Speedfest VIII Summary

2018

Speedfest VIII featured three competition classes:

Alpha Class: Design a high-speed unmanned stealth jet aircraft that is capable of evading doppler radar, and deploying two payloads accurately into a designated area.

India Class: There are Uproar Stock and Modified classes for designing and building pylon racing aircraft based on a 2-stroke OS .46 AXII glow fuel engine.

Charlie Class: New for Speedfest VIII, Charlie class featured autonomous 1/8 off road racing cars.

In addition to the flight competition, Speedfest included an Aero Expo that features interesting static displays and flight demonstrations. The displays and demonstrations included:

Static displays hosted by all of the Alpha Class teams where industry judges and the public could learn more about the technology in their aircraft.
OSU High-Altitude Rocket Design Team. The team displayed their large rockets and associated launch equipment, and did a demonstration launch during Speedfest.
Aluminum wing testing jig; A large wing built by students in addition to an apparatus built to test it.
AIAA Engine Design teams poster displays.
OSU Flying Aggies information tent.
RC Jet Aerobatics demonstration. Dan Bierly from Zivko Aeronautics did a flight demonstration that included drawing a smiley face in jet smoke exhaust for the audience.
Stillwater RC Fliers and Ponca City GOOFS clubs: The local RC club had aircraft on static display, and a pilot from Ponca City brought his 4-engined “Beast” for a flight demonstration.
Sponsor Tents. Tents were available for industry and organization sponsors. Boeing staffed their tent with Oklahoma employees, several of who had been Speedfest participants in the past.
NASA Oklahoma Space Grant education booth with aerospace information and activities for young children.

The Speedfest main event was held from April 27-29, 2018. Friday was early technical inspection, flight test, registration, and a cookout for the teams. Weather was beautiful, and several teams were able to attend and get in some practice flights. Saturday was competition day, and the weather was perfect for competition. Four Alpha Class, 13 India Class, and 3 Charlie Class teams competed and achieved flight scores on competition day.

Participation and Attendance

Based on gate count and registrations, estimated counts are: over 184 direct student participants, 12 college faculty, 17 High School faculty and an overall count including spectators of at least 850.

Pictures

Competition Photos

(Courtesy Dick Weast, Ernie Robinson, and Jamey Jacob)

Results

Final Standings for Alpha Class:

Oklahoma State University Black "Wraith"
Oklahoma State University Orange "Ace of Diamonds"
University of Kentucky "Spirit KATS"
St. Louis University "Danger Zone"

Final Standings for India Class:

OCS Saints
Tishomingo High School
Meeker High School

India teams could also compete for additional awards. Judges consisted of aerospace engineering students from the OSU student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Pictures and videos of the teams and planes can be found in the "Pictures" and "Video" sections below. The following are the results:

Best Airplane Build: Oklahoma Christian School.

Best Airplane Graphics: Tishomingo 580-Squadron.

Best Helmet: NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium MTPE.

Team Spirit: Meridian Tech Center.

Video

Speedfest VIII featured a required competition category for 2 minute promotional videos. People from around the world voted for their favorite. Awards were based on the highest number of votes.  All videos can be seen on our Facebook page. The two winning videos are here:

OSU Orange "Ace of Diamonds"  (Winner, best video Alpha Class)

Tishomingo  (Winner, best video India Class)