The Chicken Wings team from BUT won the prestigious SAE Aero Design competition in the U.S. The students brought home the gold from Texas

“BUT! BUT!” chanted a nine-member student delegation from Brno as they received the first-place award at the official ceremony in Fort Worth, USA. The Chicken Wings team from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Brno University of Technology dominated this year’s international SAE Aero Design West 2026 competition in the “Micro” category, achieving a historic victory among 21 teams from around the world. The students returned to the Czech Republic this week.

The SAE Aero Design competition is among the most prestigious student aviation competitions in the world. It is organized annually by SAE International in cooperation with Lockheed Martin, aiming to expose students to real-world challenges in aerospace engineering. This year’s event took place from April 17 to 19 in the U.S. state of Texas and featured a total of 73 teams divided into three categories – Regular, Advanced, and Micro.

Students from BUT competed specifically in the “Micro” category. Their task was to design and build a radio-controlled aircraft capable of taking off within a runway shorter than three meters, transporting liquid water, while also meeting strict requirements for minimizing wingspan and limiting propulsion power to 450 watts. The competition assignment therefore required finding a balance between low weight, high payload capacity, and aircraft efficiency.

“The competition is not just about flying. Teams must go through the complete aircraft development process – from initial design through construction to technical documentation and presentation before an expert jury. Students thus experience situations commonly handled by professional aerospace engineers,” explained the SAE Aero Design organizers.

This year, the team built on last year’s success, when they brought home a bronze medal from the United States. This time, however, the students aimed even higher and succeeded in winning. Dozens of team members worked for many months on the development of the competition aircraft, with a selected nine-member delegation ultimately traveling to the USA.

“It is always difficult to decide who will attend the competition. We try to consider mainly each member’s level of commitment. Competitions in the USA are logistically and financially very demanding, and participation would not be possible without the support of the faculty and our partners,” said team captain and FME student Filip Zubaľ.

After returning from the competition, he did not hide his joy or emotions. “I am proud of our team, of every member who contributed to achieving such an amazing success. The journey was not easy at all. We had to overcome many obstacles, but together we managed to handle them, and I firmly believe we also learned something new. We want to push boundaries, learn new skills, meet new people, and above all enjoy the experience,” said Filip Zubaľ.

The Chicken Wings student team has been operating under the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at BUT since 2014. It focuses on the development, design, and construction of unique radio-controlled aircraft for international competitions. Just one year after its founding, the team participated in its first international contest, Air Cargo Challenge 2015 in Stuttgart, Germany. Since then, they have regularly represented Brno and the Czech Republic at prestigious competitions around the world.

This year’s triumph in Texas confirms that Brno engineering students rank among the world’s top in university-level aerospace engineering. The gold from SAE Aero Design is also the team’s greatest achievement in this competition to date.

Recording of the award ceremony on YouTube (BUT team at 21:49).

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Author	Mgr. Iveta Hovorková
Published	2026-04-30 10:01
Link	https://www.vut.cz/en/but/f19528/d326897