--- title: Aerospace Engineering Teams Soar Again With Helicopter Designs at International Competition date: 2022-09-23T05:30:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/aerospace-engineering-teams-soar-again-with-helicopter-designs-at-international-competition" section: Articles --- # Aerospace Engineering Teams Soar Again With Helicopter Designs at International Competition *September 23, 2022* — by [Joanna Avery](/author/joanna-avery) > Undergrads Win, Graduate Students Place Second for Plans That Accommodate Passengers With Disabilities *Ug umd blitzen1 1920x1080 — A UMD concept for an aerial taxi that can carry a person in a wheelchair (below, left) won first place in undergraduate category at the Vertical Flight Society's student design competition. Another group of Maryland engineering students placed second in the graduate category for their design for an accessible air taxi with acoustics that blend with city soundscapes.* A University of Maryland team of engineering seniors won an international competition for its design of a highly efficient electric helicopter that would whisk passengers with physical disabilities above the scrum of road traffic. The “Blitzen” concept, inspired by the German word blitz (“lightning”) as well as the name of the mythical flying reindeer, took first place in the Vertical Flight Society’s [Student Design Competition](https://vtol.org/awards-and-contests/student-design-competition)’s undergraduate category. A second entry, “Starling,” an accessible air taxi with acoustics that blend with soundscapes, placed second in the graduate category. The university’s aerospace engineering teams consistently excel in this contest. “It took a lot of work as a team to make a fairly thorough conceptual design from the ground up, but the effort was definitely worth it,” said Samuel Allgaier ’22, a member of the winning undergraduate team. “Seeing all of our work come together in the final design was even more rewarding than I could have imagined.” The 39th annual competition, sponsored by Bell Textron, asked teams to create an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle that would accommodate passengers with reduced mobility. Fourteen academic teams from four countries submitted proposals; both of Maryland’s teams designed helicopters for one pilot and four-able-bodied passengers or two passengers with reduced mobility. *rendering of person in wheelchair boarding Blitzen helicopter* *Starling helicopter rendering* **Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community) **Tags:** [Academic Competitions](https://today.umd.edu/topic/academic-competitions), [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Disability and Accessibility](https://today.umd.edu/topic/disability-and-accessibility), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience) **Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)