The goal of this year’s Air Cargo Challenge 2026 was to transport the largest possible payload while achieving the highest possible flight speed. And since the competition took place in Stuttgart, the organizers chose a very fitting official cargo: cans of Spezi.
The CTU AeroLab team’s new aircraft, “MLOK,” flew superbly, and despite a chaotic start, our students maintained a solid position in the rankings from the very beginning—in the Top 10. The second flight (the fourth round overall) was the best. “MLOK” delivered an outstanding performance and even recorded the highest speed on the course. Since speed carries a huge weighting in the scoring system, it significantly improved our team’s position.
CTU AeroLab (formerly Chicken Wings ČVUT) is based at the Department of Aircraft Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague. It was founded in 2018 and currently has 12 active members. Since 2018, it has participated in five international competitions and regularly places in the top ten. Its greatest success to date was a 6th-place finish at the SAE Aero Design West competition, held in March 2022 in Los Angeles. The team’s favorite competitions include SAE Aero Design and the Air Cargo Challenge, and future plans also include the New Flying Competition, which features an autonomous flight challenge. The development of CTU AeroLab’s aircraft goes beyond the scope of the field and serves as ideal preparation for real-world projects for its members.
Translated with DeepL.com
