Aircraft design & development

From concept.
To flight.

I’m Adam. My work brings together aerodynamic and mechanical design, composite manufacturing, and hands-on testing.

Explore selected work
Orange Wingtra RAY aircraft standing on its landing supports in a quarry
Wingtra RAYAerodynamic & mechanical design

01 / Selected work

Ideas made tangible.

Aircraft development, from the first design decisions to the realities of a working prototype.

01 / Wingtra RAY

From concept
to a reliable aircraft.

I was the aerodynamic/mechanical engineer behind Wingtra RAY’s design. My work spanned the initial aircraft concept, extensive hands-on prototyping, part design, manufacturing and assembly considerations, supplier collaboration, and reliability development.

My roleAerodynamic and mechanical engineer

Build. Test. Refine.

Used prototypes and flight tests to investigate hover and landing behaviour where simulation was impractical or insufficient, then refined the design from the findings.

Designed for repeatability

Worked with suppliers on foam and moulded plastic parts, balancing wall thickness, moulded-in features, and draft angles with simple, repeatable assembly.

Reliability in the details

Addressed tolerance stack-up and bonded-joint failures through changes to materials, geometry, and assembly. Verified improvements through measurements, mechanical tests, and environmental tests for greater robustness and repeatability.

Published product results

Field efficiency
+20%
Aerodynamic efficiency (L/D)
+12%
Payload capacity by weight
+56%

Improvements reported in AirShaper’s Wingtra case study. These are product-level results from the development team’s work.

Read the AirShaper case study
Petrel carbon-fibre aircraft prototype with a yellow nose and two elevated motors in the workshop02 / Petrel

Master’s thesis / Submersible UAV

From water
to air.

An aircraft designed to operate underwater and take off from the surface. The challenge: balance waterproofing, buoyancy, and flight performance in one working vehicle.

My work Concepts, aircraft design, prototyping, manufacturing, and flight tests.

Watch the water takeoff
Inside the engineering
01

Waterproofing & buoyancy

The design targeted neutral buoyancy underwater while balancing the centre of gravity and centre of buoyancy. A bladder solution addressed underwater pressure without the weight of a heavy, pressure-resistant waterproof housing.

02

Rapid water drainage

Water needed to leave the flooded structure quickly during takeoff. Open wingtips, a spring-loaded hatch, and openings near the ailerons provided drainage paths to shed that water weight as the aircraft emerged.

03

Control through the transition

Motor placement directed propeller airflow over the elevator and aileron control surfaces. The arrangement balanced control authority with stability requirements in both water and air.

04

A nose for radio reception

The antennas and GPS were placed at the tip inside a glass-fibre nosecone. This kept them outside the shielding carbon-fibre structure, allowing radio communication and GPS reception at the surface and in flight.

Read the thesis on DiVA

Out of the workshop

The moment
it leaves the water.

Testing the transition from a floating aircraft to controlled flight.

Open on YouTube
Green Raven carbon-fibre blended-wing-body model mounted in a wind tunnel03 / Green Raven

Research / Hydrogen-powered aircraft

A different
shape of aircraft.

A blended-wing-body research UAV exploring hydrogen propulsion. Work spanned conceptual design and the practical steps needed to make a composite prototype.

Wingspan
4 m
Max. takeoff weight
25 kg

My work Conceptual design and prototyping, including CNC-milled moulds and vacuum infusion.

Read the research paper

Further work

Making the test
as useful as the design.

Experimental validation

Wind tunnel & field testing

Wind tunnel and car-mounted setups to compare aerodynamic predictions with measured performance.

Test equipment

Parachute deployment testing

A drone-carried drop and deployment device to measure velocity, acceleration, and force under real test conditions.

02 / About

Design.
Build.
Test.

I’m interested in what happens when an aircraft leaves the drawing board.

My work spans aircraft concepts, controls, composite manufacturing, and experimental testing. I enjoy connecting those disciplines: making a design, building it, and finding out how it behaves in practice.

My projects include aerodynamic and mechanical design for Wingtra RAY, a submersible UAV, and a hydrogen-powered research aircraft, alongside the test equipment needed to evaluate them.

  • Aircraft design
  • Composite prototyping
  • Flight testing
  • Experimental validation

03 / Independent projects

Outside the workshop.

I also build digital products for fun. These are personal projects in development, with the concept, design, and development all my own.

Stories / In development

Snuzo

Personalised illustrated children’s stories, built around a child’s name and interests. Create adventures with recurring characters and keep them as downloadable storybooks.

Concept, design & development

Visit Snuzo

Art prints / In development

Nordlys

An online storefront for art prints inspired by places and landscapes. A personal project bringing together visual design, product presentation, and the shopping experience.

Concept, design & development

Visit Nordlys

Local transport / In development

Luggit

A marketplace connecting people who need items moved with people who can transport them. Post an item and its pickup and delivery locations, then let others offer to do the job.

Concept, design & development

Visit Luggit