Extreme engineering

[Taha Kchirid 0]

Hello everybody, i'm new to this community. In fact, i'm gonna start my aff in France this July ! I am currently an engineering student and would love to work in the skydiving/wingsuit but i can't find useful info on the internet. Can you please help me find an answer to these questions : - What are the jobs that an engineer can do in this field ? -What is the degree necessary to do so ?

Thanks a lot for your answers!

[SethInMI 145]

Hi Taha,

There are not a lot of engineers in the skydiving equipment manufacturing world, because there are not a lot of people in that world. It is a small industry, and restricting it to wingsuits is way smaller. If wingsuits interest you, perhaps going for an aeronautical degree would be a good idea.

 

[Taha Kchirid 0]

Thanks @SethInMi for you answer. Working in the extreme sports industry is what i'm looking for and the wingsuit is a part of it. Do you have any company name that could help ?

I am now studying general engineering and will maybe go for aerodynamics or in fluids turbulence.

[sundevil777 93]

I would guess that much of the design/engineering that is done by skydiving equipment manufacturers is by people that do not have a engineering degree. This is just my opinion, but it might be worth considering.

[Taha Kchirid 0]

@sundevil777 what do you think an engineer can do then ?

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

25 minutes ago, sundevil777 said:

I would guess that . . .  do not have a engineering degree. 

Hi Cliff,

There are only two that come to mind; and they both are with the same company.

Jerry Baumchen

[Taha Kchirid 0]

What company is it please ?

[neilmck 36]

The only parachute manufacture I know of in France is Zodiac Aerospace, part of Safran.  A few years ago Zodiac bought Parachutes de France who were working on sport parachutes.  However Zodiac now appear to be concentrating on the military market  (both round and square chutes).  They do development work at Plaisir in the Parisian region.

[flyingwallop 5]

Pretty sure one (the skydiver) of Fluid Wings' original band members is an engineer (not sure which specialty) by training............Did I read it on their website?

Edited April 30, 2019 by flyingwallop

[flyingwallop 5]

Quote

Scott began skydiving in 1998 and by 2001 was a competitive canopy Pilot and went on to attend 3 world championships and countless other top level competitions with his involvement on Team FASTRAX and Slipstream Airports. Scott is a licensed Engineer (Master’s degree) with over 20 years’ experience of design experience.  

https://www.fluidwings.com/our-story

[Taha Kchirid 0]

16 minutes ago, flyingwallop said:

Pretty sure one (the skydiver) of Fluid Wings' original band members is an engineer (not sure which specialty) by training............Did I read it on their website?

 

17 minutes ago, neilmck said:

The only parachute manufacture I know of in France is Zodiac Aerospace, part of Safran.  A few years ago Zodiac bought Parachutes de France who were working on sport parachutes.  However Zodiac now appear to be concentrating on the military market  (both round and square chutes).  They do development work at Plaisir in the Parisian region.

 

This is really useful, thanks a lot !  

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

1 hour ago, Taha Kchirid said:

What company is it please ?

Hi Taha,

I phrased that wrong.  Bill Coe of Performance Designs & Manley Butler of Butler Parachute Systems.

There might be more but that is all I can think of at this time.

Jerry Baumchen

[Taha Kchirid 0]

18 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Taha,

I phrased that wrong.  Bill Coe of Performance Designs & Manley Butler of Butler Parachute Systems.

There might be more but that is all I can think of at this time.

Jerry Baumchen

Thank you for your answer ! I will look it up

[RiggerLee 61]

Don't get too hung up on a major or specialization. My experience is that if you are an engineer you are an engineer. What you study in school is just a starting point. You will grow into what ever industry you wind up in. Example, I'm working for a rocket company. We're rocket scientist. The head guy is an electrical engineer. My boss who does the engine development and got put in charge of recovery systems came out of the petroleum industry. I'm not sure about his degree if he has an engineering degree it's probable in mechanical? Another is just a blue collar guy out of the air gas industry. He does all of our cryogenics and most of the construction on the rocket. There is a contractor that is a dynamacist that I'm sure has aerospace degrees. But I think I might be the only person here at the shop that was an AE, aerospace engineering major and I'm the seamstress. Maybe that should tell you some thing about the viability of that degree path... If I was to actually give you advice, I'd tell you to study your math. Maybe even get a minor in it. Regardless of what your paper says, some thing general like mechanical engineering or EE or some thing more specialized like AE, there will be a place for you in what ever industry you presue. 

