Meet the Teams Archives - Page 2 of 4 - GoFly Prize GoFly Prize

Editor’s Note: We’re excited to introduce you to the innovative, bold, and talented individuals competing in GoFly. Our teams come from all over the world, shaped by their diverse backgrounds and unique life experiences. We can’t wait to see what they’ll build, but in the meantime, get to know the people behind the devices.

For Rob Hart, member of Team Aviaereo in Cambridge, UK, the beauty of aviation lies in aircraft design. Though in the early days of his career he had the opportunity to try his hand at different areas of aviation and aircraft production, it was on the design floor, surrounded by drawing boards, where he found his calling.

Today, Hart and his team are working on the Aereo-bee, their entry for the GoFly Prize, in the hopes that personal flyers will one day fill the skies. Read on to get to know more about Hart’s childhood and family, which have shaped his interests and career.

What are your earliest memories associated with aviation?

My earliest memories of flight are building model gliders with my dad when I was a child. Both my older brothers built planes too and we flew them at Cobham Common Flying Club on weekends. My first glider was a cable launch and I remember running through the field, holding the cable and pulling it up into the air.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

When I took my first job as an engineer’s apprentice, I had already decided that I wanted a career as a designer. They started me out in the sheet metal shop and then from there I worked my way around all the manufacturing facilities, working on composites and electrical as well as in the machine shop and tool room, on the assembly line, and in the test center. When I finally arrived in the design office, I knew that was where I wanted to be.

We were designing aircraft interiors and in those days it was all done by hand. There were a couple of computers and some CAD workstations, but all of the conceptual work and ideas were created on the drawing boards. That’s when I felt like I had a career as an aerospace engineer—at my drawing board.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

Growing up, my older brothers both built model planes of all kinds: control line, radio-controlled, gliders, helicopters. When my Dad helped me build and fly my first glider, I think perhaps that moment when it first launched up into the air was when I was inspired by him.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

I studied at Farnborough, which has strong ties with the aerospace industry. There were often chances to learn about aviation history and the developments that were made way back and are still just as relevant today.

What excites you about GoFly?

The GoFly competition is making it possible for me to build and test-fly my device, the Aereo-bee. That’s what I’m most excited about—building it and seeing the idea become real.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

I have a full-time job and the biggest constraint on me so far has been time. I would really like to expand the team and take on more members. It would be great if someone could do some work on the device graphic, for example. I was really impressed by the graphics submitted in phase I and my team is desperate for someone to improve our graphic.

Our safety assessment also requires a lot of effort, because we need to prepare for the flight readiness review. The document is currently just a shell and we need to rally around it as a team or introduce an additional team member to coordinate our safety reviews, keep the hazard log up to date, and conduct risk assessments and zonal hazard analysis.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

I imagine the sky will be full of Aereo-bees buzzing around above.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Measure twice, but cut once. The problem is my mentor never told me which one of the two measurements I should use.

Editor’s Note: Over the next year, we will be hosting a series of GoFly Master Lectures where industry experts share advice, insights, and answer questions from GoFly Teams.

For the latest in our series of “Master Lectures,” we welcomed Gregory Bowles, vice president of Global Innovation & Policy for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Bowles is responsible for the identification of key technological opportunities to evolve the global safety, efficiency and success of aviation. Greg leads the GAMA Electric Propulsion & Innovation Committee (EPIC) which represents the world’s leading aviation mobility development companies along with traditional aviation manufacturers as this community strives to enable new kinds of public transportation through the air. Greg also currently leads the worldwide design standards committee which is chartered to develop globally acceptable means of compliance for general aviation aircraft.

Prior to joining GAMA, Bowles worked as a certification engineer at Keystone (now Sikorsky) Helicopter, and was a design engineer at Cessna Aircraft Company (now Textron Aviation). Bowles holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Webster University. He is an active instrument rated general aviation pilot.

“The reason I pivoted fully to hybrid and electric technology is because I believe this is a disruptive change to the aviation industry,” he said in his Master Lecture.

To view the entire lecture, join the GoFly Prize challenge by contacting info@goflyprize.com.

