Success for AerGo

Over the weekend, the AerGo team successfully tested their one-seater aircraft.

After a hectic week of preparation, the team tested the aircraft on Friday evening on the beach at the Zandmotor. According to the project lead, Julian Kupski, a PhD researcher in the Structural Integrity & Composites Group, “The glider was acting surprisingly stable and forgiving, but soon we lost rigidity in the structure as several connections got loose over time.”

However, at around 21:30, with the dark settling in, the team’s lightest pilot, Yue Mao (who weighs only 49 kilos) was able to make a series of successful hops.

The evening was a lot of fun, the aircraft is in good shape and moreover nobody got hurt

AerGo is a student team which is attempting to build the world's lightest powered personal aircraft. It started out as a student idea, designed during the 2017 Fall DSE, but the group have moved on to creating a prototype.

In the future, they aim to develop a powered seaplane version of the AerGo with a total mass of approximately 50 kg which can take off and land from water and use less than 5kW while cruising.

Their prototype will be hung in the foyer of the Faculty during the first week of classes and the group will be featured during the opening ceremony for the academic year, highlighting Dean Henri Werij’s focus of sustainable aviation.