Скачать или смотреть Building an Ultralight Electric Plane for a Senior Project

Five UNH engineering students just proved the sky's no limit for Wildcats! 🛩️
Their ultralight electric aircraft — designed and built entirely from scratch — successfully took flight last month after thousands of hours of meticulous work.

The aircraft has a team-built frame weighing under 254 pounds and sustainability at its core, showing that "electric aviation is in the near future," and "not as far away as people might think it is," according to team member Ethan Tillinghast ’25.

It is believed by faculty adviser Ivaylo Nedyalkov and the students to be the first time ever that an undergraduate student team conceived, built and flew its own custom-designed electric aircraft, all within the span of one academic year.

“Very few student projects – at UNH or worldwide – can match the scope, technical depth and level of completion we saw with this ultralight aircraft,” says Nedyalkov, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering. “This team has set the bar exceptionally high. They’ve shown that with the right mix of vision, drive, discipline and teamwork, students can take on challenges that many would consider out of reach.”

The aircraft was flown by Zach Yeaton ’25, a fellow UNH student who has his pilot’s license. Yeaton guided the ultralight down the runway before lifting off, getting about 10 feet off the ground and flying for just over 10 seconds – the proposed height and duration parameters proposed for the flight due to safety considerations – before touching down safely.