Fly Your Ideas with Airbus

In today’s competitive job market, projects such as the Airbus Fly Your Ideas challenge provide students with the perfect opportunity to get to know a potential employer, gain a better understanding of potential career paths and develop valuable skills to help them stand out from the crowd.

Here, three people working at Airbus in different entry level programmes talk about the benefits of developing these transferable skills.

Anna Radeva, Airbus Group Graduate Development Scheme, PROGRESS

My job: “Identity. Freedom. Innovation.” 

As a Business Law graduate, for Anna, an open-mind and proactive attitude is vital to ensure that you seize and make the most of any potential opportunities. Showing that you are a team player is also invaluable – “we do appreciate knowledge and skills, but when these are combined with adaptability and team-play, you bring so much more to the company”.  

From her own experience of taking part in a work placement prior to becoming part of the Airbus Employment team, Anna recommends getting involved in “initiatives like Fly Your Ideas which allow you to get to know Airbus better and really demonstrate your skills, participate in working groups and student organisations. Finally, be curious – learning is a consistent part of each career path.” 

Keltoum Ahmadi, Intern, Airbus Employment Marketing

My job: “Fascinating. Challenging. Team-work.”

For Keltoum, team-work is the most important skill in her current role and one that employers are looking for. She says: “Working at the headquarters of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer means being part of a high-performance team where every day you exchange ideas and expertise with colleagues from different countries and nationalities, disciplines and backgrounds. Nowadays, companies need to recruit graduates who are innovative, pragmatic and able to be team players in multi-national teams.” 

Projects that clearly show team-work in practice really draw the attention of potential employers. “Participating in a programme such as Fly Your Ideas helps students to strengthen their project management, critical thinking and communication skills. 

Thanks to this kind of programme students work in groups and build a team spirit while they are working on revolutionary projects.” 

Benjamin Dayde, Airbus Apprentice Scheme, Airbus Employment Marketing  

My job: “Social Media. Universities. Mobility” 

Part of the Airbus apprentice scheme, Benjamin says that he has the perfect opportunity to develop within an exciting environment, combining theory and on-the-job training. 

For Benjamin, the key for recent graduates is to show their ability to think outsid e of the box. “I would definitely recommend students to develop such skills through professional experiences like internships, apprenticeships or graduate programmes. Beyond that, a challenge like Fly Your Ideas is excellent training to improve such skills. The competition itself is based on innovation and allows the participants to express themselves and share their view of what the future of air travel could be. But it also brings people from different countries and backgrounds together to work on a project which is another ability strongly sought-after in a professional environment.”

Find out what finalists from Fly Your Ideas had to say about their experience in the competition:

Finalist testimonials:

Team Coz:http://www.airbus-fyi.com/article/190?back=Site.about

Team Solaire:http://www.airbus-fyi.com/article/191?back=Site.about

Team Ecolution: http://www.airbus-fyi.com/article/192?back=Site.about

Team Msia: http://www.airbus-fyi.com/article/193?back=Site.about

Team SSE: http://www.airbus-fyi.com/article/194?back=Site.about

Team Wings of Phoenix: http://www.airbus-fyi.com/article/195?back=Site.about

To find out more about employment within Airbus, visit: www.airbus.com/work

Hailing from Imam Reza University in Iran, Team Phönix is comprised of students Sorush Salahshour, Sadegh Ghofrani and Mohsen Neshati.

Team Phönix’s project, the ‘Novel Electric Taxi System’, aims to solve the problem of hundreds of tons of fuel being consumed daily while aircraft taxi before and after take-off.

The Novel Electric Taxi System would introduce a new mechanism enabling aircraft to be electrically towed to the runway with the engine turned off. Consisting of a tow car connected to the aircraft nose gear and the electric feeding system, the aircraft’s movement would be fully controlled by the pilot.

To make the system more cost-effective, it would be installed in airports rather than on-board as advocated by similar projects.