Whether they’re taking a course in an entirely unfamiliar subject area to expand their knowledge base, or working with new mentors to help guide their device development, our GoFly Prize participants are innovative, bold and resourceful. Farid Saemi from Texas A&M University’s Team Harmony Aeronautics, for example, once signed up to work on a mechatronic project without any prior knowledge of soldering—and succeeded.

Saemi has brought this can-do attitude to his team’s GoFly Prize entry as well, as they continue to build and improve upon their personal flying device together. Read on to learn more about Saemi’s hidden interest (hint: it involves Frank Sinatra!) and his vision for the future of flight.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

If you look at my fifth-grade yearbook, my dream job was: “Aeronautical aerospace astronautical engineer,” so I’ve known I wanted to pursue a career in aviation for quite some time.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

I’ve always been interested in history, so I’m inspired by the rich multilateral history of aviation. The Wright Brothers pioneered flight, but a lot of German scientists developed the technological foundations of modern aviation in the 30s and early 40s. In the 60s and 70s, Boeing and the “Scots” (McDonnell-Douglas) then brought aviation to the masses, and now teams from around the world are working to bring personal flight to the masses.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

My junior and senior level courses were definitely the most interesting. “Helicopter dynamics” taught me the fundamentals of vertical flight, and “Aerostructure optimization” showed me how every system of an aerospace system is so tightly coupled.

What excites you about GoFly?

I’m most excited about the opportunity to develop the next generation of aviation as a fresh engineering graduate. I would not have been able to learn so many different hands-on technical and business skills had I gone straight to industry as a standard aerospace engineer.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Fundraising has been the biggest challenge to our team of all-technical people. However, we’ve received a lot of fiscal and targeted educational support from Texas A&M University and the broader Aggie Alumni Network.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

A personal flying device will likely have very practical military and civilian applications, such as distributed air search and rescue. However, I’m most interested in the pure joy aspect of personal flight. Can you imagine flying through someplace like the Grand Canyon in Arizona or the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia?

What’s one fun fact about you that your team members don’t know? What is something we should know about you?

I’m an Old Soul music listener: Sinatra, Dino, and Darin are some of my favorite singers. I can’t wait until we develop a two-person version of our vehicle and I can take a date out for a spin to the tune of “Come Fly with Me.”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Go beyond your comfort zone. My freshman year, I volunteered to repair a mechatronic project even though I had no experience soldering or mechanically fabricating things. I failed to meet the original deadline, but I sought help and got a second chance to repair the system. That project led to controls and avionics research as a junior (and a controls internship at Boeing), and that work led to electrical powertrain research in grad school, which brought me to now serving as the electric propulsion lead for our team.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Team DaVinci’s name might give you a hint about the driving force behind this group’s innovative device for the GoFly Prize challenge. Tri Dinh Quoc, who is based in Vietnam, says he has long been inspired by the research and work of Leonardo Da Vinci, and the team now wants to bring the inventor’s 500-year-old dream to life.

Read on to learn more about the team’s inspiration and vision for the future of flight.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation and flight?

When I was a child, I always dreamed of flying like a bird in the sky, touching the clouds and seeing everything from a high altitude.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

I decided to pursue a career in aviation three years ago. I started to think about how a drone can carry a person, and I wanted to build a personal air vehicle that everyone could use. I want to build a device that will meet my vision of a safe, manned eVTOL drone that’s easy to use, compact, versatile and affordable.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

I’m a big fan of Leonardo Da Vinci and I want see his dream from 500 years ago come true.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Physics in high school helped me understand the theory of flying. Microcontroller programing and embedded system courses at my university helped us build our flight controller. Beyond that, the ABU Robocon competition also helped us create the ESC motor driver and the structure for our PAV.

What excites you about GoFly?

Building a personal air vehicle has been our dream and target for a long time now, and GoFly has given us a chance to change the world.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Finance, noise and a facility for testing. At the moment, we’re building our devices with our own money, but our money is limited. We also don’t have enough space for manufacturing and testing. And, the noise requirement is proving to be very difficult to meet as we continue testing.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

The sky will be full of flying people and air taxis will be picking up passengers from the tops of buildings to get people to their destinations. With more personal flying devices in the air, people will feel free and able to travel anywhere.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

“Never try to control a system if you are not aware of its dynamics,” a mentor once told Harikumar Kandath of Team NTU from Singapore, and the advice has stuck with him throughout the duration of the GoFly Prize challenge.

