# Air Cargo Challenge

The Air Cargo Challenge is an aeronautical engineering student competition that is held in Europe every two years.
This competition was held for the first time in 2003 and it was founded by a group of Aerospace students in Lisbon. The competition is primarily directed to aeronautical and aerospace engineering students, similarly to the north-American Design/Build/Fly.
The main objective is to design and build a radio-controlled aircraft that is able to fly with the highest possible payload according with the rules established in the competition regulations, which vary in each edition. The team's score is not only given by the performance demonstrated in the flight competition part, but also by the technical quality of the project, through the evaluation of the design report and drawings.
The event's first edition (ACC'03) was organized by the APAE: Associação Portuguesa de Aeronáutica e Espaço (Portuguese Association of Aeronautics and Space), an aerospace group from Instituto Superior Técnico. From the ACC'07 onwards, the competition grew to an international level under the umbrella of EUROAVIA, the European Association of Aerospace Students, and the winning team got the possibility of organizing the next edition. The ACC of 2011 was held in the University of Stuttgart, August 2011, organized by the AKAModell Stuttgart together with the EUROAVIA Stuttgart. The Universidade da Beira Interior was the winner of this edition, thus it took place in Portugal'. Again, the Team from Stuttgart won this Edition, and got the organization responsibility. In 2017 the 2015 winner HUSZ organized the event in Zagreb. The competition took place in Stuttgart again on August 12-17, 2019. After a one-year delay due to the Covid pandemic, the competition was held in Munich in the summer of 2022. The 2022 winner ADDI organized the 2024 edition on 10th-12th July in Aachen, Germany. The next ACC 2026 will be held in Stuttgart, Germany.

## Competition results
### 2003 – Organization: APAE, Lisbon

| Place | Team | University | Country/City |
| 1st | UBI 2 | University of Beira Interior | Covilhã |
| 2nd | Flamingo | University of Minho | Guimarães |
| 3rd | Beluga | University of Beira Interior | Covilhã |

### 2005 – Organization: APAE, Lisbon

| Place | Team | University | Country/City |
| 1st | Ícaro | Instituto Superior Técnico e University of Coimbra | Lisbon/Coimbra |
| 2nd | Fly By | Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto | Porto |
| 3rd | Pegasus | University of Beira Interior | Covilhã |

### 2007 – Organization: Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | PEGASUS II | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 2nd | Akamodell Stuttgart | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 3rd | Blei-Ente | Euroavia Muenchen | Germany |
| 4th | Lead Barons | Delft University of Technology | Netherlands |
| 5th | ESTG Cargo | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Portugal |
| 6th | Trencalos | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 7th | UBI2 - SkunkWorks | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 8th | UoPatras ATLAS | University of Patras | Greece |
| 9th | De vliegende Hollander | Delft University of Technology | Netherlands |
| 10th | FLY@UMINHO'07 | University of Minho | Portugal |

### 2009 – Organization: University of Beira Interior, Covilhã

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | Akamodell Stuttgart | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 2nd | TU Heavy | Technical University of Munich | Germany |
| 3rd | ESTG Cargo2 | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Portugal |
| 4th | Sonic Kids | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 5th | Lusofly | Portuguese Air Force Academy | Portugal |
| 6th | UoP Atlas II | Hellenic Air Force Academy | Greece |
| 7th | Anatolian Craft | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 8th | What's up Yaw | Hogeschool van Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| 9th | FLY@UMINHO'09 | University of Minho | Portugal |
| 10th | Trencalòs | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 11th | INFINITeam | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 12th | Aeraces | Instituto Superior Técnico | Portugal |
| 13th | Ucari | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 14th | Volo Ergo Sum | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 15th | Pisa Cargo Project | University of Pisa | Italy |
| 16th | Brutus | University of Porto | Portugal |
| 17th | Uasas | | Portugal |
| 18th | CAL | Clube de Aeromodelismo de Lisboa | Portugal |
| 19th | Equipa_0 | Instituto Superior Técnico | Portugal |
| 20th | Chicken Wings | University of Belgrade | Serbia |
| 21st | Céfiro | University of León | Spain |
| 22nd | Aero Swansea 09 | Swansea University | United Kingdom |

