On Friday, April 28, 2006 the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering held its annual Aerospace Engineering Student Day. Three senior design teams,called Hyperion, Nemesis, and Zephyrus , comprised of students who selected the aircraft design option - presented their aircrafts to family, friends, AE faculty and guest judges at Talley Student Center that morning.

The 2005-2006 aerospace seniors designed, analyzed, built and flew jet powered, remote controlled aircraft which met several given requirements.  The primary requirement for this year's senior design was that the aircraft have excellent handling qualities throughout all flight regimes, including post-stall.  The three teams designed their aircraft from scratch, including analysis and experiments in aerodynamics, structures, stability and controls, and performance. Each team gave presentations throughout the fall semester, including a Proposal, and Preliminary and Critical Design Reviews.  Once the aircraft were approved and built, they passed through a First Flight Readiness Review, followed by a battery of test flights in order to prove that they met the requirements given at the beginning of the course.

The aerospace senior design class also included a space option senior design team, which conducted research on the Tumbleweed Mars rover. The Tumbleweed Earth Demonstrator ,(TED) is an Earth prototype of a Mars Tumbleweed, which is designed to collect data as it is propelled across the surface of Mars by wind. This year's project was based on earlier Tumbleweed demonstrators, TED1 and TED 2, built by past aerospace seniors at NC State.

The AE picnic was held at Perkins Field in Butner , NC in the afternoon. MAE faculty, staff, students, family, friends, and guests attended. Picnic guests were treated to outstanding flight demonstrations for all three planes. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) NCSU Student Chapter hosted the picnic with a catered barbeque.