FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Who we are? Where we came from? What do we eat? Next, in the Urubus AeroDesign FAQ.
The SAE AeroDesign competition aims to provide an amazing experience for all competitors. Every year a new regulation is proposed, based on the real challenges faced by aeronautical companies, motivating teams to innovate and design a new aircraft for each competition. Matches take place in three categories: Regular, Micro, and Advanced. Regular is the most disputed category and in this, URUBUS consecrates itself every year as one of the biggest Brazilian teams.
The competition takes place in São José dos Campos, within EMBRAER. The project is evaluated by engineers from the aeronautical industry, the best teams are ranked to compete in the international competition in the United States.
It is certainly the most special, exciting and tiring period of the year. But seeing your aircraft, built from scratch, fly during the event is priceless and brings the certainty that all the effort is worth it!
What is an extracurricular activity?
An extracurricular activity is performed by university students for academic and professional learning reasons, or even fun or social reasons, which do not count credits for the student and do not have a salary return.
In general, students work as volunteers in a project, be it an Aerodesign team, BAJA, Formula SAE, NGO, Junior Company, etc.
What is Urubus AeroDesign?
Urubus is an extracurricular aerodesign team at the State University of Campinas. Our goal is to design and build airplanes to participate in the SAE Brasil Aerodesign competition, in São José dos Campos. A mandatory requirement to join the team is to be a UNICAMP student and have a great passion for aeronautics.
Is aerodesign and aeromodelling the same thing?
No!! Although many people consider us model airplanes and call our airplanes model airplanes - one thing has nothing to do with the other. Aeromodelism is taking a reduced-scale model of an existing plane, building it and making it fly. Aerodesign, on the other hand, is designing the plane from scratch. Our plane is not a reduced scale of an existing plane, it is absolutely unique! So, it should be called an airplane, not a "model airplane" (or in an engineer way: "Radio controlled aircraft") :).
Do you have an Aeronautical Engineering course at UNICAMP?
Not. The closest faculty to this specialization would be the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, as until 2012 it offered the Mechanical Engineering course the option of "Aeronautics" as an emphasis (as well as Automotive, Processes and Manufacturing, etc.). Unfortunately, as of 2013, these emphases no longer exist, but the college still offers some electives related to this subject from time to time, such as Aerodynamics, Reliability and Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering.
Why participate in Urubus AeroDesign?
Why not? It is a team where you learn a lot about aeronautical design in all its specializations - aerodynamics, performance, loads and structures, stability and control and electrical. In addition, during all phases of the project, it is necessary to manage the availability of materials and resources to ensure that we are able to build the aircraft on time and within our budget.
More than all this technical and administrative learning, one of the biggest reasons to participate in Urubus is to see the project, which you dedicated so much, flying.