Although Oklahoma State is known primarily for its focus on agriculture, this university has quite an impressive aerospace program, which has not received the recognition it deserves.

Brett Humphrey, member of Beta Theta Pi, is the campus representative for Red Bull and provided me with some insight on the Red Bull Air Race that took place last weekend in Dallas. This event is the ultimate prize for an OSU aerospace student. 

“As the student brand manager, my job is to expand the Red Bull brand on campus," Humphrey said. "One of the ways I do this is by celebrating OSU student accomplishments with Red Bull prizes. One such way was to give OSU aerospace students free tickets to the Red Bull Air Race, which is the world’s fastest motor sport. The Red Bull Air Race is also a world championship that features 12 of the world’s best race pilots in a motor sport competition that combines speed, precision and skill, as pilots navigate a low-level aerial track made up of air-filled pylons 80 feet high at speeds of up to 230 mph, while enduring forces of up to 10G.

"With the Black Team winning OSU’s Speed Fest, we found it appropriate to award them tickets to the Red Bull Air Race for all their hard work and dedication. With each two-day ticket, valued around $100, Red Bull wanted to show their appreciation towards the countless hours OSU aerospace students spend in the lab creating their planes.” 

Erin Westbrook, member of Phi Lamb, offered abundant information about the aerospace program and how to get involved, as well as what the Red Bull Air Race means to aerospace students. “Getting tickets to the Red Bull air race is a really cool prize to win because, hello, it's planes," Westbrook said. "It's fast planes, and it's aerobatic planes. Getting recognition for your hours of hard work, many sleepless nights, and long-suffering GPA is really an incredible thing. Those tickets probably make you feel pretty good!”   

Westbrook also stated that Calculus I, II, and III, Differential Equations, and Engineering Math Analysis are just a few of classes one must take before being able to take the first aerospace class, and this is usually taken during the spring of a student’s junior year. It is also required that Stability/Control, Jet Propulsion, as well as Aerospace Structures are taken before students begin their senior design. 

“Basically, it's not for the faint of heart,” Westbrook said. “It takes a lot of work to get to the hardest class in your curriculum! But it's worth it. You get to participate in the hardest aircraft competition out there. What you end up with is the coolest thing OSU produces. We call these little RC style planes, UAVs, which stands for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. We do composite body and wings, which means we use carbon fiber and fiberglass to make our parts and planes. They start out as big rolls of fabric. You literally go up to the roll and cut off the size you want. Then you put it in the mold you made, throw in some glue (it's actually Epoxy), then let it sit for half a day while you suck all the air out, then glue all the parts together and you have a plane! It's precision crafting.” 

Westbrook went on to talk about Speedfest, which is also an important part of the OSU aerospace program. “Speedfest is actually our capstone project that you take during your last or second to last semester, so it's seniors only," he said. "Any age college student is welcome to come volunteer on the planes, which means taking orders from the teams on some stuff that needs to get done, like preparing molds. Most things are fixable if you have a few hours. A lot of the grad students talk about the 60-plus hour working weeks happening. You also have to wait at least 12 hours every time you use the epoxy, and planes perform based on how well they're made. You can't have any scratches, gaps, misalignments, or anything like that.

"Basically, if you like details, you'd love it. I love it. OSU has worked really hard to make the Aerospace Engineering department well respected. Speedfest began because of how thoroughly we dominated the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics competition. It got too easy, so we made a harder contest. Rocket science is pretty cool and you can come see it in action if you come to OSU’s Speedfest!”