The 3 teams making the podium in 2024/2025

The 15th edition of the Glider Project Fly-off by 1st year students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering was held on January 7, 2025, in the sports pavilion of the Students Association of Técnico. With a grand total of students’ participation of about 150, students from other Bachelor’s Degrees, Technological Physics Engineering (7), Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering (1), Applied Mathematics and Computation (1), as well as students from study plans of Isolated Curricular Units (3), were also involved in this year’s edition.

In the framework of this activity, which is part of the requirements to complete the curricular unit of Introduction to Aeronautics and Space, the students are exposed to the various stages of Aircraft Design, including conceptual, preliminary, and detailed projects of a simple XPS glider. Working in 22 competing teams of 6-7 students, they are expected to put into practice the basic concepts learned on Aerodynamics and Flight Stability in order to design, and subsequently build and fly (upon certification), their glider for maximum range.

The outcome of the competition is reflected in the students’ final grade, but the fly-off session is mainly a joyful, exciting and motivating experience where goal-attainment, self-evaluation and personal/collective development are achieved by sharing closely the passion for Aerospace Engineering together with their peers.