Maiden Flight Successfully Completed

After roughly 15 years of research, the Akademische Fliegergruppe at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has successfully completed the maiden flight of its flying wing glider, the AK-X. Piloted by a test pilot from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), the aircraft took to the air for the first time, completing an approximately one-hour test flight prior to a safe landing

Reward for More Than 15 Years of Voluntary Work

With this success, the students brought to fruition the research conducted by more than one hundred volunteers. The defining feature of their design: as a flying wing aircraft, the AK-X dispenses with a long fuselage and a conventional tail assembly to significantly reduce aerodynamic drag and enhance flight performance. Following meticulous preparations as well as extensive ground and taxi tests, the new glider took off. During the maiden flight, the pilot evaluated controllability at various speeds and measured flight performance characteristics. The students aim to determine precisely how much aerodynamic drag the concept reduces compared to a conventional aircraft.

University Group with a Nearly 100-Year Tradition

With this successful maiden flight, the project has reached a major milestone. Due to the project’s immense complexity, several generations of students contributed to its development. With a tradition spanning almost 100 years, the Akademische Fliegergruppe (Akaflieg) at KIT conducts aviation research that is entirely student-run and organized on a voluntary basis. This makes it one of the oldest student organizations at KIT. The group's project work focuses on the design, construction, and flight testing of gliders.

cko/mhe, October 8, 2026