SAE Aero Design West Capstone Group
Faculty Mentor Name
Johann Dorfling, Richard Mangum
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
The SAE Aero Design West Capstone Group “MAGNUM” is a multidisciplinary team of thirteen Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering students developing a fixed-wing, remotely piloted aircraft to compete in the 2026 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Regular Class competition. This international event challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and fly a large, electrically powered, multi-motor heavy-lift aircraft without the use of composite materials.
The aircraft will be scored based on maximum payload weight, constrained by the ability to take off within 100 feet and land within 400 feet. The aircraft dimensions are confined to a span between 72 and 120 inches, a maximum length of no more than 120 inches, and a propeller diameter of no more than 12 or 9 inches, depending on the option of two or four motors. All onboard power is required to be provided from a single 2200 mAh 4S LiPo battery.
The MAGNUM team’s objective is to compete in this aerodynamic, propulsion, structural, and systems design challenge to foster professional development, technical education, and engineering collaboration within the core student team. To this end, the MAGNUM team is leveraging iterative computer-aided design (CAD) modeling, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and prototype testing to create a coherent, competition-ready aircraft. The current design is a twin-motor, high-wing aircraft with a 120-inch span and 80-inch length, a payload weight of 20 lb, and a maximum takeoff weight of 32 lb. Additionally, the team will develop technical communication and presentation skills through the submission of a competition report and on-site design reviews.
SAE Aero Design West Capstone Group
The SAE Aero Design West Capstone Group “MAGNUM” is a multidisciplinary team of thirteen Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering students developing a fixed-wing, remotely piloted aircraft to compete in the 2026 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West Regular Class competition. This international event challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and fly a large, electrically powered, multi-motor heavy-lift aircraft without the use of composite materials.
The aircraft will be scored based on maximum payload weight, constrained by the ability to take off within 100 feet and land within 400 feet. The aircraft dimensions are confined to a span between 72 and 120 inches, a maximum length of no more than 120 inches, and a propeller diameter of no more than 12 or 9 inches, depending on the option of two or four motors. All onboard power is required to be provided from a single 2200 mAh 4S LiPo battery.
The MAGNUM team’s objective is to compete in this aerodynamic, propulsion, structural, and systems design challenge to foster professional development, technical education, and engineering collaboration within the core student team. To this end, the MAGNUM team is leveraging iterative computer-aided design (CAD) modeling, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and prototype testing to create a coherent, competition-ready aircraft. The current design is a twin-motor, high-wing aircraft with a 120-inch span and 80-inch length, a payload weight of 20 lb, and a maximum takeoff weight of 32 lb. Additionally, the team will develop technical communication and presentation skills through the submission of a competition report and on-site design reviews.