Harrison resident Clare McManus, a student at Fairfield University’s School of Engineering, and three classmates won this year’s Dean’s Award for their design of a lightweight, affordable aircraft.
According to a release from the university, the plane is powered by a Yamaha motorcycle engine and meets Federal Aviation Administration standards for flight certification.
“I believe we won because we used our passion for engineering to create something that clearly showed the hours of dedication and hard work we put into the project,” McManus said in the release.
The design earned the four students—McManus, John Burke, Kevin Richard and Neil Rodrigues—a $3,000 grant from NASA.
While the plane is not yet flight-ready, the school said, it will likely be prepared for take off in the next school year.