Now as his team continues their hard work, one of their biggest challenges is reducing noise to ensure that their flyer is not only light and agile, but also quiet. Read on to get to know Kandath better, and learn how the team plans to overcome its current obstacle.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation and flight?

During my PhD work, I was associated with a team involved in flying fixed wing micro air vehicles. I was actively involved in that project and seeing it fly like a bird in the sky generated my interest in aviation.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

When I started my PhD, I became interested in flight dynamics of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). From that point on, I’ve been involved in work with UAVs. I also have experience in designing control system for fixed wing and quadrotor UAVs.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How do they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Control systems was my favorite course in school. It made me realize the importance of understanding the dynamics of flight before trying to control it.

What excites you about GoFly?

I find the idea of removing the constraint of two-dimensional motion and moving around in three dimensions on a flying vehicle very exciting.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

The noise constraint is our biggest challenge, so we are looking for custom-made propeller blades and some other efficient noise reduction techniques.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

Travel will get more efficient because right now, people in big cities waste a lot of time due to traffic congestion. Personal flyers will reduce traffic and reduce the number of road accidents.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Team HummingBuzz’s Alistair Sequeira hasn’t always been interested in aviation—he had always been more fascinated by spaceflight. In fact, it wasn’t until he entered Georgia Tech University, where he and his classmates formed a Team to enter the GoFly Prize, that he truly found his calling: aviation engineering.

Now with Phase II submissions closed, Sequeira and Team HummingBuzz aren’t slowing down. The team aspires to bring their personal flyer to life and revolutionize agricultural, construction and search and rescue operations, and despite challenges, they know they’re up to the task.

Read on to get to know Sequeira, what inspires him, and how the team has overcome obstacles.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation and flight?

To be honest, my passion for aviation did not start until recently. For most of my life, it had been spaceflight. It was really the mystery around space that intrigued me more than anything. However, in the back of my mind, I loved aviation, evidenced by countless trips where I was more excited about flying than the actual destination.

My passion switched to aviation soon after starting at Georgia Tech. Specifically, my interest grew when I began reading into and going to classes that taught helicopter aerodynamics and design. The passion for VTOL aircraft, specifically, grew out of the engineer in me wanting to solve many of the problems that affect helicopters, which are still prevalent today.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

It would have to be the Wright Brothers because they were the first people to fly. When I was a child, I kept wondering how one could make a flying machine without prior knowledge on the topic. All they knew about were bicycles. It is quite amazing if you think about it—they needed to create so much in order to make the flight happen. Plus, it took courage to fly on the vehicle they built, when they knew no one else had ever flown before.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How do they enrich your understanding of aviation?

In high school, I really enjoyed mathematics, mainly because I was really good at it. In fact, I took an advanced math class, and I learned about many different use cases that I see now in aerospace engineering. Physics, meanwhile, was not that interesting because professors rarely talked about aviation. To catch up on aviation-related information, I would go out of my way to read books and watch documentaries.

What excites you about GoFly?

GoFly has given me and my team the opportunity to do something that has never been done before, at least at our university. What we are working on is completely uncharted territory, which makes it interesting as there is plenty of room for innovation. However, I think the excitement is best summed up by our advisor’s words: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something that could change the future of aviation.”

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Our biggest challenges have been and still are the tight deadlines and funding, both of which are to be expected. Although difficult, the time constraints have really helped the team prototype very rapidly and learn a lot in just a few months. Hence, I like that they are so tough. As for funding opportunities, we have been reaching out to the local community here over these past few months, as well as some outside sources.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

We believe the primary way our HummingBuzz will change the world will be in high payload capacity drone applications, including use cases in agriculture, forestry, construction and search and rescue. Additionally, the personal flying aspect of it will be a huge hit in the recreational industry, especially if we can make it ultralight.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

My mentor here at the university has mentioned time and time again: “You can’t give up without trying, no matter how difficult,” and that really resonated with me, especially during Phase II when we were tasked with overcoming many obstacles.

