CTU AeroLab

03/07/2026 | That’s a wrap on ACC 2026 in Stuttgart! 🏁✈️

We gave it absolutely everything we had on the final flight day. While we just missed out on the podium, we are incredibly proud to announce that we officially finished in 4th place out of 34 teams! 🏆

This is officially the highest Air Cargo Challenge finish in our team’s history! Seeing MLOK perform so well against such fierce competition makes all those late nights in the workshop worth it.

A huge thank you to 𝘼𝙠𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙚.𝙑. for hosting such an amazing competition this year 🇩🇪 And massive congratulations to the team for taking the win! We are already excited to head to Udine for the next ACC! 🇮🇹

Finally, we couldn’t have set this team record without the support of our amazing sponsors. A special shoutout to Prague Airport - Letiště Praha for being our main sponsor, and a massive thank you to CSG, Aero, Prusa, GRM, TechSoft, RC Factory, Rotorama, Wingit, Kavan and Tetička Hombrè for making this possible!

02/07/2026 | Flight Day 2 is done and things went a lot smoother than Flight Day 1! ✈️

With the competition heating up, a lot of teams decided to push their airframes and take bigger risks today... and we are no different and also decided to push our luck and thankfully, it completely paid off!

Our second flight today (Round 4 overall) was our best run yet. MLOK really delivered and actually clocked the fastest speed on the track! ✈️💨 Since speed is a huge multiplier in the points, we gained a ton of ground.

We are officially sitting in 4th place overall right now. If everything goes well on Flight Day 3, we actually have a real shot at breaking into the top 3! 👀

Swipe to see us back at the workbench, tweaking our can planters so we can guarantee a clean loading sequence for the last round. Hoping the final flight day is as successful as today! 🤞

01/07/2026 | Flight Day 1 is in the books and it was definitely a rollercoaster! 🎢✈️

The goal of this year’s challenge is to carry the highest number of payload while also clocking the highest possible flight speed. And because the competition is hosted in Stuttgart, the organizers chose a very fitting official payload: Spezi cans! 🥤🇩🇪

They say no plan survives first contact with the flight line and today proved it. In Round 1, we were rushing, slid our can planters in a little too quickly and a screw that was in the way completely punctured one of our cans 🤦‍♂️ Then in Round 2, we miscalculated our flight time and landed too early.

But here is the good news: MLOK flies beautifully and despite the chaotic start, we are still holding a solid position on the leaderboard – still top 10! Not a bad spot to be in after a bumpy first day of flying.

We know exactly what we need to fix for Flight Day 2. Time to regroup, double-check our timers (and watch out for that screw) and push for a clean run 💪

30/06/2026 | Day 1 of ACC 2026 is officially in the books! 🇩🇪✈️

It’s been a busy start for team #37. We introduced MLOK at the technical presentation and successfully passed the technical inspection with flying colors 💙🤍

We are officially cleared for takeoff and hitting the airfield for our first flights! ☁️

📸 Swipe through for some shots from the presentation room and the inspection tables!

She flies! ✈️ After countless hours in the workshop, we are incredibly proud to present our fully assembled MLOK 🦎

👉 Swipe all the way to the last slide to see the ultimate proof of our hard work! ☁️

We couldn’t have reached this milestone without massive support. We want to extend an extra special thank you to our main sponsor, Prague Airport, for backing us and making this possible! 🛫🤝 Prague Airport - Letiště Praha

A huge thank you also goes to CTU and the Department of Aerospace Engineering for having our backs, and to all our incredible partners: CSG, Aero, Prusa, GRM, TechSoft, RC Factory, Rotorama, Wingit, Kavan and Tetička Hombrè.

Next stop: The Air Cargo Challenge in Stuttgart! 🇩🇪 𝘼𝙠𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙚.𝙑.

Building a plane on a strict deadline means solving it per partes 🤭

📸 1: The carbon fuselage (sporting the CTU blue wheel pants!) taking a stroll down the university halls 🚶‍♂️
📸 2: The hybrid wing catching some golden hour light in the workshop trenches 🛠️☀️

Next up: Final assembly and maiden flight ✈️

A crucial part of aircraft development is understanding its behavior in the flow field. This is difficult to truly grasp until the aircraft is built and actually flying; and by then, it is often too late to fix any aerodynamic issues that may arise.

Fortunately, experts from helped us during a full-day workshop on 20/03/2026, where we brought our CAD model to life in Ansys Fluent and analyzed weaknesses in the design. Thanks to their guidance and support, we gained insight into the world of CFD and developed skills that we will be able to apply in future team projects, our studies and our professional careers.

We would like to thank TechSoft for their continued support - we truly appreciate it! ✈️
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Zásadní roli ve vývoji letounu hraje jeho chování v proudovém poli. Na to je obtížné si sáhnout, dokud letadlo není postavené a neletí ve vzduchu. A tehdy už je často pozdě na objevování chyb v aerodynamice.

Naštěstí nám experti z na celodenním workshopu 20. 3. 2026 pomohli rozlétat CAD model našeho letadla v programu Ansys Fluent a analyzovat slabiny návrhu. Díky jejich pomoci a vedení jsme nakoukli do tajů CFD a nabyli dovednosti, které budeme schopni využít v dalších projektech týmu, studiu i v profesním životě.

Děkujeme TechSoftu za podporu, vážíme si toho! ✈️

Everyone keeps asking about our new model for Air Cargo Challenge 2026 in Stuttgart. So we decided to show you the truth 🤫

Before you get to a working plane, a lot of... well, interesting ideas are born in the process 😝 Welcome to the graveyard of our unused concepts! They might have looked tough, but physics and aerodynamic optimization strongly disagreed 📉

And honestly? We are just so tired of it all. The endless simulations broke us, so we are completely done with planes ✈️ Check the last slide to see what we are building instead 🎈

Say hello to Vltava! 👋🏼

BMFA 2025

Ready for takeoff ✈️!
Happy New Year 2026 🍾🎉.