UA Hovercraft Team Preparing for Race

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A team of University of Alabama engineering students are set to race in the University Hoverbowl Challenge in Auburn March 15.

At the competition, the team will compete in a three-hour endurance race and three one-hour heat races.Though there are several underclassmen involved in the project, most of the team’s members are a part of a senior design course led by Dr. Thomas Zeiler, UA associate professor and undergraduate program coordinator of aerospace engineering and mechanics.

This is the second year students from the College of Engineering have competed with a hovercraft, amphibious vehicles that ride on a small cushion of air capable of traveling over most relatively smooth surfaces. A year ago, the Hoverclub of America hosted the first-ever University Hoverbowl Challenge at Lake Lurleen State Park near Tuscaloosa that pitted UA students against their peers at Auburn University along with amateur hovercraft enthusiasts.

This year, the race on Auburn’s campus begins at noon and will again feature amateur hovercrafts alongside two crafts each from Auburn and UA.

The team is creating a close to a 600-pound hovercraft that measures 15-feet in length and 6-feet in width. The body of the craft is sheets of plastic honeycomb panels donated by Plascore Inc. and reinforced with fiber glass.

The hovercraft has a large wooden propeller, a small Hascon fan and two engines. The first engine has seven horsepower, while the second has 27. The wooden propeller is powered by the larger engine and provides thrust and control. The second engine and small fan produces an increased air pressure beneath the hovercraft, lifting it about an inch from the ground.

The team raised almost $10,000 through grant proposals and donations, including a $5,000 outreach grant from the Alabama Space Grant Consortium. The team has also received professional advice and material donations from The Hoverclub of America, Plascore Inc., numerous professors and staff at the University along with hovercraft enthusiasts Kent Gano, Tony Burgett and Rick LeCroy.

Members of the team include:

• Justin Anderson, a senior in aerospace engineering from Louisville, Ky.
• Kaitlin Breslin, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Winter Garden, Fla.
• Virginia Brown, a post-graduate student in mechanical engineering from Montgomery
• Alex Few, a senior in aerospace engineering from Birmingham
• Macy Gibbs, a senior in aerospace engineering from Arab
• Cody Hydrick, a senior in aerospace engineering from Northport
• Zach Jones, a senior in aerospace engineering from Athens
• Brent LaForte, a senior in aerospace engineering from Sparta, Tenn.
• Lazaro Maique, a senior in aerospace engineering from Harvey, La.
• Joseph Olmstead, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Gulf Shores
• Steven Plamondon, a freshman in aerospace engineering from Fairfield, Ohio
• Austin Seiz, a senior in aerospace engineering from Louisville, Ky.
• Matthew Warren, a sophomore in aerospace engineering from Pensacola, Fl.
• Jeremiah Webb, a senior in aerospace engineering from Villa Rica, Ga.
• Jacob Wilroy, a junior in aerospace engineering from Prattville
• Andrew Wrist, a senior in aerospace engineering from Concord, N.C.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 4,500 students and more than 120 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater, Hollings, Portz, Mitchell and Truman scholars.