In its third year, the competition engages students in a national effort to revitalize the U.S. general aviation sector and seeks to educate students on the importance of general aviation for business and personal use as well as its economic importance. The national goals for rebuilding U. S. general aviation offer open-ended design challenges which can provide the basis for a quality educational experience, organizers said. Student designs are judged by a panel of experts from industry, government and academia. All teams receive written evaluations of their design packages.
General aviation includes all flight operations except military services and commercial airlines.
The competition is coordinated on behalf of NASA and the FAA by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium.