Since 1989, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) has sponsored the International Aviation Art Contest to challenge young people to illustrate the importance of aviation through art. TxDOT’s Aviation Division hosts the contest at the state level.

The 2018 Theme: Flying in the Future

If you have ever dreamed of flying or built a paper airplane, you have walked in the footsteps of the men and women who created the world of aviation as we know it today. Ideas were written on paper. Wooden and cloth models were built to test the designs before the actual balloons, gliders, and planes were built and tested by brave men and women in the air. 

Today, aircraft designers from all over the world work together, planning and testing their ideas on computers. As the designs take shape, engineers and manufactures built with the latest composites and other materials to make them lighter and more versatile than ever before to meet the needs of today’s flyers.

The first planes were slow and sluggish. Today, aerobatic planes race across the skies at over 400kph and twist and turn their composite bodies in ways that would have torn apart earlier aircraft. Balloons have gone from floating above cities to floating over the world, requiring space suits in the thin air! Those toy gliders have turned into drones of all shapes and sizes. Real wooden gliders have become lighter and more sophisticated, climbing higher and flying longer than ever before. Each generation brings its passion for flight and blends new technologies and ideas to build on the knowledge of the past.

What new innovations and ideas will shape the aviation of the future? From hang gliders and parachutists, to drone pilots and citizen astronauts, the only limit to the future of flight is the imagination of builders, dreamers and pilots of today. It’s time to tap into your own imagination, grab your favorite set of crayons, markers, pencils, or paints and create a poster for this year’s Fédération Aéronautique Internationale’s theme, Flight into the Future. Show us your vision of what can happen when people work together and follow their passion for flight.  

More Information

• Prizes for Texas Winners
• 2015 Aviation Art Contest Winners
• 2016 Aviation Art Contest Winners
• 2017 Aviation Art Contest Winners