While Team EosFlight sees the recreational benefits of the personal flying device they’re building for the GoFly Prize, the team also envisions their device solving critical societal problems, namely reducing traffic reduction and maximizing efficiency in search and rescue operations. One of their biggest challenges? Reducing noise to ensure a quiet, pleasant experience for riders.

Below, hear from Team EosFlight’s Josh Cohen on his vision for a future that includes personal air travel and how his team plans to get there.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation and flight?

We as a team have had this vision for many years now, but the GoFly Prize has enabled us to shape it. From being obsessed with engineering at a very young age, to marrying that obsession with aeronautics, our team has a huge passion for all things flight. We’ve been inspired by watching videos of milestones including the Wright Brothers’ first flight, the incredible creation of the Concorde, and the moon landing.

What excites you about GoFly?

The GoFly Prize is allowing us to fulfill our dream of creating a different future for our world. The inner city vehicle we are creating will not only enable people to get from A to B in record time, but it also has the potential to save the lives of millions of people through more efficient search and rescue operations. The freedom and autonomy of personal flight are most exciting to us.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Three spring to mind. Funding, time and noise. We are currently talking to investors to raise money for our Phase III submission to build the best version of our 1-1 scale prototype, which we are currently bootstrapping through our design agency.

Second, our team members are involved in various separate projects as well, which means that ensuring we are all spending time together is definitely a challenge. Noise has also become a huge consideration for us as we continue to figure out how to make a vehicle that is quiet enough for inner city travel.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

We know that our flying device could create a huge reduction in inner city overcrowding and a dramatic increase in the efficiency of our transport infrastructure. People will no longer need transport hubs and runways, and we’ll see a decrease in the number of motorized accidents given the vastness of the sky. Ambulance services will be able to help patients faster and more effectively. We view personal flight as the future of travel and transport.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

GoFly Prize participants get their inspiration from a variety of sources. For Stephanie McCulloch, member of Team X-Aero from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, it was her grandfather—who worked on runway construction and lent his expertise to aviation literature—that sparked her interest in aviation. Her teammate Stephen Hardiman, meanwhile, was always taken aback by the presence and stature of pilots, who commanded respect everywhere they went.

As Team X-Aero continues to build their prototype, they can’t wait to see personal flight become a reality rather than a futuristic dream. Read on to learn more about what’s driving them in the competition.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation? What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

Stephen Hardiman: I have always had a passion for aviation. I’ve wanted to be a pilot and still do, but the engineering side of aviation is what really excites me. Knowing how all the pieces of a complex puzzle fit together to make an aircraft take off and soar is what makes me love it.

Stephanie McCulloch: When I was nine years old, I was fortunate enough to go on a joy ride in a small general aviation aircraft over Melbourne. I could feel small streams of air pushing into the cabin through gaps in the door, which made the whole experience that much more exhilarating. At one point, the pilot allowed me to take control, which was an amazing opportunity.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

Hardiman: When I was 13, I had my first flying lesson ever, and since then, I have always wanted to be involved in the industry.

McCulloch: In my final year of primary school something clicked—I loved working with mechanical things, using creative problem solving and, of course, building things that fly.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

Hardiman: My parents took me on a lot of planes when I was a child, so I have always looked up to pilots as they command so much respect.

McCulloch: My grandfather was always a profound source of inspiration— he brought energy to everything he did. His contributions to both constructing runways in Australia and aviation literature were powerful, introducing me to the industry and possibilities to lie ahead.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Hardiman: Aerospace propulsion with my lecturer Graham Dorrington, who is also on the X-Aero team, was my favorite subject. I was so awful at it that I actually had to take it twice, but Graham was such a great lecturer and has so much passion for the industry.

McCulloch: I have always loved physics, so studying dynamics and control in the third year of my honors degree allowed me to refine my aircraft modelling skills and plan control strategies. Advanced aerodynamics has also provided me with the theoretical foundations essential to coding and finite element analysis in assessing an air vehicle’s behaviour during oncoming and randomly generated air streams.

What excites you about GoFly?

Hardiman: The idea of having my own personal flying device is just astonishing. Before this competition started, I thought we were years away from achieving that reality. However, our team has shown that it is already possible with three prototypes.