### 2011 – Organization: University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | UBI - Portugal | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 2nd | TU Eleven | Technical University of Munich | Germany |
| 3rd | Tsinghua University | Tsinghua University | China |
| 4th | Student Wings | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 5th | Team K.U.Leuven | KU Leuven | Belgium |
| 6th | PASSAROLA Team | Instituto Superior Técnico | Portugal |
| 7th | Nymph Noir | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 8th | Trencalòs Team | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 9th | Anatolian Craft - Aselsan | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 10th | EUROAVIA Ntua | National Technical University of Athens | Greece |
| 11th | Nymph Rouge | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 12th | High Flyers | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 13th | IPL Team | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Portugal |
| 14th | Air FEUP | University of Porto | Portugal |
| 15th | Gryphus Team | University of Aveiro | Portugal |
| 16th | UoPatras ATLAS III | University of Patras | Greece |
| 17th | EUROAVIA Rzeszow | University of Rzeszów | Poland |
| 18th | HUSZ Black Eagle | University of Zagreb | Croatia |
| 19th | SU Team Eryr | Swansea University | United Kingdom |
| 20th | Białystok MiSIE team | University of Białystok | Poland |
| 21st | Luso SPAD | Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa | Portugal |

### 2013 – Organization: University of Beira Interior, Covilhã

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | AKAModell Stuttgart e.V. | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 2nd | Tsinghua University | Tsinghua University | China |
| 3rd | Beihang Aeromodelling Team 1 | Beihang University | China |
| 4th | HUSZ Vulture | University of Zagreb | Croatia |
| 5th | Beihang Aeromodelling Team 1 | Beihang University | China |
| 6th | High Flyers | Silesian University of Technology | Poland |
| 7th | EESC-USP Juliett | University of São Paulo | Brazil |
| 8th | PHOENIX | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 9th | EUROAVIA Athens – Hermes 2 | University of Athens | Greece |
| 10th | Podlasie Tigers | Bialystok University of Technology | Poland |
| 11th | UoP ATLAS IIIB | University of Patras | Greece |
| 12th | ANATOLIAN CRAFT | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 13th | EUROAVIA Rzeszów | University of Rzeszów | Poland |
| 14th | UoP ATLAS IV | University of Patras | Greece |
| 15th | Trencalòs Team | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 16th | Team KU Leuven | KU Leuven | Belgium |
| 17th | IPLeiria AirCargo | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Portugal |
| 18th | LUSITÂNIA Team | UBI, IST, UNL (unofficially) | Portugal |
| 19th | HERCULES | Instituto Superior Técnico | Portugal |
| 20th | Gryphus II | University of Aveiro | Portugal |
| 21st | Angry Bird | Cairo University | Egypt |

### 2015 – Organization: University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | EUROAVIA Zagreb | University of Zagreb | Croatia |
| 2nd | Born TU Lift | Technical University of Munich | Germany |
| 3rd | EUROLIFTER | Rzeszów University of Technology | Poland |
| 4th | AeroUD-MET | University of Udine | Italy |
| 5th | AERO@UBI | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 6th | AIR | Tsinghua University | China |
| 7th | PISA Air Cargo Team | University of Pisa | Italy |
| 8th | ATLAS TEAM UPAT | University of Patras | Greece |
| 9th | NPU INNOVATION | Northwestern Polytechnical University | China |
| 10th | UPC Venturi | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 11th | Team KU Leuven | KU Leuven | Belgium |
| 12th | Olisipo | Instituto Superior Técnico | Portugal |
| 13th | Studencki Klub Modelarski Wojskowej Akademii Technicznej | Military University of Technology in Warsaw | Poland |
| 14th | BUT Chicken Wings | Brno University of Technology | Czech Republic |
| 15th | High Flyers | Silesian University of Technology | Poland |
| 16th | The Lifters | Rzeszów University of Technology | Poland |
| 17th | TransylAVIA | Technical University of Cluj-Napoca | Romania |
| 18th | Poznań Aero Design | Poznań University of Technology | Poland |
| 19th | Trencalòs Team | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 20th | Podlasie Tigers | Bialystok University of Technology | Poland |
| 21st | Owl Tamers Aero Design Team | Middle East Technical University | Turkey |
| 22nd | SKYLINE | University of Belgrade | Serbia |
| 23rd | PhoeniX | University of Porto | Portugal |