To power the system, electrical energy is provided by renewable sources such as solar and wind energy with further resources possibly generated from the landing aircraft.  The Novel Electric Taxi System would therefore reduce the aviation industry’s carbon footprint, whilst providing a more cost-effective solution than other similar projects aligning with the Fly Your Ideas initiative. 

Find out more about the project and the team from their teamline 

Team Manchester is made up of Lavishal Gya, Asad Hussain, Hitesh Premjani, Mohammad Ibrahim and Hammad Akbar from the University of Manchester.

Their ‘Community Friendliness’ project aims to solve the problem of aircraft and engine manufacturers being forced to reduce noise following regulations from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Global expansion of air traffic and the proximity of airports in cities means aircraft noise has become a major public issue with much of the noise being caused by the aircraft’s gas turbine engine.

The ‘Community Friendliness’ solution proposes a multiple fan element gas turbine engine to meet the toughened noise targets. The aim is to inhibit the blade tip speed from becoming supersonic, reducing the core jet speed (the major cause of engine noise). The project could potentially provide higher thrusts as well as reduce mass by using fewer engines, making the aircraft both quieter and more sustainable.

The ‘Community Friendliness’ project not only offers the opportunity for aircrafts of the future to cause significantly less noise disruption to communities living near airports, it has the added bonus of potentially improving the sustainability of air travel, both through reduced emissions and decreased flight time. It therefore benefits communities in general, as well as air passengers and the planet as a whole, complying with Fly Your Idea’s criteria.

Find out more about the project and the team from their teamline 

‘Thin-film solar cells’ is a project from Dragonfly, a collective comprised of Ning Wang, Suichen Wang, Jun Zhou, Lei Jiang and Haoxian Wang from Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC) in France.

 ‘Thin-film solar cells’ is an environmentally friendly solution, tackling the high levels of fuel consumption and rising costs associated with storage for the aviation industry.

Dragonfly’s solution replaces existing fuels on aircrafts with laser energy produced through solar-powered satellites. The GEO Solar Power Satellite would provide clean, inexhaustible, intensive and unlimited energy which could be transmitted via laser directly and steadily to the aircraft.

Aircraft design could also be modified to receive the energy by adding thin-film solar cells. The cells are safe, lightweight, robust, flexible, easy to handle and install and are also impact resistant. Furthermore, the solar cells are more effective at receiving solar energy than solar panels.

The proposed cells would cover two wings and half of the fuselage, with the aircraft itself being modified to be powered by a gas turbine / electric hybrid engine. This reduces fuel consumption, creating fewer emissions and producing less noise.

However, the end result would be difficult to design and heavier aircraft would have to overcome regulatory laws. Initial calculations suggest there would be a reduction of 1200kg of fuel per hour per flight if the proposed laser provided 50% of the cruising power.

Whilst not a feasible concept in the current aviation environment, the trend towards  adapting engines into hybrids, as well as a crucial need to find alternative fuel sources, ensures the ‘Thin-film solar cells’ project aligns with Fly Your Idea ethos of inspiring a vision for the aviation industry of the future. 

Find out more about the project and the team from their teamline

Jorge Funes, Ana Segura, Juan Carlos Sanchez and Gonxalo Delgado are team UEM’eros based at Universidad Europea in Spain.

The ‘On-Board Vending Machines (OVM)’ project helps simplify a very complex and often criticised flight catering industry.

OVM has the potential to eliminate the galley and traditional in-flight catering services by introducing vending machines for flights of four hours or less. The project also prevents the wide variation in quality levels of on-board services between routes and airlines.

The vending machines would be able to cater for all passenger tastes and requirements, ranging from different dietary needs to the seasonality of the food itself. The solution would also reduce any food odours penetrating the cabin and the time needed to clear dirty plates, allowing flight attendants to attend to other passenger needs.

OVM also saves money by reducing the time needed for ground operations, allowing extra seats to be fitted in the space saved and removing the extra weight of galleys.

Passenger comfort overall would be improved. Not only through the accessibility of the food being offered, but also by removing disruptive catering trolleys from the cabin.

