Welcome to Design/Build/Fly
UF DBF Competition Team
The AIAA through the Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design, Design Engineering and Flight Test Technical Committees and the AIAA Foundation invites all university students to participate in the Cessna/Raytheon Missile Systems Student Design/Build/Fly competition. The contest will provide a real-world aircraft design experience for engineering students by giving them the opportunity to validate their analytic studies.
Student teams will design, fabricate, and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio controlled aircraft which can best meet the specified mission profile. The goal is a balanced design possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.
To encourage innovation and maintain a fresh design challenge for each new years participants, the design requirements and performance objective will be updated for each new contest year. The changes will provide new design requirements and opportunities, while allowing for application of technology developed by the teams from prior years.
The 2010 University of Florida Design/Build/Fly team ‘AviGator’ is composed of 43 undergraduate and 2 graduate students with an interest in flight. Everyone is involved in all aspects of the project, from the design stage to test flights and competition. We have a faculty advisor, but the project is solely organized by the students. DBF gives students a chance to take what they learned in engineering classes and apply it to a real-world design problem.
UF DBF Research and Development Team
To further student involvement beyond the annual AIAA competition, UF DBF is laying the foundation for a research and development team. Separate from DBF Competition, DBF R&D will investiate new materials and design strategies for model aircraft. This research team will work hand in hand with the competition team through the year but will operate indepently, focusing on designing outside "the box."
Sponsor Design/Build/Fly
The UF Design/Build/Fly team is currently looking for sponsors to help defray costs students will incur by competing. We solicit your help in this endeavor and we would be grateful for any services, funds, or discounts your company may wish to contribute. If you become a sponsor of the UF DBF team we will place you company name and logo on the competition aircraft storage box, our competition shirts, and in all videos completed for competition.
You have the opportunity for your company logo to be seen by countless individuals at the University of Florida, the city of Gainesville, the North Florida area, and all who observe this competition.
This is an excellent opportunity for your company to show its support and we would be grateful for any donation you may provide. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Current Sponsors
Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks CorpUniversity Air Center
Florida Space Grant Consortium
SpinCore Technologies
Contact Us
Phone: (407) 512-0666 
Address: MAE-C 121Team Leaders
Chief Engineer - Jason CantrellAerodynamics Lead - Jason Rue
Propulsions Lead - Jordan Van Hall
Structures Lead - Javier Cue
Manufacturing Lead - Sergio Martinez
CAD & Communications - Kevin Rausch
Cost Analyst - Abraham Balmori
Documentation - Brandon Sell