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

Your Voice Matters! 
6/4/2025  SAE Aero Design Series

We invite you to please take part in this SAE survey.

SAE Mentor Program 
6/4/2025  SAE Aero Design Series

SAE's New Mentoring Program is launching this July!

June 2025 CDS Action News Update 
6/3/2025  SAE Aero Design Series

Stay up to date with CDS Action News!

Want to Shape the Future of SAE? 
5/29/2025  SAE Aero Design Series

Take this short survey to guide us to the future you want to see

Student Technical Innovation Award 
5/28/2025  SAE Aero Design Series

There is still time to submit to win!