Baku Engineering University student wins silver at Azerbaijan drone tournament

Omer Davudov turned a student ride into a national result at Baku Crystal Hall, finishing as Azerbaijan’s republican runner-up in the individual FPV race category and taking silver under the name SkyMath. The first-year Computer Science student from Baku Engineering University stood out in a 40-pilot field that pulled competitors from across Azerbaijan, making this more than a campus-level success and more than a novelty for a young flyer.

The tournament was held on May 16 at Baku Crystal Hall and was organized under the STEAM Azerbaijan project with support from the Ministry of Science and Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Registration had opened on April 24, with an application deadline of May 8 at 17:00, a detail that shows the race was built as a public competitive draw, not a closed exhibition. By the time the gates closed, the event had enough depth to test consistency, not just raw speed.

STEAM Azerbaijan said the race took place on a specially prepared course and that pilots were judged on speed, agility and technical accuracy. That matters in FPV racing, where the difference between first and second often comes down to line choice, throttle discipline and the ability to stay clean through a tight sequence of gates with goggles on and a remote in hand. Davudov’s silver came from precision, not reckless risk, which is exactly the kind of skill set that separates a fast student pilot from a contender who can keep up when the pressure rises.

Baku Engineering University framed Davudov’s result as part of a larger pathway, not a one-off medal. The university said he is an active participant in BEU Technopark projects and takes part in mentoring sessions, a useful signal for anyone tracking where Azerbaijan’s next crop of FPV racers may come from. In other words, the silver did not appear out of nowhere. It came from an environment where engineering work, hands-on drone practice and competitive flying are starting to overlap.

That is the real story behind SkyMath’s run at Baku Crystal Hall. The tournament produced a clear competitive outcome, but it also showed a functioning pipeline: state-backed race structure, a purpose-built course, 40 entrants from around the country and a university program that is already feeding students into the sport with technical habits that translate on the track.