Drone Day Recap!
Recap of the biggest event for UMBC AIAA Fall 2026!
On Saturday, October 3rd, UMBC AIAA hosted its biggest event of the semester: Drone Day. This year, UMBC got the chance to collaborate with teams from both the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, who run aerospace related organizations akin to UMBC. This collaboration brought forth more eager participants who got to design, build, and fly their own plane or drone. This helped develop students' understanding of what needs to be considered when creating aerial systems, starting from an idea all the way to a physical prototype.
The event began with a brief introduction about who we are, what we do, and what our two competition teams, DBF and SUAS, entail. An overview of this event was also discussed, along with its safety rules and plans of operation. After this, students split between Math & Psych 106 and Fine Arts 215, for drones and planes respectively, where they then recieved instruction on how to begin their building process from experienced members.
Kalel Kai, Marc Operario, and Sitora Chorshanbaeva led the plane room with a video presentation created by Ben Bazarsuren to help guide students along. Teams of around 5 people were made, and each team used their various levels of expertise to come up with plane designs they feel best reflects their creative wishes. The AIAA members assisted students with any troubleshooting, simple material retrieval, and conceptual understanding of what makes a plane fly. Towards the end of the day, most of the teams were close to being done with their aircraft, or have fully constructed their planes, with two teams having successful flights!
Karamdeep Bassi and Rowan Horan led the drone room with a website presentation made by Shrikant Bhatnagar to help students understand all the components needed for small quadcopter fabrication. Students got into teams of around 5 and began assembling the frames provided in the drone kits. Some students were taught to solder in order to place the motor wires on the flight controller, allowing many to gain knowledge through specific hands-on craftsmanship. Most of the teams successfully built and finished their drones, with some having successful tests and flights.
During this event, pizza was provided in Math & Psych 105, along with other small snacks and drinks. This break allowed students to reflect on their day so far and mingle with other groups, both between drones and planes and UMBC and UMD/JHU, boosting the overall morale and easing the atmosphere into one with a friendlier tone.
Throughout the event, students showed their determination to create an aircraft through teamwork and willingness to learn, as well as persevering through any difficulties, which resulted in most every team being done/close to done.
Drone Day Fall 2026 was a huge success, with the number of attendees and their focus on the tasks at hand being proof. We hope that students learned valuable lessons not only in regard to technical skills, but in soft skills as well, as this event is a reflection of how throughout life, people with various levels of experience will be working together towards a common goal, and growing as a team is of utmost importance.
We are thankful for all those who attended and assisted in the making of this event, as well as the collaboration we've had with UMD and JHU. We hope to continue this connection and attendance, and we anticipate your presence again in the Spring!!