Design/Build/Fly

Design/Build/Fly, or DBF, is a radio-controlled aircraft competition sponsored by the American institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Cessna Aircraft Company, and Raytheon Missile Systems. The Office of Naval Research was also a sponsor until 2006. The competition is intended to challenge the AIAA student branches of each university to design, build, and fly a remote controlled airplane that can complete specific ground and flight missions. Additionally, the teams are required to submit a comprehensive design report detailing the most important aspects of their designs.

The competition rules change every year. Usually, rules are published in late August and the competition fly-off is held in April. The rules define a mathematical formula used to determine the score for an entry. Recent competitions' formulas have used a combination of design report score, mission score determined by performance conducting one or more mission tasks at the fly-off, and Rated Aircraft Cost, a variable used to define the complexity of the design.

Year	Location	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place	4th Place	5th Place
1997	Ragged Island, MD	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	Virginia Tech	Texas A&M University	Utah State University	West Virginia University
1998	Wichita, KS	University of Southern California ("Pepe")	Texas A&M University	Syracuse University	University of Texas, Austin	Utah State University [Paper Score]
1999	Pax River, MD	Utah State University	Oklahoma State University	University of Southern California ("H2OT Shark")	Georgia Institute of Technology	Texas A&M University
2000	Wichita, KS	Utah State University ("Wing and a Prayer")	Oklahoma State University 1	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	Georgia Institute of Technology	Oklahoma State University 2
2001	Pax River, MD	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	California Polytechnic State University	Oklahoma State University (Black)	University of California, San Diego	Utah State University
2002	Wichita, KS	University of California, San Diego	University of Southern California ("SCrewball")	West Virginia University	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza
2003	Ridgely Airpark, MD	San Diego State University	California Polytechnic State University	Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza	University of Southern California ("SCyRaider")	Oklahoma State University (Black)
2004	Wichita, KS	Oklahoma State University (Black)	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	University of Southern California ("SCquirt")	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	California Polytechnic State University
2005	Pax River, MD	Oklahoma State University (Black)	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	Washington State University	Virginia Tech	University of California, San Diego
2006	Wichita, KS	Oklahoma State University (Black)	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	California Polytechnic State University (24" Wood)	University of Southern California ("SCtingray")	Istanbul Technical University
2007	Tucson, AZ	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	Purdue University	Oklahoma State University (Black)	Wichita State University (Shockin' Surveyor)
2008	Wichita, KS	Oklahoma State University (Black)	University of Texas, Austin (The Hornworks)	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	University of Texas, Austin (Orange Bullet)	University of Colorado Boulder
2009	Tucson, AZ	Oklahoma State University (Black)	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	University of Southern California ("Turbo Encabulator")	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Just Wing It)	University of California - Irvine (Zot Rocket)
2010	Wichita, KS	Oklahoma State University (Orange)	Oklahoma State University (Black)	Purdue University (B'Euler Up)	University of Texas, Austin (Bat Wing)	California Polytechnic State University (Swings Both Ways)
2011	Tucson, AZ	Georgia Institute of Technology (There Will Be Buzz)	University of Southern California (The RFB)	Purdue University (The Golfstream)	Wichita State University (MiniWheat)	California Polytechnic State University (Balls Deep)
2012	Wichita, KS	San Jose State University (Team PhalanX)	University of California, Irvine (Angel of Attack)	University of Colorado Boulder (H2BuffalO)	Istanbul Technical University (ATA)	University of Oklahoma (Crimson Skies)
2013	Tucson, AZ	University of California, Irvine	San Diego State University	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	University of Colorado Boulder
2014	Wichita, KS	University of Southern California ("MiSChief")	University of California, Irvine	San Jose State University	University of Ljubljana, Slovenia	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2015	Tucson, AZ	University of Ljubljana, Slovenia	University of California, Irvine	Georgia Institute of Technology	Tel Aviv University	University of Texas, Austin (The RebUTtal)
2016	Wichita, KS	San Jose State University	Georgia Institute of Technology	University of California, Irvine	Virginia Tech	University of Oklahoma
2017	Tucson, AZ	University of Southern California ("StarSCream")	Georgia Institute of Technology	University of Ljubljana, Slovenia	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Oregon State University
2018	Wichita, KS	Clarkson University ("KnightHawk")	Virginia Tech	Georgia Institute of Technology	University of Ljubljana, Slovenia	University of Texas, Austin
2019	Tucson, AZ	University of Ljubljana, Slovenia ("Pretty Boy")	Georgia Institute of Technology	FH Joanneum	University of Southern California ("ExSCalibur")	Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute ("Jatayu")
2020[1]	Wichita, KS	University of Southern California	Georgia Institute of Technology	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Pennsylvania State University	The City College of New York

1. The 2020 fly-off was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Scores and rankings were solely based on the report scores.

List of Top 5 Finish by University

Rank	University	Top 5	First Place
1	Oklahoma State University	13	7
2	University of Southern California	12	4
3	Georgia Institute of Technology	9	1
4	University of California, Irvine	6	1
	California Polytechnic State University	6	0
6	University of Ljubljana	5	2
	Utah State University	5	2
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	5	1
	University of Texas, Austin	5	0
10	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	4	1
	Virginia Tech	4	0
12	San Jose State University	3	2
	University of California, San Diego	3	1
	Purdue University	3	0
	Texas A&M University	3	0
	University of Colorado Boulder	3	0
17	San Diego State University	2	1
	Istanbul Technical University	2	0
	Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza	2	0
	University of Oklahoma	2	0
	West Virginia University	2	0
	Wichita State University	2	0
22	Clarkson University	1	1
	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	1	0
	Syracuse University	1	0
	Tel Aviv University	1	0
	Washington State University	1	0
	FH Joanneum	1	0
	Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute	1	0
	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	1	0
	Pennsylvania State University	1	0
	The City College of New York	1	0

External links

• Home page