 

But just as an example. I'm working for this company as their parachute rigger. Thinking back on what I've used from school. Alot of my work with pattern sets and design uses a lot of protective geometry and differential geometry. Unrolling sections of surfaces out of 3d space in to 2d to form pattern sets. Reentry models goes back to my AE courses. I cracked an old Thermo text a couple of weeks ago looking at a problem we were having with our pressurization system. Analyzing INU data from drop test. People say that you will never use what you learned in school, I've found the exact opposite. Particularly the math. But more than that I find the things I studied in school just generally inform me of how things will behave. And I never actually finished my degree. Some time I wonder what else I would have learned. It was invaluable but it was also just a starting point and nothing more then a foundation upon which to start building your experience. What you learn afterwards is what your career is built from. 

 

Lee

[Taha Kchirid 0]

 

17 hours ago, RiggerLee said:

Don't get too hung up on a major or specialization. My experience is that if you are an engineer you are an engineer. What you study in school is just a starting point. You will grow into what ever industry you wind up in. Example, I'm working for a rocket company. We're rocket scientist. The head guy is an electrical engineer. My boss who does the engine development and got put in charge of recovery systems came out of the petroleum industry. I'm not sure about his degree if he has an engineering degree it's probable in mechanical? Another is just a blue collar guy out of the air gas industry. He does all of our cryogenics and most of the construction on the rocket. There is a contractor that is a dynamacist that I'm sure has aerospace degrees. But I think I might be the only person here at the shop that was an AE, aerospace engineering major and I'm the seamstress. Maybe that should tell you some thing about the viability of that degree path... If I was to actually give you advice, I'd tell you to study your math. Maybe even get a minor in it. Regardless of what your paper says, some thing general like mechanical engineering or EE or some thing more specialized like AE, there will be a place for you in what ever industry you presue. 

 

But just as an example. I'm working for this company as their parachute rigger. Thinking back on what I've used from school. Alot of my work with pattern sets and design uses a lot of protective geometry and differential geometry. Unrolling sections of surfaces out of 3d space in to 2d to form pattern sets. Reentry models goes back to my AE courses. I cracked an old Thermo text a couple of weeks ago looking at a problem we were having with our pressurization system. Analyzing INU data from drop test. People say that you will never use what you learned in school, I've found the exact opposite. Particularly the math. But more than that I find the things I studied in school just generally inform me of how things will behave. And I never actually finished my degree. Some time I wonder what else I would have learned. It was invaluable but it was also just a starting point and nothing more then a foundation upon which to start building your experience. What you learn afterwards is what your career is built from. 

 

Lee

This is some really good advice, thank you so much for it. I am now trying to get in contact with the companies mentioned above and some i've found here and there so that I get to know the industry better. A company based in France would be really cool for my internships but if i don't get lucky enough I will try to go to the US. I am also starting my aff in July, hope it will widen my network.

Thanks again every one for your answers  

[flyhi 24]

Quote

Don't get too hung up on a major or specialization. My experience is that if you are an engineer you are an engineer. What you study in school is just a starting point. 

Pretty valid. My undergrad is in civil and my graduate degree is in aeronautical. I tell non-engineers that both disciplines rely on Newton's F=mA, but in civil A must always equal zero and in aero, it almost never does. Gross approximation of the truth, but you know how non-engineers are.

If you have the option, I would recommend taking an elective in a Computational Fluid Dynamics course if you can. I know Scott uses it in his work and it is the future. Wind tunnel in a box.