OVM aligns with the Fly Your Ideas initiative as it offers an improved passenger experience, through ease of accessibility to a tailored food range, lack of trolley disturbance and functioning rules controlling passenger flow. The prevention of queuing or inconvenience through the use of automatic availability signs also added to passenger comfort. 

Find out more about the project and the team from their teamline

‘Visible Light Communication (VLC)-FBW system’ is a project by Stormhawks comprising of Pitso Mangoro, Azhar Cassim, Sambharthan Cooppan, Muhammed Dangor and Tshireletso Mango from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

VLC solves the complex problem of commercial aircrafts requiring masses of routed, sometimes inaccessible wiring, which contributes to the weight and degradation of the aircraft and can sometimes result in electrical failure.

The current need for separate power and electrical signal cables complicates this matter further. For example, the A380 has over 300 miles of cables consisting of approximately 98,000 wires and 40,000 connectors. A recent study suggests that moving to a wireless system would also reduce weight by 41kg on a Cessna 310R aircraft.

VLC moves from a complex wired system to a wireless approach that improves safety, reduces weight and makes the system much simpler. It also allows multiple signals to be sent to various control surfaces using a single transmission line, saving 13.5% of weight. Rather than thousands of wires, the VLC would be installed below the passenger cabin, allowing for easy inspection.

Formed from only four components, with only two of these requiring installation, the VLC has very few elements to install. This makes it easier for other aircraft components and systems to be installed first.

VLC is suited to the FYI initiative as it focuses on improving safety within the aircraft and on making the jobs of aircraft technicians easier, both when installing the electrical systems, as well as when maintaining them. The solution also takes into account environmental aspects, by helping to reduce weight on the aircraft, potentially leading to a decrease in fuel emissions.

Find out more about the project and the team from their teamline

Controlling flying shape for design point and stabilising the aircraft wing vibrations using piezoelectric composite material made from natural fibres

Team BoAir’s project aims to utilise principles of the “Piezoelectric Effect” using biodegradable material to control flying shape and reduce vibration in aircraft wings.

The team’s proposal employs a closed loop feedback control technique using Lead zirconium titanate which is widely used as piezoelectric material.

The material is subjected to an electrical field which draws energy from an external conventional power source. A tunable vibration absorber system is achieved by embedding pies ceramic elements into a GFRP leaf-spring which represents the core elements of a force generator, amenable to direct electrical control. So far, no significant research in controlling flying shape has been carried out.

Team BoAir’s idea is an automated device mechanism that controls the flight shape and the undesirable wing vibrations due to manoeuvring and some aero elastic effects.

The proposed mechanism stabilises the wings by sensing vibrations and counter acts them using the principle of piezoelectric effect possessed by naturally available fibres.

Find out more about the project and the team from their teamline

Lidia Brito is UNESCO’s Director for Science Policy and Capacity Building in the Natural Science Sector. She was born in Mozambique and is professor for Wood Science at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. A forest engineer by training, Lidia holds a doctorate in Forest and Wood Science from Colorado State University. 

She was previously Mozambique’s Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, and Advisor for Strategic Planning and External Relations for the Mayor of Maputo City. Her areas of expertise range from forestry and development to science, technology and innovation policies. Lidia recently co-chaired the Scientific Organizing Committee for the Planet Under Pressure Conference in London.

“UNESCO’s patronage of Fly Your Ideas reflects the urgent, growing need to attract and nurture future talent. Finding sustainable solutions depends on our capacity to work together and innovate, and Fly Your Ideas gives young people the opportunity to do just this.”

Bruno Delile has been acting Senior Vice President New Aircraft and Corporate Fleet Planning for the Air France Group since 2010. He has more than 25 years’ experience in aircraft and component maintenance and has held several positions in the Air France KLM MRO branch.Bruno spent four years as SVP Industrial and Business Development, tasked with management of AFKLM Engineering Marketing and Sales which last year achieved 

€1billion revenues. He also implemented international partnerships and joint ventures in Asia, MEA and the USA.Prior to this, he acted as VP Materials and Services, where his duties covered supply chain management for the AFKLM fleets and 150 other operators.Bruno has a background in mechanical engineering and an MBA from ESSEC Business School in France.

