Learn about our Aero team!

About the Team

UMSAE Polar Air designs a light weight aircraft capable of carrying as heavy a payload as possible. This encourages members to find ways to reduce aircraft weight and increase the lift generated.

UMSAE Polar Air has had great results in the past and aims to continue their dominance at future competitions.

2025-2026 Team

This year’s Polar Air team consists of five design sections, each headed by a section lead and a dedicated associate lead, in addition to general members. Click on any of the pictures to be taken to that lead’s LinkedIn page.

**Reetinder (Raavi) Maur**
Fuselage Lead

**Sreevardhan Sreenivasan**
Shop Coordinator

**Andrew Kotochihov**
Empennage Associate Lead

**Zaid Munshi**
Undercarriage Associate Lead

**Achint Malhotra**
Power Associate Lead

Aero History

SAE Competition

The SAE Competition has two seperate areas where points are available. Here is some information about these two areas.

Dynamic Event

Flight Rounds

Aircraft are flown in up to 5 flight rounds where they lift as much payload as possible. The aircraft must take off, complete a circuit, and land safely in order to achieve a successful flight round.

Static Events

Design Report

Teams are required to submit a design report detailing why they chose a particular design and how they arrived at that conclusion. The report should provide insight into the team's engineering methodology, calculations, and any other procedures used to establish a design for the prototype aircraft.

Presentation

The presentation is an opportunity for teams to earn points by convincing the judges that their design is the best for the competition. Teams give a brief description of how they analyzed different designs to ensure their plane is optimized.

Technical Inspection

Any aircraft or replacement parts to be flown at competition must pass a technical inspection. Judges review the aircraft to ensure it adheres to competition regulations.