The Vertical Flight Society Announces the Winners of the Inaugural Design-Build-Vertical-Flight Student Competition Share Article The Vertical Flight Society announces the winners of its inaugural Design-Build-Vertical-Flight (DBVF) Competition. The University of Michigan took first place, University of Maryland took second and the Ohio State University took third place. The Michigan Vertical Flight Technology Team from University of Michigan won 1st place in the inaugural VFS Design-Build-Vertical-Flight Student Competition. U. Michigan photo. “All of the student teams did really impressive work,” said VFS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg. “Not only did they come up with exciting aircraft designs that had to meet the demanding competition requirements, they also had to deal with all the restrictions and uncertainty caused by COVID-19."