After placing 3rd on the proposal out of 113 accepted teams and 142 valid entries the team had lots of momentum going to competition in Tucson, AZ.
The plane was flying well and the team was confident we would perform well.

However, on the first day of competition disaster stuck and the plane suffered a devastating crash. Little was left intact.

Luckily, most parts had spares and the rebuilding began the night. One part we did not have any spares for were the 3D printed motor mounts, so with the help of reddit we found a man in Phoenix — 2 hours away — who had a 3D printer capable of completing the job and was willing to print the mounts for us. With minimal sleep, by the afternoon the next day the entire plane had been completely rebuilt and we were back in action.

The plane easily completed the ground mission as well as mission 1 & 2 over the next day. Despite considerable setbacks, things were looking good and team was poised for a good placement given a good mission 3 score.

It was now the last day of competition and only mission 3 needed to be completed. This mission involved flying laps and dropping “bombs” (nerf footballs) during each lap. Unfortunately, upon takeoff, the plane stalled and the pilot lost control. The plane took a hard left over the large tent housing all of the teams and crashed hard into the parking lot, directly into USC’s team van.

Despite all the setbacks and destruction, ultimately the team placed a very respectable 29th out of 104 teams.

The team finished the trip with some nice hiking before flying back home to OSU. Go Bucks.