Johns Hopkins University’s Design Build Fly team designs, builds, and flies a new radio-controlled aircraft each year for the AIAA Design/Build/Fly competition. The student-run group’s 2026 aircraft was its first fully carbon-fiber design, made with a custom CNC hot-wire cutter and in-house g-code software, and helped the team place 17th among 175 competitors. Revived in 2024, the program has steadily advanced from a 4-pound foamboard plane to a 14.5-pound aircraft capable of 65 mph.