### 2017 – Organization: University of Zagreb, Zagreb

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | AKAModell Stuttgart e.V. | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 2nd | Fly Hard | Technical University of Munich | Germany |
| 3rd | Born TU Lift Reloaded | Technical University of Munich | Germany |
| 4th | AeroUD-MET | University of Udine | Italy |
| 5th | AIR | Tsinghua University | China |
| 6th | NPU INNOVATION | Northwestern Polytechnical University | China |
| 7th | AKA Classics | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 8th | JetStream | Wrocław University of Science and Technology | Poland |
| 9th | Icarus Polito | Politecnico di Torino | Italy |
| 10th | UPC Venturi | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 11th | The Lifters | Rzeszow University of Technology | Poland |
| 12th | Aristotele Space & Aeronautics Team | Thessaloniki Faculty of Engineering | Greece |
| 13th | Chicken Wings | Brno University of Technology | Czech Republic |
| 14th | Hermes Team | University of Athens | Greece |
| 15th | Aerotéc - Lisbon | Instituto Superior Técnico | |
| 16th | ATLAS Team UPAT | University of Patras | Greece |
| 17th | LKN | Bialystok University of Technology | Poland |
| 18th | ATA Team | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 19th | Kovan | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 20th | AERO@UBI_PVG - Portugal | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 21st | PHOENIX Team | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 22nd | The Wingineers | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | Belgium |
| 23rd | AERO@UBI_MARS | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 24nd | Trencalòs Team | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 25nd | VALCAN PROJECT | Universitat Politechnica de València | Spain |
| 26nd | Buzz Lightyear | University of Science and Technology Zewail City | Egypt |
| 27nd | TransylAVIA | Technical University of Cluj-Napoca | Romania |
| 28nd | Flightmare | University of Science and Technology Zewail City | Egypt |

### 2019 – Organization: University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | Fly Harder (AkaModell München) | Technical University of Munich | Germany |
| 2nd | ... and the Beast | University of Udine | Italy |
| 3rd | The Beauty ... | University of Udine | Italy |
| 4th | THU AIR | Tsinghua University | China |
| 5th | AERO@UBI | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 6th | ICARUS PoliTo | Politecnico di Torino | Italy |
| 7th | Chicken Wings | Brno University of Technology | Czech Republic |
| 8th | Lift Up | University of Padova | Italy |
| 9th | EUROAVIA RZESZOW | Rzeszow University of Technology | Poland |
| 10th | A.S.A.T.-Aurora | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Greece |
| 11th | ACC - Lisboa | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 12th | Nephele | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Greece |
| 13th | Jetstream | Wroclaw University of Science and Technology | Poland |
| 14th | HUSZ Jaeger | University of Zagreb | Croatia |
| 15th | KOVAN | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 16th | Trencalòs Team | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 17th | Team Vexilium Pisa | University of Pisa | Italy |
| 18th | Albatross Tampere | Tampere University | Finland |
| 19th | BEOAVIA | University of Belgrade | Serbia |
| 20th | ROTA | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 21st | NPU-Innovation | Northwestern Polytechnical University | China |
| 22nd | ATA | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 23rd | Titan Team | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 24nd | Locreum Project | University of Cádiz | Spain |
| 25nd | UPC Venturi | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 26nd | Xtra2 | Polytechnic University of Valencia | Spain |
| 27nd | HERMES | National Technical University of Athens | Greece |

### 2022 – Organization: AkaModell München e.V., Technical University of Munich, Munich

The 2021 edition of the ACC was delayed to 2022 due to the Covid pandemic. It was organized by AkaModell München from Technical University of Munich. All information to the ACC2022 can be found on www.acc2022.de. The competition took place 5.7.2022-9.7.2022 in Munich. The regulations were released on August 6, 2020.
| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | ADDI | RWTH Aachen | Germany |
| 2nd | AeroUD | University of Udine | Italy |
| 3rd | AkaModell Stuttgart | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 4th | Xtra2 UPV | Polytechnic University of Valencia | Spain |
| 5th | Chicken Wings BUT | Brno University of Technology | Czech Republic |
| 6th | LiftUP | University of Padova | Italy |
| 7th | Chicken Wings CTU | University Prague | Czech Republic |
| 8th | JetStream | Wroclaw University of Science and Technology | Poland |
| 9th | ASAT | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Greece |
| 10th | Olissipo | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 11th | U-Fly | Universidad Aeronáutica en Querétaro (UNAQ) | Mexico |
| 12th | ICARUS PoliTo | Politecnico di Torino | Italy |
| 13th | AeroUBI | University of Beira Interior | Portugal |
| 14th | HUSZ Falcons | University of Zagreb | Croatia |
| 15th | BEOAVIA | University of Belgrade | Serbia |
| 16th | LeanIng | University of Pisa | Italy |
| 17th | Tophane Aygök | Tophane Vocational and Technic High School | Turkey |
| 18th | ITU Sky-UAV | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |
| 19th | Trencalòs | Polytechnic University of Catalonia | Spain |
| 20th | Albatross | Tampere University | Finland |
| 21st | UVigo Aerotech | University of Vigo, Ourense Campus | Spain |
| 22nd | WUT | Warsaw University of Technology | Poland |
| 23rd | THU AIR | Tsinghua University | China |
| 24nd | HAWings | HAW Hamburg | Germany |
| 25nd | HERMES | National Technical University of Athens | Greece |
| 26nd | Locreum | University of Cádiz | Spain |

