Meet the Teams: Team BECCARII

Growing up in a small village in Southeastern Poland, not far from the Ukraine border, Witold Mielniczek dreamed of flying and pursuing his love of art. 

It is these lifelong aspirations that have spurred Witold’s participation in GoAERO, the global competition to develop an entirely new class of emergency rescue vehicles – flyers that are accessible, effective, and efficient in times of extreme weather events, catastrophic disasters, and medical crises, when every second counts. 

The 42-year-old is CEO of the four-man Team BECCARII, which is building an autonomous eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) drone engineered for rapid emergency response in complex and unpredictable environments.

He declares that BECCARII represents “a groundbreaking advancement in mobility technology — the first vehicle in the world capable of seamlessly operating across land, water, and air, with the ability to take off and land vertically from virtually any surface.”

The “groundbreaking advancement” to which Witold refers are the two caterpillar tracks that provide “exceptional off-road performance, enabling it to traverse mud, sand, snow, and rocky terrain with ease.”  

These tracks, he explains, perform three distinct functions for his BECCARII flyer: 

1. Ground Mobility – The tracks allow the vehicle to efficiently navigate challenging land terrain, maintaining traction and stability in diverse conditions. 

2. Aquatic Propulsion – The same tracks act as the primary propulsion system on water. Their rotation generates thrust, enabling smooth and controlled movement across water surfaces, such as rivers, lakes, and flooded areas. 

3. Landing Gear with Suspension – The tracks also function as a shock-absorbing landing system, equipped with integrated suspension that allows the vehicle to land safely on uneven terrain. This feature enables BECCARII to perform vertical landings even in adverse weather conditions, significantly reducing the risk of damage during touchdown and ensuring stable operations in emergency scenarios. 

Witold notes that inside each track lies a hollow compartment housing high-efficiency propellers used for vertical flight and hovering. This innovative integration of propulsion and mobility systems, he explains, eliminates the need for multiple complex mechanisms, resulting in a compact, lightweight, and mechanically simple design. 

“The mechanical simplicity of BECCARII translates directly into high operational reliability, low maintenance requirements, and enhanced mission readiness — all essential for emergency and rescue operations,” he says. “Whether deployed for medical delivery, disaster relief, or search-and-rescue missions, BECCARII ensures rapid, autonomous, and adaptive responses even in the most challenging conditions.” 

Witold dates the concepts behind his flyer’s innovative features to both his childhood passions and the skills he has learned and has had nurtured in his academic and professional endeavors,

As a youngster, he often passed the time with his eyes skyward, watching birds fly all around.  He would wonder, “what if I could fly like that? Watching birds inspired my imagination and desire to soar.”

He could, of course, learn to soar like those birds by becoming a pilot. There was a snag, however – he was only 14 and the minimum age requirement for flight school was 16. When he finally met the age requirement, he decided to join the Polish Air Force – “but I forgot to being my I.D.”

Undeterred, Witold started building remote controlled planes, a hobby that combined his dream of flying with a love of art. He also became fascinated by gliders and airplanes, and for many years, he’s been actively involved in paragliding and gliding.

His passion for both art, particularly oil painting, and aviation led to his enrollment in Middlesex University in London, where his guiding mantra “B Go Beyond” – the principle of going beyond standard expectations -- was first fostered. After returning to his home country, he continued developing this idea, driven by the same “lifelong passion for flight and creativity.”

Witold admits that the experience he gained in pursuit of that principle didn’t come easy. After studying economics for three years at a local university in Poland, he applied to “a famous university” to pursue an aerospace engineering degree – “but I missed the acceptance requirement by three points on the admissions test.” 

His next stop was the United Kingdom, where he worked at odd jobs – butcher, lab assistant, construction, and taxi driver – before he was accepted to Middlesex University in London, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in product design and robotics.

As a robotics engineer and entrepreneur with a background in mechatronics and autonomous systems, Witold then led multiple drone innovation projects, including both commercial and competition-grade platforms. One of those projects was for the DARPA UAVForge Challenge in 2012, where his team beat out more than 150 other competitors to capture First Place! 

That championship led Witold to an array of offers to present at professional conferences and workshops, as well as to author a book chapter. It also led to the realization that “drones need to be more than just used for fun; they need to be multi-functional and serve a greater purpose,” he says, adding that “60 different ideas followed until I came to the one I’m working on now” for GoAERO.  

“The opportunity to contribute to life-saving technology and collaborate with experts,” he says, “is incredibly motivating.” 

Even so, there were several detours along the way to GoAERO. He started his Ph.D. at Southampton University and developed his first multi-purpose, multi-function drone, for which he filed and received a patent and launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised about 110,000 British pounds. He was then contacted by the action film star Sylvester Stallone, who included Witold’s drone in one of his movies. 

With apologies to the premise of Thomas Wolfe’s iconic novel, Witold decided he could go home again. He went back to Poland looking for investors to extend his drone’s patent. He also created a toy drone called an X-Tankcopter for children, which went through a research and development program in China and before the entire inventory was sold. An all-terrain drone vehicle for military use, XERALL ATD, came next. 

He was searching for a similar initiative as his next endeavor when GoAERO came to his attention. “We now have the technology to do this,” Witold says, referring to both the competition’s Final Fly-Off requirements and to commercially produce “flying vehicles that can fly, swim, and drive faster and be more effective than helicopters and ambulances in reaching victims in remote or hazardous locations.” 

Right now, the primary focus for BECCARII is on providing rapid responses during natural disasters and medical emergencies in hard-to-access areas. But beyond rescue missions Witold says, “we envision a futuristic vehicle capable of taking people anywhere on Earth — even to places currently beyond the reach of traditional transport systems. This vision drives us to push the boundaries of mobility, autonomy, and accessibility in the most extreme environments.”

Witold acknowledges there are challenges to achieving this far-reaching goal, the primary one being how to balance innovation with regulatory and safety requirements. He notes that Team BECCARII is addressing this through simulation, expert feedback, iterative prototyping and the GoAERO expert webinars – which have been “very insightful and have helped us refine our approach.”

Through it all, Witold is teeming with confidence that BECCARII will be a resounding success because of a secret weapon: “I absolutely love my job!”