03 · Aircraft engineering

UAV systems

Eight-plus years designing, building, testing and flying fixed-wing and multirotor aircraft across FPV, survey, autonomous, long-range and industrial work.

Samuel holding a custom fixed-wing FPV aircraft

Commercial work

Flying in operational environments.

I perform volumetric stockpile surveys, photogrammetry and industrial data capture using custom-built commercial UAV systems through Dynamic Spatial Solutions.

That includes work at NRG Gladstone Power Station, Stanwell Power Station, Cheetham Salt and Rockhampton Landfill. The technical task is only part of the job. Safe operations also depend on inductions, situational awareness and clear communication with the people running each site.

Aircraft design

I design aircraft, not only assemble kits.

I started building drones and fixed-wing aircraft in 2017 and have kept building ever since. My work spans propulsion selection, lightweight CAD, printed structures, electronics integration, RF and video links, flight-controller setup, tuning and flight testing.

3D printing lets me close the loop between an idea and a flying machine. Across more than 20 RC aircraft, I have printed complete LWPLA airframes as well as mounts, brackets, enclosures and repair parts, then tested the result in flight.

255 km/hPersonal fixed-wing speed record

2+ hrFixed-wing endurance achieved by two printed aircraft

200+ km/hPersonal FPV multirotor speed record

The 2022 Vera speed wing opened to show its pink ESC, propulsion, control and radio systems — The 2022 Vera speed wing, recognisable by its pink ESC, reached my personal fixed-wing record of 255 km/h.

Fusion 3603D printingLWPLAArduPilot / ArduPlaneMission PlannerExpressLRSMAVLinkDJI O4BetaflightINAV

Selected airframes

Different aircraft, different constraints.

Speed, endurance, autonomy and weight each force different decisions. These builds are a small sample of the design-to-flight work behind the headline numbers.

Samuel holding the compact white Flik flying wing — **Flik wing**Under 250 g · 1.5 hr flight time · 10+ km range · 100+ km/h

White 3D-printed Talon V-tail aircraft on a workshop table — **Talon V-tail**3D printed · More than two hours flight time

White 3D-printed Titan aircraft with twin-boom tail and orange propeller — **Titan endurance aircraft**3D printed · More than two hours flight time

White foamboard Yak flight-test fighter aircraft — **Yak flight-test fighter**An early scratch-built aircraft from the workshop archive

Experience spectrum

From manual FPV to autonomous survey.

FPVSurveyAutonomousFixed wingHeavy liftIndustrial

The 500+ hour figure is a conservative reconstruction across years of practical fixed-wing and multirotor work. I prefer a bounded lower estimate to an inflated number that cannot be defended.