Aero shouldn’t be overbearing.
After the past year and a half of operating solo, I’ve come to realize that’s my philosophy.
So many times in my career, I’ve heard people talk about “getting the blessing from aero” on a design change. They pretend to brace themselves, half expecting me to fly off the handle over an antenna they need to install on the bird. It’s as if what the airplane looks like is the most important part of the entire project.
As much as I genuinely appreciate the respect and trust they give me, I really don’t want this to be the dynamic.
The way I see it, aerodynamics is not the tippy top of the design stack, dictating what everything and everyone else should be or do. Or at least, it shouldn’t be.
It’s the foundation.
Aerodynamics is what makes it so your airplane can actually accomplish its mission, of course. If you make your endurance bird have stubby wings, it’ll roll like a dogfighter, but it’ll also fly for a tenth of the time it’s meant to.
But determining the airframe design to achieve a particular mission is just the beginning. Once that design is worked out, there are so many more layers of work to make it real.
And that’s where the aspirational aircraft smacks right into the limitations of budgets, of space-claiming, of manufacturing techniques, of commercially available parts. All things that my colleagues of other specializations can handle way better than me.
So aero becomes the rising tide that lifts all boats. I start us with that initial guiding design, sure, but afterwards I’m in service to the rest of the team.
One engineer realizes there’s not enough space in the wing to fit the servo needed for the ailerons. I tell them we can increase the airfoil thickness to add cross-sectional volume. It’s a drag hit, but I can compromise to make the whole system work.
Someone else realizes they need to rearrange internal components and ends up with a center of gravity estimate outside our aerodynamically-safe range. I don’t just veto the changes—I investigate what wing and tail adjustments will get us back in balance given the updates.
I’m not here to make demands from on high. I bring confidence and clear answers, so my team doesn’t have to second-guess themselves and simmer in worry and uncertainty. I collaborate and compromise so we can make a real airplane in a matter of months, instead of being trapped in endless design spirals. I grease the skids, you could say.
Aero should work in harmony with all other disciplines. And it shouldn’t be overbearing.
(If you work in this industry, and especially if you’ve worked with me personally—please let me know your thoughts. Am I saying something smart? Or do I just unintentionally sound full of myself? I want other perspectives.)