Drucella Andersen

Headquarters, Washington, D.C. June 23,

1994
(Phone: 202/358-4733)

Marcia Adams
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/267-8521)

Mary Sandy
Virginia Space Grant Consortium
(Phone: 804/865-0726)

RELEASE: 94-102

NASA/FAA SPONSOR GENERAL AVIATION COMPETITION

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today

announced their joint sponsorship of a general aviation design
competition for students at U.S. aeronautical and engineering
universities. The contest will challenge teams of undergraduate
and graduate students -- working with faculty advisors -- to
develop a multi-disciplinary design for a general aviation
aircraft.

Complete competition guidelines will be available by mid-July.

Designs must be submitted by May 1, 1995. Up to four cash awards
totaling $11,000 will be announced at an awards ceremony in July
1995 at the annual Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In
Convention and Sport Aviation Exhibition at Oshkosh, Wisc.

"These are the types of opportunities NASA needs to develop to

capture the bold initiative and innovative enthusiasm that exists
in our nation's college ranks," said Dr. Wesley L. Harris, NASA's
Associate Administrator for Aeronautics. "This partnership with
academia -- and ultimately, industry -- represents the way we want
to do business at NASA," he said.
 Richard A. Weiss, the FAA's Director of General Aviation and
Vertical Flight Research and Development notes, "It is the policy
of the FAA to foster and promote general aviation. It is our hope
that participation by universities will become an integral part of
the revitalization effort now underway and that the competition
will serve to stimulate breakthroughs in technology and its
application."

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Technologies to be addressed in the competitive designs will

include integrated cockpit systems, propulsion, integrated design
and manufacturing and aerodynamics. For purposes of the
competition, general aviation aircraft are defined as fixed-wing,
single-engine, single pilot, propeller-driven aircraft.

"Universities have drifted away from general aviation with the

decline in the industry's condition. NASA and the FAA developed
this competition to help reverse that trend and begin to involve
faculty and students in general aviation," said Dr. Bruce J.
Holmes, Manager of NASA's General Aviation Program Office, Langley
Research Center, Hampton, Va.

All designs submitted in accordance with competition guidelines

will be reviewed by a selection panel of representatives from
NASA, the FAA and industry. All design projects will receive
critical evaluation and feedback. Faculty and students are
encouraged to plan now to incorporate this design challenge into
fall design classes and projects. Involvement of industry
advisors is encouraged, as is the participation of women and
minorities on design teams. Teaming across departments and among
institutions also is encouraged.

Interested faculty and students may request guidelines from:

Virginia Space Grant Consortium, 2713-D Magruder Blvd., Hampton,
Va. 23666. Requests may be faxed to 804/865-7965. The
Consortium, a nonprofit aerospace educational coalition, is
disseminating information on the competition on behalf of the
sponsoring agencies.

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