The study program International Project Engineering offers the possibility to be a part of the IP Plane project in the 6th semester. The IP Plane project is part of a course named “Integrative Project”. During the duration of the semester a team of students continue to work on the plane of the last semester by setting their goals. The focus of the project is to put into praxis the gained project management knowledge that was collected throughout the previous semester. The current project team consists of 19 students spread over five departments: The Project Office which is responsible for the project planning and the administrational tasks, the Marketing Team which promotes the project, and three construction teams (Fuselage Team, Wing Team and Engine Team) which are working on their specific area on the plane. Throughout the next weeks they will work together on the Pitts Model 12.
The first milestone presentation (M1) marked the end of the planning phase. It was held on the 13th of April and was presented to the project sponsor. Three weeks prior to the presentation the teams prepared their work-breakdown-structures including their work packages as well as their smart objectives and their individual risk analysis. Furthermore, every team had to come up with a concrete time schedule which had to be presented to the Project Office.
The Pitts Model 12 has a Russian Vedeneyev M14PF Motor. It is a nine-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled, petrol-powered radial engine. The motor needs to be fitted with an air starting system from Kimball, an oil system and a fuel system. The air pressure starting system has been provisionally attached and the oil system has already been started. For the latter the team is currently waiting for a delivery. This semester’s goal for the Engine team is to develop an engine manual and to complete the preliminary installation of the oil system – if the delivery arrives on time. Moreover, to understand the fuel system in theory, order the required parts, if these arrive within the construction phase, begin with fitting these.
This semesters Fuselage team has set its goal to install the three tanks – header, main and smoke tank. Furthermore, they intend to lay the aluminum brake lines and to screw the front metal sheet to the fuselage.
The Wing team plans to laminate all 26 wing ribs and to attach the drag wires. They are steel wire cables which stabilize the wing against outward pulling forces. Before these can be attached, exact holes need to be drilled. To accomplish these exact holes a jig/drilling device with which the drilling machine can be placed exactly on the intended place is needed. The team wants to come up with and build one of these themselves.
In the first week of April, the Marketing team took the opportunity to take part in the TIC career industrial fair on the campus of Reutlingen University to show the IP Plane project to fellow students.
We are looking forward to sharing our projects progress in the upcoming weeks!
Our Milestone 1 presentation 
The IP Plane team at work 
Our Marketing team at the TIC career industrial fair
The Fuselage team at work 
The Wing team at work 
The Engine team at work
