History
Husky Air has a long history at Michigan Tech, with previous generations of students regularly competing in SAE Aero Design and earning strong finishes at competition. One of the team’s most memorable accomplishments was building a nearly full carbon-fiber aircraft, pushing the limits of what was possible within the competition rules and becoming part of the team’s legacy as SAE later placed restrictions on the use of carbon fiber.
The original team continued competing through the 2023–2024 season before eventually becoming inactive. After a gap year without competition, Husky Air was revived as a project within Michigan Tech’s Aeronautics and Rocketry Enterprise (AERE) and returned to SAE Aero Design during the 2025–2026 season. Today, the team is working to rebuild that long competitive tradition while giving a new generation of students the opportunity to design, manufacture, test, and fly their own aircraft.
Our Goal
Husky Air’s primary goal is to design, build, test, and compete with a fully student-built aircraft at the SAE Aero Design competition. Each year, the team works through the complete engineering process, from early concepts and analysis to manufacturing, flight testing, and competition. We aim to improve not only the final aircraft, but also the way we design and build by using rapid prototyping, testing new ideas, and learning from failures early in the process.
Beyond competition, one of our biggest goals is to develop better engineers. Husky Air gives students hands-on experience with structures, aerodynamics, electronics, manufacturing, and project management in a way that is difficult to replicate in the classroom. We are continually working to expand our manufacturing capabilities, test new construction methods and aircraft configurations, and create an environment where students are encouraged to experiment, iterate, and push the limits of what the team can build.
Past Missions
Spring 2025 – Demo Plane
With spring semester of 2025 being the first semester of AERE and our Husky Air team the team spent it focusing on ensuing they could design a plane to the standards of the competition. Throughout the process the team learned and refined many skills necessary for the future of the team. While they originally planed to manufacture the plane there was not enough time in the semester so they instead tested various manufacturing techniques on sections of the plane.