About Design/Build/Fly

The 2024-2025 Design/Build/Fly Competition will celebrate its 29th year. Started in 1996 by the AIAA Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design, Design Engineering and Flight Test Technical Committees as an opportunity for university students to apply real-world aircraft design experience by giving them the opportunity to validate their analytic studies.

Student teams will design, fabricate, and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio-controlled aircraft which can best meet the specified mission profile. The goal is a balanced design possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.

To encourage innovation and maintain a fresh design challenge for each new year’s participants, the design requirements and performance objective will be updated for each new contest year. The changes will provide new design requirements and opportunities, while allowing for application of technology developed by the teams from prior years.

For questions, please contact us at studentprogram@aiaa.org.

The DBF organizing committee has identified TIMPA Field in Tucson, AZ, as the site for the 29th DBF, due to take place 10–13 April 2025. The mission for this year is to design, build, and test an airplane to execute an X-1 Supersonic Flight Test Program, including the launch of an X-1 test vehicle. Download the DBF Draft Rules to learn more.

Important Dates:

• 15 October 2024, 8 a.m. US ET: Proposal Submission Window Open
• 31 October 2024, 5 p.m. US ET: Proposal Submission Window Closed
• 22 November 2024, (no later than): Team Notifications Sent
• 1 February 2025, 8 a.m. US ET: Final Report Submission Window Open
• 21 February 2025, 5 p.m. US ET: Final Report Submission Window Closed
• 10–13 April 2025: Design/Build/Fly Competition Flyoff (TIMPA Field, Tucson, AZ)

NEW FOR 2025 – Participant Registration Requirement: All attendees to the DBF Flyoff will be required to register for this event. This is required to comply with AIAA attendance rules and regulations for forums and large events. There will be no charge for attendance. More information will be provided prior to the flyoff.

 MEMBERSHIP: All team members must have a valid AIAA Student Membership. Membership numbers of all team members must be submitted with the team rosters during the initial proposal round. You may join at any time by going to the AIAA Student Membership website. Membership numbers are provided instantly upon payment of membership fees.

 SPORTSMANSHIP: All teams and students participating in DBF are expected to uphold the highest standards of sportsmanship during the competition and abide by the  AIAA Code of Ethics. Attempts to intentionally violate the rules or negatively impact the performance of other teams will not be tolerated. Penalties for violations will be decided by the Contest Administration and may range from a warning to a loss of flight score up to disqualification from the current and future competitions.   

* As stated in the rules, no technical rules questions will be answered by the DBF Director until after the close of the entry period. You must submit your technical questions after 31 Oct.

DBF 2024 Winning Teams

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