Held from 6–8 March 2026 in Lakeland, Florida (USA), the competition was organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) with support from leading aerospace companies, including Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-16 and F-35 aircraft. The event brought together university teams from around the world to compete in the design, construction, and flight performance of unmanned aircraft.
Competing in the highly competitive Regular Class, the Poznan University of Technology team outperformed 35 international teams to secure first place overall as well as first place in the Flight category. This achievement matches the University's previous best result, achieved in California in 2018. Unlike in 2018, however, the 2026 aircraft was piloted by a student from the University's own Academic Aviation Club (AKL).
The winning team consisted of Agata Chojnacka, Antoni Dąbkiewicz, Kajetan Michalak, Marcel Kraśniewski, Mikołaj Lewandowski (pilot), Antoni Paprocki, Aleksandra Paśko, and Kacper Zabojski (team captain). The academic supervisor of the PUT Aero Design team was Dr Radosław Górzeński.
The team presented an unmanned aircraft featuring:
- a 304 cm wingspan,
- an empty weight of 6.5 kg,
- a payload capacity of approximately 15 kg,
- a lightweight truss-frame plywood structure covered with film,
- aluminium wing spars,
- a Selig airfoil with winglets,
- two TMotor electric motors powered by a LiPo 4S 2000 mAh battery,
- and a cruising speed of approximately 12 m/s.
Website of team: http://www.aerodesign.put.poznan.pl/
Live updates: http://www.aerodesign.put.poznan.pl/biuletyny/
Competition website: https://saeaerodesign.com/
The competition attracted teams from India, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United States, and Slovenia.
For more than 40 years, SAE Aero Design has been one of the world's leading academic aerospace engineering competitions. Student teams are challenged to design, build, document, present, and successfully fly an aircraft capable of carrying the greatest possible payload while meeting strict competition requirements. Beyond technical excellence, the competition develops participants' project management, teamwork, problem-solving, communication, and engineering design skills.
Prof. Jerzy Nawrocki of Poznan University of Technology summarized the educational value of the competition:
"Competitions such as SAE Aero Design transform engineering education from 'learning by reading' into 'learning by doing'."
The Poznan University of Technology team has participated in SAE Aero Design since 2008, continuing a strong tradition of Polish success in the competition.
The team's participation forms part of the project "Design and Construction of Unmanned Aircraft for International Academic Competitions (2025–2026)", funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the programme "Support for Students in Enhancing Their Competencies and Skills." Additional financial and organizational support has been provided by Poznan University of Technology, its Faculties of Environmental and Energy Engineering and Civil and Transport Engineering, the Poznań Aero Club, the City of Poznań, and numerous industry partners.
Following their victory in Florida, the team will continue competing internationally throughout 2026 at:
- Aero Design Mexico (Querétaro, Mexico),
- SAE Aero Design West (Fort Worth, Texas, USA),
- AUVSI SUAS (Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA),
- and TeknoFest (Şanlıurfa, Türkiye).
