Over the winter break, the UCI DBF team worked on developing the competition aircraft. Members who were available over the break worked on testing subcomponents, solidfying integration plans, and analysis of the overall design. After thoughtful discussion with advisors,  the team concluded that our plane was overbuilt and that we could consider other manufacturing techniques and materials that could help us optimize our score. As a result, week 1 was focused on developing and testing new concepts for structural components.

During week 1, the team redesigned the fuselage shape and made accommodations for passenger housing as well as electronics. Furthermore, lighter materials were used to reduce the weight of the overall aircraft. Validation tests were performed to ensure the structural integrity of the fuselage. Moving forward, the team hopes to test fly the plane and understand its performance.