On April 12-14, 2024. sponsored, among others, took place in Los Angeles, USA by Lockheed Martin (manufacturer of F-16 and F-35 aircraft), ANSYS, Solid Works and Tesla, the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE Aero Design West competition, in which the team of the Academic Aviation Club of Poznan University of Technology has been participating since 2008.
The Poznan University of Technology team in the most prestigious Regular class took 2nd place in the general classification, 2nd place in the flight category and 1st place in the technical presentation category.
Thus, the students equalled the second-best result achieved in California in 2012 and 2022. The only greater achievement is the victory in the general classification of the Regular class achieved by the Academic Aviation Club of the Poznan University of Technology during the SAE Aero Design West 2018 competition.
The final result was determined by the appropriate tactics adopted by the team (appropriate selection of weights in individual flights, choice of take-off time, analysis of weather conditions, etc.). The design of the model and the technical solutions used in it were the result of systematic work and accumulation of experience resulting from previous competitions.
The Poznan team included students of the Poznan University of Technology: Adam Biber, Wojciech Bissinger, Antoni Dąbkiewicz, Marcel Kraśniewski, Mikołaj Lewandowski, Antoni Napierała, Adam Stępień and Aleksander Szotkowski. The scientific supervisor of the PUT Aero Design team was Radosław Górzeński.
SAE Aero Design is an international academic competition organized for 38 years by the American Society of Transportation Engineers Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in cooperation with, among others, with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and NASA. The task of the participants - student groups from around the world - is to design and build an airplane model, in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the organizer. In addition to preparing documentation, teams must make a technical presentation and then lift as much weight as possible with the model in flight. The competition teaches independent solving of technical, organizational and logistic problems, teamwork skills, and the art of presenting and documenting achievements. According to Professor Jerzy Nawrocki from the Poznań University of Technology, "SAE AeroDesign competitions transform education from lectures and textbooks (learning by reading) to design (learning by doing)."
The representation of the Warsaw University of Technology has participated in the competition since 1991. Since 2008 students of the Poznan University of Technology have also participated in the competition, and in subsequent years, students from the Rzeszow University of Technology, the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, the Military Aviation Academy in Dęblin and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow joined this group.
The participation of the Poznan University of Technology team was supported by the Vice-rector, Agnieszka Misztal, and the deans, Prof. Olaf Ciszak (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering), prof. Zbigniew Nadolny (Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Energy), prof. Jacek Pielecha (Faculty of Civil Engineering and Transport) and prof. Hanna Włodarkiewicz-Klimek (Faculty of Engineering Management). The start of the national team was also financially supported by the City of Poznan and Pratt & Whitney Kalisz. The Poznan Aero Club and a large group of friendly people provide logistical assistance to the team.
In September 2021, the PUT Aero Design team took part in the Teknofest Technology competition held in Turkey. Teknofest is Turkey's first technology festival, with over 100,000 participants competing in 34 categories. The ambassador of the competition is Selçuk Bayraktar, creator of, among others, TB2 drones. The Autonomous Air Waste Detection System presented by students from Poznan won the recognition of the judges and received the highest award, the Golden Performance Prize, and 3rd place in the general classification.
In April 2022, students of the Academic Aviation Club took 2nd place in the general classification of the Regular class in the SAE Aero Design West competition held in Los Angeles, USA.
In March 2023, the PUT Aero Design team was the first team from outside South America to win the SAE Aero Design Mexico competition.
See Bulletin #5 from the last day of the competition
See photos from the competition
Academic Aviation Club
