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They’ll be competing among 37 teams, including others with Pittsburgh-inspired names such as Mr. Rogers’ Friendly Skies and Peng-Wings, a “Stanley Cup-powered” craft.

The Roc-ettes will push their homemade flying machine off a 22-foot-high flight deck without the help of engines or external power sources, which are not allowed in the competition. One pilot must remain in the craft as it sails off the edge over the Allegheny River.

“We used principles, basic engineering aspects — simplifying design, making sure it’s safe, and finding suppliers and vendors — that’s everything we learned in school, and we’re applying that,” Blair said.

Pitt Aero, a student group for engineers interested in aerospace, was instrumental in the team’s ability to enter the competition. The group focuses on research, design and manufacturing of radio-controlled planes, in order to compete in events such as the Society of Automotive Engineers annual aerospace competition, Blair said. Pitt Aero also builds smaller unmanned, 100-inch wingspan planes for the society's heavy-lift competition, mainly using balsa and aluminum.

For the Red Bull Flugtag, however, the team had to go a little bigger than 100 inches.

“It turns out it’s a hugely different problem to design a 24-foot wing to carry a whole person and aim for distance,” said Schwarz, a senior mechanical engineering student. “On the engineering side, it meant learning a lot from scratch.”

Creating the craft

Blair gave a technical rundown of what the team went through to come up with its craft.

“We start off by estimating our takeoff velocity and weight, then idealize a free body diagram applying expected drag and lift forces to see how the plane would fly,” Blair said.

“Next, we optimize the plane to increase stability and lift and reduce drag,” he said. “While doing this, we design for manufacturability and transportation.”

“We’re not just winging it,” Blair said. “We’re actually going through the engineering calculations.”

“The Swanson �鶹��ý has been great in helping with resources in terms of equipment, vendors to order from and professors to help when we had questions,” he continued. “They’ve been very supportive.”

Schwarz said that while a mechanical engineering degree is a great background, the specifics of designing this craft were brand new to the team.

“That’s why I’m doing it. This is a chance for me to prove if I have what it takes to design an aircraft — if all the research and engineering background is enough to make a product that works,” Schwarz said. “And we’ll find out on Saturday."

See how they did in our coverage of the event.