About

Vertical Flight Systems Purdue

A student organization working on electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, from first sketch to flight line.

The VFS team calibrating a prototype at the flight field

Who we are

Vertical Flight Systems Purdue (VFS Purdue) is a student-run engineering organization. We design, build, and fly electric vertical-flight aircraft, and we do the whole process ourselves: setting requirements, running the analysis, machining and laying up parts, wiring the electronics, and taking the aircraft out to fly.

We are based in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering, but the team is open to every major. Members come from aerospace, electrical and computer, mechanical, and industrial engineering, plus students who run operations, outreach, and business. New members are always welcome, and you do not need prior experience to get started.

VFS members presenting a design review

Since 2017

How we got here

VFS was founded in 2017 to give Purdue students a place to take a vertical-flight aircraft all the way from a blank page to real flight testing. Over the years the team has built and flown a series of multirotor aircraft and grown the design, fabrication, and flight-test experience it relies on today.

That work led to our current aircraft, a full-scale electric VTOL designed for emergency response. Along the way the team earned a GoAERO Prize Stage 1 award and a NASA University Innovation Award, and had a paper accepted for the AIAA AVIATION Forum in 2026.

See the aircraft →

How we work

Design, build, test

We run like a small engineering group. Ideas start on the whiteboard and in CAD, move into the shop as real hardware, and end up at the flight field where we measure how they actually perform.

A design review over CAD
Design reviews and CAD integration
A lead explaining a design concept
Concept walkthroughs
Two members reviewing analysis on a laptop
Design working sessions

Advisors & affiliation

Backed by Purdue Aeronautics & Astronautics

Organization
Vertical Flight Systems (VFS)Student organization, founded 2017
University
Purdue UniversitySchool of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering · West Lafayette, IN
Faculty advisors
Prof. Thiago Guimarães and Tom Bietsch (AAE Engineer), Prof. Woongkul Lee (ECE)School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering · Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Open to
Students of every major, no experience required

Interested in joining, sponsoring, or collaborating? Get in touch and we will point you to the right people.