On the heels of the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma, students at Oklahoma State University (OSU) are designing storm-chasing planes that could help to better understand such natural disasters, the Oklahoman reported.
Professor Jamey Jacob's design class designed unnamed aerial vehicles to fly into thunderstorms and collect data.
Jacob told the Oklahoman he started working on such a project in the late 1980's when he was an undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma.
"It's always been on a back burner," he said.
According to the Oklahoman, the project never gained traction due to funding and because the Federal Aviation Administration would have to test the planes.
The class is designed to take teams of engineers (students of the course) through an entire design process by starting with a blank sheet of paper and ending with a concrete design. The class also challenged its students to come up with a solution to a real-life problem many Oklahomans face.
Steven Lowrimore led "the Barnstormers," one of the class' three engineering teams. He told the Oklahoman that their main focus in designing a storm-chasing plane was to made sure it could endure strong winds and anything that may be flying through the air.
Click here to read "Oklahoma State University students design unmanned storm-chasing planes in Stillwater" and see a photo of the Barnstormer's design
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