A group of researchers from the University of Bristol will be among those taking the first ever flight from Bristol International Airport to the United States this week.

The research group from the Bristol Centre for Applied Nonlinear Mathematics will be travelling to an international conference in Utah via Newark on Friday (May 20th).

The conference has been organised by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) and will see up to 800 delegates attending.

The Bristol University team will be there to talk about BLADE – the Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering.

BLADE is the University’s dedicated testing facility for mechanical failure and earthquake damage based in the Queen’s Building.

It has Europe’s most advanced dynamics engineering facilities with internationally renowned experts across all engineering disciplines.

Among the University group on board the first Continental Airlines flight from Lulsgate will be Dr Eddie Wilson, from the Department of Engineering Mathematics.

He said: “My colleagues are really looking forward to our conference and flying out of Bristol is an added bonus. I think that in the future we will be using this new service on a regular basis.”