Tampa Bay brothers visit TPA after winning FAA contest
The "Aviator Bros," a teen trio from Lutz, met with officials and got a behind-the-scenes look at Tampa International Airport after placing first in the FAA’s Airport Design Challenge.
Three Tampa Bay brothers who recently won an FAA student airport design competition made a special visit to Tampa International Airport last week to meet their real-life engineering counterparts.
The Patel brothers – Shaan, 16; Sahil, 15; and Krishiv, 13 – came to TPA on January 10 to meet members of the Airport Planning and Development team and present their winning entry in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Design Challenge.
They also got a special behind-the-scenes tour of TPA, including the Airport Operations Center, SkyCenter One office building, airfield and baggage handling system.
It was a dream come true for a trio of true aviation fans.
“Growing up, I used to love making model airports and collecting model planes,” Shaan Patel said. “Now planes have become a part of me, and I love it so much. Being able to come to TPA and see all this after all our effort is fantastic.”
The Airport Design Challenge is an annual competition in which students from kindergarten through 12th grade design virtual airports in Minecraft based on guidance from FAA aerospace and engineering experts.
Categories are split between K-6th and 7th-12th for both Primary and Non-Primary Airports. The Patels won first place in the Primary Airport design category for grades 7-12, calling their team the Aviator Bros.
Students who sign up for the program meet aviation professionals, engage with other designers and learn about the aviation industry. The designers are encouraged (but not required) to focus on a local airport to more easily learn about FAA specifications for their airport designs, with instructional modules on topics such as airport layout, pavement and lighting, structures and ideas for innovative growth.
The Patels, who live in Lutz, chose Tampa International Airport as the basis for their design, adding more details to expand what their airport offered. They included unique restaurants, a garden and observation deck on top of the Economy Parking Garage, and easy access to a cargo port with a base for delivery drones as part of the airport.
Smitha Radhakrishnan, TPA’s Executive Vice President of Planning & Development and Maintenance, said during an hourlong team meeting with the Aviator Bros that she was impressed by the trio’s attention to detail and creative additions, encouraging them to keep up the hard work as they explored future careers.
“Stick to your passion, because you have a lot of opportunities in aviation,” Radhakrishnan said. “You’ve definitely raised the bar for this contest, so I can’t wait to see what you guys are going to be up to next.”
The Airport’s Planning & Development team asked the Patels several questions about how they built their virtual airport, which was astonishingly accurate. The boys split up the work, breaking up designing the Main Terminal, Airsides, interiors, and runways and taxiways to make the work more manageable.
The teamwork paid off, especially because they entered the competition close to deadline and finished their work in about a month.
“We grew up flying out of TPA, and this challenge has really extended our view of the whole airport,” Sahil Patel said. “We learned not only about the architecture, but also the lines, the lights the runways and taxiways. It was amazing. It was an eye-opener.”
The extensive tours also allowed the boys and the rest of their family to see parts of the Airport not normally open to the public.
“I think what’s so nice is how modern these buildings are, not just the terminal and the airsides but including this one,” Krishiv said of the SkyCenter One office building, headquarters for the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, which manages and operates TPA and three general aviation airports. “There’s just so much going on that you don’t see when you’re traveling.”
The Aviator Bros were among about 1,300 students from around the world who registered for the 2024 challenge. The student entries are reviewed by volunteer FAA employees across the nation who judge each submission on creativity, innovation, technical accuracy and other criteria.
Students also must create a final presentation, a narrated video approximately five minutes long showing the project’s creativity and should provide the judges with a broad perspective of the airport they’ve chosen.
You can view the Aviator Bros’ presentation here: https://youtu.be/8jD1jfSqMHk?si=IHvKDLuD0RdOioNt
“The FAA congratulates the 2024 Airport Design winners including the Aviator Bros for their exceptional creativity, innovation, and teamwork,” the FAA said about the team in a statement. “The winners’ achievements reflect the hard work and passion that will drive the future of aviation forward, and we celebrate their success with great pride.”
The 2025 Airport Design Challenge is currently open; students can register online at www.faa.gov/adc.
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