and developing our members into capable engineers that are ready to be successful transitioning into industry after graduation. Experience is not a requirement for our organization as we start from scratch with our designs each year and train our members in all they need to know to contribute. We foster an inclusive community of engineers with the purpose of having a fun environment to test their knowledge and connect with other like minded individuals. We are committed to everyone having a productive and enjoyable experience with us.

Opportunities We Provide:

Along with a community of engineers all striving to create a flight capable aircraft for competition, we provide our members with the following opportunities:

• Hands on engineering experience to bolster your resume

• Release of any designs you work on for inclusion in portfolios for employers

• Training in industry standard software like NX, Teamcenter, FEA packages, and CFD packages

• Hands on training in carbon fiber layup, CNC routing, laser cutting, and hot wire foam cutting

• Access to Wilson Center training for the Lathe, Mill, and CNC machines

• Access to exclusive small group interactions with company recruiters

• Access to social events and regularly provided food at meetings

• Access to AIAA national resources such as: scholarships, newsletters, and networking events

• Paid travel to 5 day AIAA Sci-Tech Aerospace Conference in San Diego, CA if interested

• Paid travel to competition for 4-5 days in Tuscon, AZ or Wichita, KS if interested

Our Competition: AIAA Annual Aircraft Design, Build, Fly Competition.

MACH currently competes in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics annual Design Build Fly remote controlled aircraft design competition. This competition rotates location between Tucson, AZ and Wichita, KS. This competition varies from similar national competitions in the fact that the aircraft design varies drastically from year to year. These designs are all based on real world aerospace design problems and can vary from minimal wingspan passenger jets to aircraft carrier style bombers. Check out some of the aircraft we have made so far here. This forces us to start from the ground up each year and leads to rapid innovation in our designs and techniques. Some of the base line requirements remain the same each year such as:

• A short form proposal submitted in October to qualify for competition

• A long form report submitted prior to competition that scales the final score

• Three flight missions and a ground mission all affecting final score

  • Ground Mission: Timed assembly of the aircraft and testing of systems

  • 1st flight: Minimum weight proving flight

  • 2nd flight: Timed additional payload mission endurance flight

  • 3rd flight: Main competition parameter flight trying to max out some aspect