Applied Aeronautics - Albatross Design Contest - Blogs

Applied Aeronautics December 26, 2014 at 1:08pm

Thanks! Us as well. We really can't wait to get them to everyone. The black one is sort of a one off we wanted done. Not the ideal color scheme in its own right so we're going to give it some bright color contrasts.

We've already had the moulds made (many months ago) and we have been using different third parties to make the specific components to the same quality as what will be mass produced. We've had our mass production manufacturing partners make them from start to finish to make sure the quality is what we expect and we're very pleased. In house construction would be fun but unrealistic at this point until we had a better understanding of quantity and the necessary tooling we'd need to get them out in a timely manner. Quality is always paramount so we are sticking to that but building them entirely in house would likely increase the cost which has been a fine balance we believe we tackled.

We will let you know when they're ready :) Hope you had a great holiday as well.

Ryan

The Applied Aero Team

Applied Aeronautics December 22, 2014 at 3:47pm

Hey Dan,

Just finishing up (a bit difficult with the holidays but we are still working diligently) - Here are two recent photos of what we have been making sure is up to our specs and it has taken many incarnations but we are really happy with the results. Plenty more to show soon but as you can see from these, we increased the landing gear strength greatly from the initial prototypes as well as made several changes to minimize any effects on the aerodynamics.

Applied Aeronautics December 6, 2014 at 5:21pm

No offense was taken at all! We like and appreciate the communication and feedback and are pleased to hear you're excited! The "soon" has been said because we hate telling people it will ready the Xth and it's not, that's all.

As for development and info we're in the process of putting something together in all aspects to show. From the production perspective as it currently stands there are only two final stress tests to be done on the last version of the airframe. We are really pushing hard for this and I can assure you it will be a reality, not something that faded away and never got made. As for its uses, given its size, construction and characteristics, its capabilities are quite robust so we thank you for the kind words!

Applied Aeronautics December 6, 2014 at 4:57pm

Dan, While a fun game, we can assure you this is not the case. We had a lot of discussions regarding showcasing the development and ultimately we planned to but the testing, building, designing and altering things (all the normal stuff) to our standard became all consuming. We have spent the vast majority of our time testing and listening to feedback of the people flying them, as well as the input from the forums. We have a great development story following the different iterations this has taken. From the initial prototypes we built to the final specification ones of all the different models. We tested them at speed, crashed a few on purpose, did some overly hard landings on runways as well as unprepared sites, all to make sure you'd receive something great. We're a meticulous group and we think you'd rather receive something that has all the kinks worked out ahead of time. Couple that with the fact that the Albatross is the name of a line of airframes, not just one as originally planned so testing has taken threefold.

All that said, the airframes are great! There are multiple ones already made and in use, we've just just put showcasing the development on the back burner as this has progressed. You'll be seeing something from us soon, that I can assure you and we hope you'll think it will have been worth the wait. It's a very versatile airframe, great to fly and we think everyone will really like it. Additionally, we really appreciate all the patience.

The Applied Aero team

Applied Aeronautics December 1, 2014 at 6:56pm

First off, we hope you all enjoyed the recent holiday, some good family time, and maybe even got a deal or two on Black Friday or Cyber Monday! On the same note, we apologize for the lack in activity recently.

We have spent a long time discussing and deciding the contest winner. There were soooo many great proposals, making it very hard to choose. So what are we to do about it? Well.... We came to the conclusion that we should compromise and list both a winner and a runner up!

Without further adieu:

Congratulations to our winner Trevor Strand! His design incorporated great visibility, as well as some insight on safety aspects, such as navigation based colored wingtips. Not to mention, it is very aesthetically pleasing. Travis will be receiving the grand prize consisting of a free airframe with the final color scheme.

Now I am sure you all are wondering what we meant by runner up. Well, we decided we really liked certain aspects of our next contestant's designs, and some of them we simply couldn't get out of our minds. So much so, we couldn't help but blend, and implement certain key aspects into the final design.

Our runner up is Aaron Murray! He will be receiving 25% off the purchase price.

The final design will incorporate Trevor's wing, parts of the fuselage, and the Applied logo on the tail. The fuselage and tail will incorporate elements from Aaron’s design.

Below are the pictures:

Trevor:

And of Course Aaron's side view of the fuselage that will serve as inspiration:

Thanks again everyone for ALL of your submissions! We had some great success, and some amazing designs!

Trevor and Aaron, I will be contacting you very shortly via email.

Stay tuned for the next BIG update, and thanks again from all of us here at Applied Aeronautics!

Hans Miller November 26, 2014 at 1:29am

Chirp, chirp, chirp :-)

Applied Aeronautics November 11, 2014 at 8:07pm

We just wanted to thank everyone for sending in and posting all their designs. We're going to go through everything in the next few days and let everyone know who the winner is. Again, we can't thank everyone enough for participating and look forward to not only posting a winner but also providing an update for everyone as we prepare for launch.

The Applied Aero Team

Mamoon Syed November 10, 2014 at 4:57pm

Last day, so I figured I'd give it another shot. Didn't like my old design very much so I figured I'd tone it down a bit (iffy on the whole visibility thing though). This is my second entry, so if that's against the rules, feel free to disqualify me. Was a fun contest at any rate though, I think we should get more of these. Just my 2 cents.