Asterix and the Bronze Age: a new FME student plane comes third from the USA

Third place overall and even silver in the flight category was won by the students of the Chicken Wings team at a competition in the USA. The student team from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at BUT participated in SAE Aero Design, which took place on April 4–6 in California, for the third time. And this time, thanks to the Asterix aircraft, they brought home their best placement in the competition so far.

Asterix at SAE Aero Design 2025. | Author: Mark Miller

“The name of the aircraft was quite clear this time. Two years ago, we flew at SAE Aero Design with a model named Obelix. This year's aircraft is a bit smaller, and we also hoped it would perform better than its 'bigger brother', so we named it Asterix,” says Filip Zubaľ, leader of the Chicken Wings team and a student at FME.

Asterix did justice to its comic book namesake and pleasantly surprised with its speed and agility. “The specific task in the 'micro' category was water transportation. In addition, the aircraft had to meet certain parameters. Points were awarded not only for the water transported but also for wingspan, empty aircraft weight, and takeoff distance. The biggest bonus was for taking off within three meters, which we managed—and that helped us secure a beautiful second place in the flight category and third place overall,” Zubaľ explains.

Chicken Wings team at SAE Aero Design 2025. | Author: Chicken Wings Archive

The competition featured 66 teams from around the world in three categories. In the 'micro' category, where the BUT students competed, 22 teams from China to Brazil took part, including teams from the USA. Four students traveled from Brno to the competition, but the entire team of more than twenty members had been working on Asterix for months. “It's always hard to choose who will attend the competition—we try to consider the dedication of team members. Unfortunately, competitions in the USA are logistically and financially demanding. It wouldn't be possible without the support of the faculty and sponsors—this year, a key sponsor was PBS Group,” Zubaľ says gratefully.

Just a Blank Sheet of Paper

Brno's “chickens,” as the Chicken Wings team is nicknamed, had been working on the aircraft design since September. “That’s usually when we decide which competition we’ll attend, followed by the design phase. We always begin with a thorough analysis of the rules to know what’s required and how to score as many points as possible. Then comes the most creative part—we start with a blank sheet of paper and really have to come up with the entire aircraft from scratch. With Asterix, we used a delta wing for the first time,” describes Zubaľ.

The mentioned delta wing can be imagined as a triangle. It has unique aerodynamic properties and construction advantages, but—as is often the case—also its complexities. “Delta wings are very difficult to calculate. That’s why we had to run various experiments, especially in the wind tunnel, where we tested several designs. Thanks to that, we obtained important data and then evaluated what would be best for the competition task,” says Zubaľ. Even though each team approaches the solution differently, the best teams often converge on similar solutions that best fit the task. “In our category, the winning team was from China, and they also had a delta wing,” he adds.

The students then built a prototype to test the chosen concept in real conditions. “After successfully flying the prototype, we began working on the actual construction and 3D modeling of the final aircraft design. That was around December–January. From that point on, we just tuned and adjusted discrepancies between the model and reality to make everything work properly,” describes Zubaľ, who is leading the team for the first season, although he has been working with the “chickens” since 2022. “Since I’m currently doing my PhD, I enjoy research and experimental testing the most. Team members get the chance to experience and learn something new that isn’t usually seen in regular coursework. And of course, competitions bring lots of experiences, and it’s great to see that the aircraft we built flies and performs well,” says Zubaľ.

The team won 3rd place in the overall ranking and 2nd place in the flight section. | Author: Student photoclub Technika Brno

The team is currently doing well, but since there’s never enough skilled hands, Filip Zubaľ invites all interested students to come check out Chicken Wings. “Of course, we have students from the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at FME, but also from other areas—like Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering or Energy Engineering. And we gladly welcome people from other BUT faculties too. The only thing we require is the desire to get involved,” concludes Zubaľ, adding that next year the team is considering a competition in Stuttgart, Germany… or maybe back in the USA?

Thanks to all the sponsors for supporting the Chicken Wings team, especially PBS Group.

Source: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, BUT