Charbel Farhat is the Vivian Church Hoff Professor of Aircraft Structures and Chairman of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He is a Fellow of six international professional societies including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a designated ISI Highly Cited Author in Engineering. He is also the recipient of many academic and professional distinctions including the Lifetime Achievement Award from ASME, the Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award from AIAA and the John von Neumann Medal from USACM. In 2011 he was knighted in France and decorated with the Chevalier Medal in the Order of Academic Palms. He was recently elected to the US National Academy of Engineering.

  

Appointed in 2010 Executive Vice President of Engineering at Airbus, Charles Champion is responsible for research and technology, overall product architecture and concept development, the design office, integration, flight-testing and continued airworthiness. He is also a member of the Airbus Executive Committee and the patron of the 2013 Airbus Fly Your Ideas challenge. Charles held various management positions from manufacturing to commercial activities within Airbus, including head of Customer Services and of the A380 programme. He has more than 30 years of experience in aeronautics. Charles graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace Jury  in Toulouse and holds a Master of Science from Stanford University, California.

“I am thrilled to welcome this prestigious jury to Toulouse for what promises to be an exciting final. With Fly Your Ideas we want to inspire the next generation of innovators to push their skills to the limits and accelerate the search for sustainable solutions for the future. The presence of such internationally acclaimed experts is testament to the importance of what we are trying to achieve.”

Ardhendu is responsible for developing disruptive technologies as Head of Airbus Innovation Cell - India. Before joining Airbus, he spent 11 years with General Electric (GE), leading research and engineering teams for various GE businesses. In his last role at GE, he was Technology Leader for Electrical Systems & Technologies. 

Prior to that, Ardhendu worked in academic and R&D institutions in India and the US in the field of ocean energy exploitation, underwater sensing and structural acoustics. He holds international patents, has authored several journal articles and has a PhD from the University of Rhode Island, and a Masters from IIT-Madras. He is an alumnus of the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP).

“I am thrilled to join the Jury and be part of the world-wide excitement, energy and creativity unleashed by Airbus Fly Your Ideas.”

Nicolas is a core member of the Trend Research & Market Intelligence team at the Airbus Cabin Innovation & Design Centre in Hamburg. He is responsible for aircraft-cabin-focused trend and scenario analysis for Fuselage & Cabin and his role is to anticipate future passenger and airline developments by investigating on-ground macro developments and their potential impact on air travel. 

His current trend research is focused on analysing cabin-related airline business models and linking the future passenger landscape to airline (non-ticket) revenue generation service models. Nicolas is a guest lecturer at the Technical University of Hamburg. He studied Economics & Business Administration at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands and the University of Newcastle, Australia.

“The Fly Your Ideas competition has proven to be a great platform for ideation and inspiration for both students around the world as well as active engagement of Airbus employees when it comes to tackling the future challenges of aviation. I feel delighted to be part of this competition again!”

Andy studied Aeronautics at the University of Bath, which included a year’s internship with British Airways. He joined Airbus on the DEG scheme in 1995 and quickly entered the Future Projects offices exploring a number of conceptual aircraft designs. He then moved to Aircraft Operability about 3 years ago to explore new ways to operate future air transport systems.

Nicolas currently performs 360° trend scouting analysis in order to better understand and anticipate Airbus’ customers and passenger future needs that will impact cabin design. The latest project he was involved in was the “Concept Cabin”, which integrated both the future passenger perspective and experience, merged with future enabling technologies. Nicolas studied International Management at the University of Maastricht, with a focus on Innovation Management and Organisational Change.

Simon’s long-time love of aviation is in part borne of his father’s occupation as an engineer at the local airport.  Simon’s own career started with an apprenticeship at BAE Systems.  After five years he became an Avionics Development Engineer and, later, an Avionics Research Engineer.  A company reorganisation led him to the world of technical publications and project management.  He went on to hold a number of roles in Customer Services, including marketing, aircraft reliability and maintenance cost analysis and programme management.He is now Fuel and Emissions Performance Manager.