Headline

Lead Flight Test Engineer @ Sarla Aviation

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

claude code

Work experience

Lead Flight Test Engineer at Sarla Aviation, Sep 2024 - Present · 2 yrs, Bengaluru, • Built the company’s flight test organization from the ground up, establishing team structure, processes, governance and infrastructure for prototype eVTOL flight testing. • Leading the Flight Test organization and overseeing the Lab Test function, driving a unified verification and validation framework to ensure consistency across aircraft-level and system-level testing campaigns. • Wrote the Concept of Operations (ConOps) for the Shunya manned aircraft program, establishing the operational baseline defining intended operations, serving as the foundation for aircraft-level requirements and verification criteria. • Contributing to the development of the company’s Design Organisation Manual (DOM) as part of Sarla’s Design Organisation Approval (DOA) process, and currently appointed as a Compliance Verification Engineer (CVE) for Flight Test within Sarla. • Supported the adoption of a leaner ARP 4754B-aligned development process tailored for a prototyping organization, adopting a streamlined V-model and end-to-end requirements traceability to ensure full coverage through appropriate test methods. • Authored and established the company’s Flight Test Operations Manual (FTOM), defining the procedures, roles and safety framework governing all flight test operations. • Developing test roadmaps and owning planning and execution of flight test campaigns for prototype eVTOL aircraft, including test plans, test cards, flight test procedures and post-flight data analysis for performance, stability and handling qualities assessment. • Managing the flight test safety, release governance and configuration management, including Test Hazard Assessments (THAs), Safety Review Boards (SRBs), Flight Readiness Reviews (FRRs) and Flight Conditions for each test campaign. • Directing cross-functional coordination with avionics, structures and propulsion teams to define test requirements and drive integrated system-level verification of aircraft subsystems.

Concepts and Solutions Engineer at Volocopter, Jan 2023 - Sep 2024 · 1 yr 9 mos, Munich, • Developed feasibility studies, business cases and strategic roadmaps for next-generation concepts, presenting findings to senior leadership to support investment decisions and product direction. • Conceptualized Logistics Drone Delivery and Passenger Air Taxi operational ecosystems, designing and mapping Operational Routes and Networks through assessment of aircraft capabilities, regulatory constraints and customer requirements. • Conducted technology scouting and vendor assessments by engaging external companies to evaluate avionics systems, ground control station architectures and software solutions, informing technology roadmaps and product requirements for next-generation platforms. • Participated in the assessment and review of Means of Compliance (MoC), AMC and Guidance Material drafts as part of EASA’s Special Conditions (SC) Light UAS, contributing to the framework and high-level requirements for next-generation UAS. Also contributed to industry review and commenting of SC-VTOL, EASA’s certification framework for crewed eVTOL aircraft. • Led the ideation, build and management of a new Ground Control Station for Pilots, including compact hardware designs, GUIs for Engineering and Pilot Displays with WCA (Warning, Caution and Alert) system, for improved situational awareness. • Developed a simplified flight test process and Operations Manual for Unmanned Aircraft Operations in the Open and Specific Category under EASA Regulation 2019/947, for R and D flight test operations in Germany. • Generated timelines and managed active projects, coordinating with various departments to develop concepts and solutions for next-generation products and aircraft for future Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations.

Flight Test Engineer & Unmanned Test Pilot - Volodrone at Volocopter, May 2020 - Jan 2023 · 2 yrs 9 mos, Munich, • Served as Unmanned Test Pilot and Flight Test Engineer for routine VoloDrone flight test campaigns, generating flight test plans, test cards and post-flight reports to assess performance and expand the flight envelope, while maintaining aircraft documentation for airworthiness and compliance with German regulations. • Developed the safety portfolio, including a SORA utilising dynamic zoning for Ground Risk Class (GRC) assessments, THAs and airworthiness documentation, to seek operational permissions from Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart and Hamburg authorities for the first public VoloDrone demonstration at the ITS Conference, Hamburg, October 2021. Planned the flight path, manoeuvres, test cards and test zones, and served as Unmanned Test Pilot during the event. • Led the team as Flight Test Engineer and Pilot in Command of the VoloDrone during demonstration flights for civil aviation and regulatory authorities, namely the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA), EASA and the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Saudi Arabia (GACA). • Participated in the planning and execution of CORUS XUAM automated deconfliction flight demonstrations between crewed and uncrewed aircraft at the DLR National Experimental Test Center for UAS, Magdeburg-Cochstedt, Nov 2022.

Team Lead (UAV Test and Operations) at Third Space Auto, Mar 2019 - Feb 2020 · 1 yr, Helsinki Area, Finland, • Played a key role in implementing and operating the ByDrone project, having designed and registered a temporary airspace in the Helsinki region to enable BVLOS UAV operations, and executed 30 autonomous deliveries across the Otaniemi and Lauttasaari region to demonstrate UAV feasibility in logistics. • Generated SORA and ConOps based on early JARUS SORA guidelines to secure flight approvals for UAV flights in the Helsinki region. • Conducted specialist flight campaigns including a 5G-enabled BVLOS drone demonstration for Elisa Telecom and thermal data collection flights in Portugal supporting an AI-based wildfire detection and suppression project. • Generated BOMs, assembled and tested UAVs and set up auxiliary components and companion computers for module testing on both PX4 and Ardupilot (Copter) flight stacks. Tested modules included Sense & Avoid and Precision Landing, with hands-on parametric tuning, payload, hardware and sensor integration across both stacks. • Coordinated with software leads to translate requirements into flight test plans and provide post-flight feedback, driving parametric and stack-level improvements on the automation modules, with working knowledge of ROS, MAVLINK and MAVROS commands.

Research Associate at Throttle Aerospace Systems Pvt Ltd, Feb 2017 - Feb 2019 · 2 yrs 1 mo, Bengaluru, • Handled manufacturing and deliveries, and independently took part in technical discussions, demonstrations, UAV testing and training for the Indian Air Force, major divisions of Bharat Electronics Limited (Electronic Warfare & Avionics and Military Radar) and several other private companies. • Assembled and tested quadcopters and fixed-wing UAVs running open-source firmware, including augmentation for unique motor configurations (Hex-H, Octa-H, Octa-V). Analysed flight data to enhance performance and endurance through parameter tuning and resolution of in-flight issues. • Integrated RTK/PPK GNSS into survey-grade UAVs to improve geolocation accuracy, and developed a standalone Python package for geotagging images using drone flight logs. • Implemented Machine Learning and Computer Vision algorithms for smarter drones, including colour segmentation, object detection and licence plate and barcode detection, with neural networks trained using Darkflow and YOLOv2 and run on-board UAV cameras.

Student Ambassador - Marketing and Communications at Cranfield University, Jun 2016 - Oct 2016 · 5 mos, Cranfield, Discussion and clarification of queries from prospective students around the world through telephonic conversations, to help them accept admission offers and process their applications further. Analysed and proof-read social media content to provide opinions and options for future campaigns.

Education

Master’s Degree, Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Cranfield University

Bachelor of Engineering (BE), Mechanical Engineering, Reva Institute of Technology and Management