Autonomous Quad Plane

After seeing a bunch of really cool quadplane projects online, I decided to try designing one myself — a small, fully electric fixed-wing UAV with VTOL capability. I based the size on a 2-meter-class military-style VTOL aircraft I’d seen, which felt like a manageable scale for a student project and something I could eventually 3D-print.

After testing several airfoils in XFLR5, I chose an MH114 at the root and an Eppler E193 at the tip. They gave me a clean lift distribution and good efficiency for a 2 m wing. The wing had a 0.20 m root chord and a 0.12 m tip chord, which resulted in a high aspect ratio that helped reduce induced drag and improve battery endurance. For the tail, I used a NACA 0012 with a slight negative incidence to get the stability characteristics I wanted. I iterated through multiple XFLR5 runs until the wing–tail setup behaved well across different flight conditions.

Once the aerodynamic configuration looked good, I moved into SolidWorks to build the full aircraft. I went with a high-wing design for ground clearance and to give the VTOL motors better spacing and room to operate. I sized the fuselage around the electronic components I planned to use — batteries, ESCs, flight controller space, wiring channels — while keeping everything shaped so the airframe could be entirely 3D-printed.

After completing the CAD model, I ran a SolidWorks Flow Simulation to compare the full-aircraft behavior with what I was seeing in XFLR5. The results weren’t perfect, but they were consistent and showed that the general layout was workable.

The project eventually stalled. My 3D printer broke, and I reached a point where I wasn’t sure how to refine the aerodynamic profile further without starting physical prototyping. I also realized I’d hit the edge of my comfort zone for handling the complexities of VTOL-to-cruise aerodynamic integration.

Even though I didn’t finish building it, I learned a ton from this project. I got more practical experience with airfoil selection, aerodynamic analysis, hybrid VTOL/fixed-wing configuration design, CAD work, and validating concepts using both low-order tools and CFD. I also walked away with a clearer picture of what I’d need to improve before tackling a more advanced version in the future.

I definitely want to return to this design someday, but even as an unfinished project, it pushed me and taught me a lot about aircraft design and where I want to grow next.