This main challenge of this Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) competition is to fly a radio-controlled aircraft designed in accordance with very strict rules set by the organizers and able to make a complete flight (takeoff, execution of a flight circuit, landing) and to carry the most extra weight.

Requirements for competing in the Regular Class included the use of an OS.61 FX engine with an unmodified muffler. Lord of the Wing, weighing eight pounds, lifted a 34-pound load to win the first-place trophy. There were 44 teams from 37 universities in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and Australia competing in the 2004 SAE Aero Design West Competition.

This is the second time in 10 years that a Polytechnique team -- and by the same token a Québec university -- has won first prize in the competition. This victory is the result of a real team effort by students Francis Tremblay, Jean-Gabriel Morin-Joannette, Paul-André Poirier, Anabel Raymond, Étienne Bilodeau, Simon Baillargeon, Marc-André Bussières, Guillaume Champoux and Melina Raptis. The nine students put a year of time and hard work into designing and building their prototype.

Founded in 1873, École Polytechnique de Montréal is one of Canada's leading engineering institutions, in terms of both teaching and research. It is the largest engineering school in Québec as far as its student population and the scope of its research activity are concerned. École Polytechnique provides instruction in 11 engineering specialties and is responsible for more than one-quarter of university research in engineering in Québec. The school has 220 professors and nearly 6,000 students. Its operating budget is $72 million, in addition to a $40-million research and infrastructure fund. Polytechnique is affiliated with Université de Montréal.

Information: 
Chantal Cantin, Director
Communications and Public Relations
École Polytechnique de Montréal
Tel. (514) 340-4711, ext. 4970