Fly Your Ideas with Airbus

The time has come to reveal who are our five student team finalists. The five finalists are: 

Team CLiMA

From the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. CLiMA's project focuses on the development of aircraft fuelled by a blend of sustainably produced liquefied biomethane and liquefied natural gas (Bio-LNG).

Team Levar

Team Levar, University of São Paulo, Brazil, whose idea looks at a luggage loading and unloading system for airplane cargo compartments to reduce the workload of airport baggage handlers with an air cushion solution inspired by air hockey tables.

Team AVAS, 

From the SRM University, India, looking at reduced propulsion noise thanks to jet exhaust shape modification using intelligent materials (shape memory alloys). These alloys are energized by harvested electricity generated by advanced thermoelectric materials using engine heat source.

Team Flybrid

Studying at the Technical University of Milan, Italy, Flybrid propose an electric/turboprop combination for hybrid propulsion in regional aircraft. This system uses batteries pre-charged on ground and not in-flight.

Team Embarker,

Coming from the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Team Embarker propose a self-sustaining aircraft cabin concept in which the excess body heat from seated passengers is used as an alternative source of energy to power small electronics in the cabin.

Airbus will fly these teams in June to the Airbus site in Toulouse, where they will present their half a year worth of work projects. 45,000 euro in prizes and a week of training on campus with the Innovation cell are at stake!  We’ll all find out who the BIG winner is during a unique Awards Ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters, in Paris on 14^th June 2013. We won’t spoil the rest of the special plans we have in store for them, but they’re pretty great!

Take a look at what happened last year in the Finals here: http://bit.ly/18wGGyu  

Andy studied Aeronautics at the University of Bath, which included a year’s internship with British Airways. He joined Airbus on the DEG scheme in 1995 and quickly entered the Future Projects offices exploring a number of conceptual aircraft designs. He then moved to Aircraft Operability about 3 years ago to explore new ways to operate future air transport systems.

Nicolas currently performs 360° trend scouting analysis in order to better understand and anticipate Airbus’ customers and passenger future needs that will impact cabin design. The latest project he was involved in was the “Concept Cabin”, which integrated both the future passenger perspective and experience, merged with future enabling technologies. Nicolas studied International Management at the University of Maastricht, with a focus on Innovation Management and Organisational Change.

Simon’s long-time love of aviation is in part borne of his father’s occupation as an engineer at the local airport.  Simon’s own career started with an apprenticeship at BAE Systems.  After five years he became an Avionics Development Engineer and, later, an Avionics Research Engineer.  A company reorganisation led him to the world of technical publications and project management.  He went on to hold a number of roles in Customer Services, including marketing, aircraft reliability and maintenance cost analysis and programme management.He is now Fuel and Emissions Performance Manager.

A graduate in Physics with Electronics, and a chartered electronics engineer, Mary has worked in a variety of roles since joining Airbus in 2004. She is currently responsible for defining future fuel systems R&T strategy, working with industry committees to investigate the impact of sustainable and alternate fuels on aircraft fuel systems. Mary has supported Fly Your Ideas as an Assessor since 2009, and is therefore well qualified to offer some guidance to participating students!

Denis' career with Airbus began in 1996, where he worked in an avionic repair station in Singapore gaining hands on experience of maintaining aircraft. After which, he joined the Design Office to work on the A380 Program system development. He is now dealing with NEO and other multi - system developments. He was an Assessor in Fly Your Ideas 2011, and an is an active supporter of Fly Your Ideas 2013.

What are the most important factors that students should think about when developing their ideas?

"Students should try to develop innovative ideas, think out of the box, and make it simple - as well as be aware of the current state of the art, and research perspectives".

What makes a great idea stand out from the crowd? 

"I would encourage them to find ways to make a new technology adaptable to an aircraft - or to adapt current technology in a smarter way. Importantly, they also need to take into consideration the usual aeronautical constraints (safety,certification, airport, ...)

What should students NOT do when developing their ideas?

"Students should be careful not to propose ideas that are too 'science fiction'. They must avoid being too vague or too general - they should try to be specific in their ideas. Any lack of knowledge should be compensated by comprehensive external references. This is not a writing contest, so students should use simple sentences, simple words, in every-day English. 

Is there any additional advice that you would give to students, to help them develop new and innovative ideas?

"I would just say the following...be original, be curious, simple, challenging...be clear".

Airbus, the leading aircraft manufacturer presents Fly Your Ideas 2013 challenge (FYI) at the Second World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) taking place in Buenos Aires between October 15-18.  WEEF brings together the most important international organizations in engineering education. Airbus is to highlights its FYI 2013 challenge in a workshop for more than 100 international students, as well as a technical presentation for the academic delegates. The third edition of Fly Your Ideas launched in June 2012, challenges students to develop new ideas for a more sustainable aviation industry.

Team Condor, the Fly Your Ideas 2011 Finalist from Chile’s Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, are taking part in the Airbus workshop and technical presentation to illustrate their project on alternative design for an aerodynamic speed brake that would recover energy for on-board reuse. The students will also showcase their soon-to-be-published book about their FYI experience, Cuatro Miradas Para Una Misma Aventura (Four Perspectives for the Same Adventure).

“The WEEF provides the perfect venue for Airbus to interact with new talent and share our vision for more sustainable aviation while inspiring students to pursue a future in our industry,” said Rachel Schroeder, Head of Employment Marketing for Airbus. “Team Condor exemplifies the next generation of aviation innovators and we hope their presence at WEEF inspires a new wave of Fly Your Ideas participants from Latin America and abroad.”

Global enthusiasm for Fly Your Ideas continues to grow, with over 200 teams from 70 countries already registered to participate in the 2013 edition of the competition. In Latin America, 30 teams have already registered, but many more are expected. In 2011, 47 teams from Latin America participated in the first round of the competition, with submissions coming from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. Teams hoping to make it to the next stage should submit their project via www.airbus-fyi.com by November 30, 2012.

To view the full press release click here.