SAE AERO DESIGN

The SAE Aero Design competition is intended to provide undergraduate and graduate engineering students with a real-life engineering challenge. The competition has been designed to provide exposure to the kinds of situations that engineers face in their real-life work environment. First and foremost a design competition, students will find themselves performing trade studies and making compromises to arrive at a design solution that will optimally meet the mission requirements while still conforming to the configuration limitations.

The importance of interpersonal communication skills is sometimes overlooked, yet both written and oral communication skills are vital in the engineering workplace. To help teams develop these skills, a high percentage of a team's score is devoted to the design report and the oral presentation required in the competition.

SAE Aero Design features three classes of competition-Regular, Advanced, and Micro. Regular Class continues to be the class with the purpose to develop the fundamental understanding of flight. We recommended Regular Class for first year teams interested in competing. Advanced Class requires teams to have a systems approach to the design while integrating several engineering disciplines: aeronautical, mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers. The ultimate end goal for this class is autonomous flight with a "purpose" decided every year by rules committee members. Micro Class teams are required to make trades between two potentially conflicting requirements, carrying the highest payload fraction possible, while simultaneously pursuing the lowest empty weight possible.

SERIES NEWSFEED

Webinar tomorrow: Have you registered for the Simulation Challenge launch? 
10/21/2026  SAE Aero Design Series

MathWorks and SAE International have launched the MathWorks SAE Aero Design Simulation Challenge for 2027. Your team flies its aircraft in a virtual environment to check whether the design is ready before you build it. To enter, you submit two simulated flights and a four-page engineering report. Cash prizes go up to USD 500.

Rules are out now: MathWorks SAE Aero Design Simulation Challenge 2027 
10/16/2026  SAE Aero Design Series

Complete virtual flight missions, gain hands-on simulation experience, and prepare your team for SAE Aero Design 2027

NEW Beyond the Competition Podcast Episode 
10/15/2026  SAE Aero Design Series

Join us for an in depth conversation about EV Batteries

The MathWorks Aero Design Simulation Challenge 2027 is officially open! 
10/6/2026  SAE Aero Design Series

Complete virtual flight missions, gain hands-on simulation experience, and prepare your team for SAE Aero Design 2027.

Virtual Design Report or Presentations Q&A Postponed 
10/5/2026  SAE Aero Design Series

We will be postponing this Q&A to a later date