Yes… 4 years of university does that to a man. My final year project group and I with our first prototype. The structural lead did a great job, managing to support all of that weight!
¶ About me and what I'm doing.
Unlike most graduates, I am not going to sit here and tell you about how I've been dreaming of designing aircraft ever since I was a toddler. I will not rely on sob-stories, but on my actual goals and the concrete actions I am taking to achieve them.
I have a Master's degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southampton. I currently work in a factory, building electric motor drives. Am I over-qualified? Yes. Is the work dull, and the hours long? Also yes. However, this job does afford me two things: 3-day weekends, and a whole lot of thinking time. This time is mostly spent (aside from inserting resistors until my fingers go numb) thinking about unmanned aerial systems. How they can be used, how they can be improved and how I can be a part of it.
My ultimate goal is to build a complete UAS management system, allowing an organisation to control an entire fleet of drones across many different missions. Along the way, I am aiming to design my own flight controllers, which through the use of cameras and microphones will not need any external aircraft detection, such as ADS-B, whilst maintaining active detection and collision avoidance. This system could then be retrofit to almost any existing aerial system, and will enhance safety whether or not other aircraft in the area are using my system.
There will be many challenges. With my graduation I have had to say goodbye to the days of having almost unrestricted use of the R. J. Mitchell wind tunnel, which would now run me about £3000/day. Additionally, soon enough the university will (rather rudely) be revoking my access to both SolidWorks and Ansys. So, not only do I no longer have access to one of the best wind tunnels in the country, I am also going to have to get comfortable using the free and open-source CAD and CAE tools. Yippee.
But, whilst I may complain, want to hit my head against a wall and occasionally cry myself to sleep there is a reason for doing this. If there's one thing I enjoy most, it's pushing myself. Sometimes to the brink of insanity, true, but pushing myself to learn new things is what I live for. You see, I have had many hobbies in the past, and when I start getting good I lose interest. I don't pursue skills for the skill's sake — I pursue them simply for the sake of learning. And perhaps that's what draws me to aerospace engineering - there is no limit to what you can achieve.
¶ The serious bit.
And I promise this will be the only serious part on the whole website. Why am I talking this way, making sarcastic jokes and generally treating the website like a personal blog when it is clearly something I am hoping for potential employers to see? Because in the interview environment it is difficult to come across exactly how I will be on the team. Of course I try to show the real me, however it is clearly a formal setting which has to be taken more seriously. This site is where I can show how I really interact with my team!
I believe that treating teammates as friends always builds stronger and more cohesive teams. Companies can organise team-building activities all they want, sometimes there really is no replacement for a relaxed chat over a drink, and that is the side of me I am trying to show here: someone who takes their work seriously, but doesn't take themselves too seriously.
¶ Tools and software I use.
¶ Tools
This list is going to be quite short...
- FlashForge Adventurer 5M 3D Printer
- HPC LS3060 Laser Cutter
- 4-axis hot wire foam cutter (coming soon!)
As far as manufacturing capability goes... that's it. And to even use the laser cutter I have to travel 40 minutes.
¶ Software
Just in case anyone would like to know what exactly I use:
-
CAD
- SolidWorks - trying to get away from this as my student license will soon be running out
- Siemens SolidEdge - given it a go, it's nice but...
- FreeCAD. I'm genuinely shocked how good this open source software can be. Main issue is assemblies. They suck in FreeCAD. But, FEA and especially CFD being integrated right in makes it more useful to me than SolidEdge.
-
Simulation
- OpenFOAM (learning) through the use of the cfdOF workbench in FreeCAD.
-
Programming
- Python
- C
- VBA
-
Other
- Microsoft Office
¶ Current projects
| Project | Description | Latest post | Last update date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed wing UAV v0 | Design, build and test of a fixed wing UAV intended for learning to fly and develop my skills in design and manufacture. | Measuring the strength of the foam. | 19/10/2025 |
| CNC hot wire foam cutter | Design and build a 4-axis hot wire foam cutter to be used for manufacturing advanced foam wings. | Introduction | 19/10/2025 |