Last year, surrounded by 66 teams from around the world, 20 Cal Poly students held their heads high, ready to watch their hand-built aircraft take off.
The Design, Build, Fly team traveled to Van Nuys in 2025 for the international SAE Aero Design West competition, where they showed off their newest design. The competition called for a plane with a wingspan of up to 15 feet that could carry the heaviest possible payload while staying under a maximum takeoff weight of 55 pounds.
“It was exciting to see the plane take off because it brought together everyone’s hard work and dedication through the year to achieve its purpose,” said Christopher Imirian, president of Design, Build, Fly at Cal Poly.
The team had to overcome the challenge of having a majority of new members, while only a few senior members were able to share their expertise.
“Our leadership team had to balance teaching a new group of students while making progress on the plane under a tight deadline,” said Lauren Bennett, former president of Design, Build, Fly.
Despite that, the club was able to maintain a high standard of design and build quality while preparing the new members to take over next year.
On top of preparing for the annual competition, Cal Poly’s Design, Build, Fly team held a mock competition of their own, designed to give members hands-on experience with the aircraft design and build process from start to finish.
“The mock competition provides the opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of designing and building aircraft,” Imirian said. “This project is scaled down compared to the SAE Aero Design West competition and exposes members to a variety of aircraft configurations, design constraints and building materials, helping to prepare them for the challenges of next year’s competition.”
While Cal Poly didn’t place first in 2025, the group left with experience they wouldn’t get elsewhere. That knowledge will serve to their benefit while preparing for the 2026 competition.
“Everyone felt a strong sense of pride and unity knowing we were able to apply the knowledge we built together while growing as people, engineers and a team,” Imirian said.