McCulloch: I’m excited to have the opportunity to share with the world what us students here at RMIT University are capable of creating.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

Hardiman: After the world sees our flying device, personal flight will no longer be seen as ‘the future.’ It will be the present. I believe it will be a definitive game changer.

McCulloch: We will no longer see the restrictions of transport today. Instead, will see endless solutions. X-Aero can bridge the gap between air and land transport, offering a creative and highly viable solution.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Hardiman: Marketing ourselves has been a challenge, considering that we are a team made up entirely of engineers. Sometimes there are things about marketing that we don’t quite know, but we are making plans to find people that can help us in the future.

McCulloch: I believe that our only true restraint is time, but the progress X-Aero has made already has been phenomenal! The team is working tirelessly throughout the summer holidays here in Australia to keep a fast-paced schedule, with excellent communication facilitating our efficient work.

What’s one fun fact about you that your team members don’t know? What is something we should know about you?

Hardiman: That’s a hard one, since we have spent everyday together working over the last year. But, I don’t think they know that I can play the didgeridoo.

McCulloch: Believe it or not, I am actually well versed in boomerang throwing.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Hardiman: That academic results are only one side of the coin, and it takes more than grades to be successful. There are so many more important factors, including applying yourself fully.

McCulloch: To keep at it! This goes for not only achieving academic results and maximizing project development, but also for creating paths for yourself. I can now say that the greatest opportunities I’ve had in this industry so far have been those which I sought out myself.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Based in Panama City Beach, Florida, Team DragonAir’s Mariah Cain never expected to pursue a career in aviation. But after getting her first taste of flight through a Hydroflight watersport device, flying—and empowering others to do so—has become Cain’s dream.

Today, she and her team are working tirelessly to design, build and test their personal flying device as part of the GoFly Prize. Cain is confident in their efforts thus far, and optimistic about the next phase of the competition.

Read on to learn more about what sparked Cain’s passion, and how DragonAir is working through their biggest challenges.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation and flight?

I became passionate about flight through Hydroflight, a watersport. Obviously, it is much different than flying a personal multi-copter, but soaring above the water with a jetblade attached to my feet was the first time I experienced the freedom of height and movement through the air. That instilled a passion in me.

Was there something that inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child?

Airplanes were interesting to me, as they are to most children, but I was much more fascinated by fairy dust and flying like Peter Pan.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

I never dreamed of being part of the development of one of the first electric devices for future personal transportation. Working every day, doing the things that aerospace and mechanical engineers do for a living is not where I pictured myself even a year ago. I love the challenge and the thrill behind it. I had a video of me flying from last year that got an outstanding amount of support, and there was a moment when I realized this could be something that offers a bright future for me.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

My favorite courses in school included biology and English. Both involved analytics and writing, which are necessary to get anything approved in the aviation industry.

What excites you about GoFly?

GoFly has provided our team with the inspiration we needed to evolve our device. If we win, we’ll have the means to keep creating new devices. But, even if we don’t win, we’ve already learned an incredible amount and have had some fun showing off our extraordinary machine through the publicity of this worldwide challenge.

Participating in the GoFly Prize has given us the resources to build the PEVTOL device that we have been dreaming of with support from the FAA, aerospace insurance providers and other necessary partners.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

It is evident that the world is itching to have these personal flying devices made available to them. I cannot picture a future where humans are not flying themselves as a mode of transportation. The progression of technology has made it easier than ever to control a flying device.

I believe that once people experience how amazing personal flight feels, they won’t want to go back to old modes of transportation. After I learned to drive, I rarely used my bike anymore. It won’t be the solution to everything, but in many cases, personal flight will fit into our society perfectly.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

At this point, it is funding. I have no doubt that we can build our machine, but we have not found the right person to back our creation yet. We have scrapped together enough money to get this far, and we’ve had lots of potential partners that we thought would be ‘the one,’ but the right match hasn’t happened yet.

Currently, we are working hard to ensure that the potential investors/sponsors we are talking to now have everything they need to feel comfortable investing in our vision. I know it will all come together in the end, one way or another.

