The Colorado DBF team with the aircraft at the Tucson fly-off

Meet the team

The people building the plane

Eleven student leads and one faculty advisor run the 2026 to 2027 program. Every one of them will talk to you about joining, and most of them were new members a year ago.

Officers

Running the program

Sean HarringtonProject ManagerSenior, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Caproni Stipasean.harrington@colorado.edu

Ian van de LindtChief EngineerSenior, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Boeing 777X-9ian.vandelindt@colorado.edu

Aadhit GopinathTreasurer and Chief Financial OfficerGraduate student, Mechanical Engineering. B.S. Aerospace, CU '23Favorite aircraft · Starr Bumble Bee IIaadhit.gopinath@colorado.edu

Subteam leads

Who to find on a Sunday

Each lead owns a piece of the aircraft. Find the one whose subteam sounds like you and say hello at a general meeting.

DamienAerodynamics LeadAerospace Engineering, Computer Science minorFavorite aircraft · SR-72

JayAerodynamics and Documentation LeadJunior, Aerospace Engineering. Applied Math and Computer Science minorsFavorite aircraft · SR-71 Blackbird

Justin YaungStructures LeadSophomore, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Curtiss P-40

Ryan Aba RiebliStructures and Mission LeadSophomore, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Boeing 777-300ER

Kareem AhmedAvionics and Telemetry LeadJunior, Mechanical EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Lockheed U-2

Dariel MoralesManufacturing LeadJunior, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · F-22

Tyler BriningIntegration and Fabrication LeadSenior, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Boeing 777

Dinuka HannadigeTesting LeadJunior, Aerospace EngineeringFavorite aircraft · Airbus A350

Faculty advisor

Smead Aerospace

Prof. John MahFaculty AdvisorAssociate Teaching Professor, Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciencesjohn.mah@colorado.edu Faculty profile

How it fits together

Project ManagerSean Harrington

Chief EngineerIan van de Lindt

Treasurer / CFOAadhit Gopinath

AerodynamicsDamien · Jay

Structures & MissionJustin · Ryan

Avionics & TelemetryKareem

ManufacturingDariel · Tyler · Dinuka

What each subteam does

Next step

Want your face up here next year?

Come to a Sunday meeting, pick a subteam, and stay a year. Most of the leads above did exactly that.

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