ODESSA, Texas — Engineering students at UTPB have made history at the Society of Automotive Engineers Aero Design Competition in Dallas.
The group built and flew a small aircraft and won an award for best engineering design for fast unloading an aircraft against the clock with a speed of 3.5 seconds.
UTPB's team also placed eighth out of 45 international teams.
SAE officials say no first-time competitors have placed in the top ten before, making UTPB the first.
"I kinda like the underdog mentality going into the competition, knowing that we're probably expected to fail, expected to not perform as well as we did but I find that's when I perform the best and not much is expected," said team member Ramiro Andujo.