What’s one fun fact about you that your team members don’t know?

That getting to work in the lab every day and create new things is basically my dream job. Despite all the work put in, it is so fun to test new inventions with Jeff Elkins. GoFly is making it easier to do what I love.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

If you don’t work on something, you’ll never know what could have come of it. If you don’t ask, you’ll have missed the opportunity completely. Might as well just go for it and keep a smile on your face—you never know what could happen.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Team Silverwing, based in the Netherlands, is comprised of a diverse set of engineers with different passions and focus areas. What unites them? Their determination to one day make their personal flying device, the Silverwing, accessible to all.

For team members Ralph Krook and Thom van den Homberg, being a part of Silverwing has been a phenomenal experience. It’s a busy time for the team, with the building process in full swing. Read on to learn what drives them, and what excites them about the competition.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation?

Thom van den Homberg: I am a mechanical engineer and one of the most enjoyable parts of participating in GoFly has been the collaboration with the aerospace engineers I work with. There is a lot in the aviation world that can still be invented.

Ralph Krook: As a kid, I traveled a lot with my parents in airplanes and was always fascinated by them.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

Krook: I decided in high-school that aviation engineering was for me. Not only is it interesting and challenging, but it also has a fun aspect to it.

Van den Homberg: I thought I would continue to be a mechanical engineer but participation in GoFly has persuaded me to do a specialization in structures.

What were some of your favorite courses in school?

Van den Homberg: You would think that my favorite course in high school would be physics, but funnily enough, it was biology. However, this changed in university, where my favorite subject became mathematics. Through math, you learn how to solve puzzles and I love solving puzzles.

Krook: Physics, chemistry, and surprisingly, ancient Greek.

What excites you about GoFly?

Van den Homberg: Being part of this is exciting because it gives you freedom to think outside the box, and work together with like-minded people from different multidisciplinary backgrounds, which results in innovation.

The GoFly Prize challenge brought together this team full of passionate engineers. Passion is what drives us. It’s fun to have heated discussions with my team members because these conversations reveal elements of our design that can be improved upon, as well as different ways to improve them.

Krook: There are several things that excite me. First, you have to design and build an aircraft in such a short period of time. Second, I get to work with other passionate team members who specialize in different fields. Finally, I love using advanced technology to create an aircraft that is different than anything anyone else out there.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

Van den Homberg: I see a future where regular people are able to fly a Silverwing. I want everyone to be able to experience the feeling of flying and seeing the world from a different perspective.

Krook: Once it is integrated into society, which will take a while, I imagine a world with people flying everywhere in their personal aircraft. These devices will change the way we view transportation.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Van den Homberg: The biggest challenge for me is that my background is in mechanical engineering. My teammates have a lot more experience in the technical field of aerospace and this allows them to make better technical decisions. I overcome this challenge by learning from them and always being open to discussions. But increasingly, I find myself thinking not only like a mechanical engineer, but also like an aerospace engineer.

Krook: The biggest challenge is the time frame—we have a really tight schedule. Also, from an engineering standpoint, the control system is a big challenge for me. To overcome these obstacles, we just have to work really hard with the time that we have and test the model as much as possible.

What’s one fun fact about you that your team members don’t know?

Van den Homberg: I have played volleyball for 13 years, but now I am really into Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It is a great sport—it’s like playing chess with the human body. You have to think of the opponent’s steps ahead of time, make quick decisions and act fast. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a great way to distract the mind after a day of working on building an aircraft.

Krook: I got my pilot’s license for operating a single-engine aircraft at 19 years old. I went to Florida for flying school and lived in an airport at the flight academy for two months. It was quite tough. I wasn’t the most talented pilot, so I had to study and work harder than the others, but I made it. Now I fly occasionally in the Netherlands between smaller airports. I really enjoy flying because I get to control such a complicated device.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Van den Homberg: In order to create something, you should not fixate on making it perfect, or you’ll never finish creating it. Instead, you should make it as good as you possibly can. Once it’s finished, you can learn from it and improve it. Building is a process that never ends, and therefore there isn’t a single perfect solution.

Krook: If you work really hard and believe in what you’re doing, you can achieve anything, even if it seems impossible.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!