“Strong and Weak People Come in Both Genders”, This is What the Winner of the First Place of AIAA Individual Aircraft Design Competition Believes in
Mina Khalilzadeh Fathi, Bachelor student at the Aerospace Engineering Department of Sharif University of Technology was fascinated by aircraft and their complexities since her childhood. When she enters Sharif University of Technology as a student, she finds herself eager to learn designing procedures of aircrafts. Following her dream, she worked very hard as an individual participant of “AIAA” competition where her proposal has been selected as the winner of the competition.
Request for Proposal (RFP) of individual aircraft design competition was for the design of a complete Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for power transmission line inspection. The system is intended to have lower cost and better safety than a manned fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter traditionally used for this role. The entry into service (EIS) is 2020 for a system capable of inspecting 100 linear miles or power lines in one working day.
Mina thinks of her participation in the competition as an opportunity to partake in a simulated real-world problem, allowing to gain experience and receive useful and constructive feedback from technical experts who sit on AIAA Technical Committees.
About the competition she says “This competition allows students to perform theoretical work and gain real-world insight into the design process. Whether students are designing an aircraft, engine, or space vehicle, they will go through all of the primary design steps involved in determining a solution to a Request for Proposal (RFP). This includes determining a hypothetical solution, testing the hypothesis, evaluating its effectiveness, possibly doing some cost analysis, and finally preparing a report that will be submitted in response to the RFP. These responses are reviewed by experts in the field who will provide constructive responses to the students.”
When asked what it is that she loves about being an aerospace engineer, she said “It gives you wings! All of us have been intrigued by the concept of flight at some point of our life. From flying kites to “engineering” the longest flying paper rocket in classrooms, we have all tried to solve the mystery behind flying object at some age. We all have that one friend who runs to the terrace every time an aircraft is crossing from above. If you dream to one day rule the sky and create innovative flying machines, Aerospace Engineering is the best career for you!”
She thinks even though engineering is dominated by men, we constantly hear news of women successfully breaking into the sector. “In my important decisions, I don’t pay attention to gender. Strong and weak people come in both genders”, she added.