### 2024 – Organization: Aachen Drone Development Initiative, RWTH Aachen University

| Place | Team | University | Country |
| 1st | AkaModell Stuttgart | University of Stuttgart | Germany |
| 2nd | AeroUD | University of Udine | Italy |
| 3rd | UBI Aeronautics | Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI) | Portugal |
| 4th | ICARUS PoliTO | Politecnico di Torino | Italy |
| 5th | Xtra2 UPV | Technical University of Valencia | Spain |
| 6th | AeroTéc ATLAS | University of Lisbon | Portugal |
| 7th | TUM fliegt gut! | Technische Universität München | Germany |
| 8th | ASAT Aeronautics | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | Greece |
| 9th | LeanIng Project | University of Pisa | Italy |
| 10th | Lift UP | University of Padua | Italy |
| 11th | UGA | University of Glasgow | Scotland |
| 12th | CCX Corvus Corax | University of Naples Federico II | Italy |
| 13th | M.ACH. | University of Patras | Greece |
| 14th | HERMES NTUA | National Technical University of Athens | Greece |
| 15th | VANTUS AeroTeam | University of Seville | Spain |
| 16th | CTU Aerolab | Czech Technical University in Prague | Czech Republic |
| 17th | EUROAVIA Rzeszów | Rzeszów University of Technology | Poland |
| 18th | Team Albatross | Tampere University of Technology | Finland |
| 19th | Chicken Wings BUT | Brno University of Technology | Czech Republic |
| 20th | AEROATLAS | Politehnica University of Bucharest | Romania |
| 21st | BEOAVIA | University of Belgrade | Serbia |
| 22nd | HuskyWorks | University of Washington | United States |
| 23rd | SUAVE | University of Sydney | Australia |
| 24th | UVigo Aerotech | University of Vigo | Spain |
| 25th | Rakshak | Indian Institute of Technology Bombay | India |
| 26th | UCA&Air | University of Cádiz | Spain |
| 27th | FlyMi | Polytechnic University of Milan | Italy |
| 28th | WUT AeroDesign | Warsaw University of Technology | Poland |
| 29th | THU-AIR | Tsinghua University | China |
| 30th | ITU ATA Team | Istanbul Technical University | Turkey |

## Statistics
### Number of participated teams per country (2007–2024)

| Place | Country | Number of participated teams |
| 1st | Portugal | 35 |
| 2nd | Spain | 22 |
| 3rd | Poland | 20 |
| 4th | Italy | 19 |
| 4th | Greece | 19 |
| 6th | Germany | 17 |
| 7th | Turkey | 15 |
| 8th | China | 12 |
| 9th | Romania | 10 |
| 10th | Czech Republic | 7 |
| 11th | Croatia | 5 |
| 11th | Serbia | 5 |
| 13th | Belgium | 4 |
| 14th | Netherlands | 3 |
| 14th | Finland | 3 |
| 14th | Egypt | 3 |
| 17th | United Kingdom | 2 |
| 18th | Brazil | 1 |
| 18th | Mexico | 1 |
| 18th | United States | 1 |
| 18th | Australia | 1 |
| 18th | India | 1 |

### Medal table (2007–2024)

| Place | Team | University | City | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1 | AKAModell Stuttgart e.V. | University of Stuttgart | Stuttgart | Germany | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | UBI | University of Beira Interior | Covilhã | Portugal | 2 | | 1 |
| 3 | AkaModell München e.V. | Technical University of Munich | Munich | Germany | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | EUROAVIA Zagreb | University of Zagreb | Zagreb | Croatia | 1 | | |
| 4 | ADDI | RWTH Aachen | Aachen | Germany | 1 | | |
| 6 | University of Udine | University of Udine | Udine | Italy | | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | Tsinghua University | Tsinghua University | Beijing | China | | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Beihang Aeromodelling Team 1 | Beihang University | Beihang | China | | | 1 |
| 9 | ESTG Cargo2 | Polytechnic Institute of Leiria | Leiria | Portugal | | | 1 |
| 10 | EUROLIFTER | Rzeszów University of Technology | Rzeszow | Poland | | | 1 |