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Captain’s Message

The aerospace industry is among the fastest-growing industries worldwide. In 2025, the market size was estimated at 402.75 billion USD and is projected to double by 2034.

At Queen’s Aerospace Design Team (QADT), we are dedicated to pushing boundaries with the development of high performance & autonomous UAVs for national and international competitions in Canada, Europe, and the United States. With the continued growth in industry aerospace applications in recent years, QADT has seen an unparalleled expansion, and our dedicated team of more than 150 undergraduate students has not disappointed.

This year, the AEAC technical team developed 2 UAVs from the ground up to compete at the AEAC 2026 student competition hosted in Ottawa. Including a 3D printed airframe VTOL to map for urban fires, as well as a heavy-lift quadcopter designed to autonomously extinguish fires indoor and outdoor using a water gun. The AIAA technical team developed a fully carbon fiber fixed wing aircraft optimized for long range cargo flights and banner towing. While in parallel, the QADT research team wrote two research papers for submission to the IMAV conference paper call and the VFS student design competition. Respectively, these papers focused on the application of compliant airfoils on efficiency gains in flight and conversion of a tilt rotor aircraft to a hybrid electric engine to prove the feasibility of electrifying the aerospace industry.

QADT offers a unique opportunity for development and growth for students in any discipline, including gaining technical experience in Aeromechanics, Electrical, and Software, and the opportunity to conduct research in a variety of unique fields, as well as the chance to gain experience in business and management. QADT is looking to continue its rapid growth and expansion by taking on like-minded and motivated individuals to not just continue the development of advanced drone technology, but push the boundaries of what student teams are capable of.

We eagerly await your application.

‘Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.’

— Eddie Rickenbacker, WWI flying ace

Erin Payne

Mechatronics & Robotics Engineering ‘28

Purujit Kantiya

Mechatronics & Robotics Engineering ‘28


Aeroschool is our initiative to bring concepts in aerospace engineering to students internal and external to QADT. Aero School has grown since its inception from just an internal development program to external outreach, academics and now also flight school! The goal of this branch is to empower and equip students with skills necessary to become leaders in the aerospace industry.

Part of our education mission is to promote Aerospace Engineering in the greater Queen’s and Kingston community. This can be done through outreach events and collaborations with other student clubs. Some of our initiatives from this past year included collaboration with The Afterschool Buddies program to teach elementary school children about engineering and collaboration with Queen’s TedX where we promoted aerospace engineering to Kingston Residents.

As Manager of External Initiatives, you will be directly in charge of coordinating such events for the upcoming year. In this role, you can expect to work closely with the Aeroschool Director and other Aeroschool managers. You can also expect to gain skills in these areas:

  • Outreach & Relationship Management
  • Professional Communication
  • Education & Training

Application & Interview Details

We do not consider your resume a deciding factor. We weigh it the least compared to your written application and interview.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: June 27th, 2026 (11:59 PM EST)

Interviews will occur online after the deadline. We are happy to provide accommodations for these interviews, so please let us know how we can make the process more accessible for you!

Contact Information

Please email any questions or concerns to aero @engsoc.queensu.ca or text @queensaero on Instagram!