Flight Mechanics and Simulation Engineer

Flight Mechanics and Simulation Engineer

DRONAMICS

Sofia, Bulgaria

The Role:

Working as part of the Design Organisation R&D team the Flight Mechanics and Simulation Engineer will be responsible for developing and maintaining flight mechanics models and simulation tools. This role combines hands-on technical work in MATLAB/Simulink with collaboration across the engineering team to support aircraft analysis, flight testing, and continuous improvement of our simulation capabilities.

The Responsibilities:

• Reviewing and improving the fidelity of existing flight mechanics models;
• Expanding the existing flight mechanics analysis MATLAB codebase;
• Maintaining and improving the in-house flight simulator;
• Writing and reviewing technical documentation and methodologies;
• Supporting the FCS Engineer and Aerodynamics and Load Cases Engineer with flight mechanics related activities (e.g. linearisations, trim);
• Post-flight test data analysis and improvement of aerodynamic models;
• Flight test support at the test site (if required).

Your Qualifications:

• MSc/MEng or PhD in Aerospace Engineering or related field with at least 3 years of industry experience;
• Good working level in MATLAB and Simulink;
• Good understanding of data structures in MATLAB and Model-Based Design (MBD) practices;
• Good understanding of aerodynamics and flight mechanics, including:
  • Standard definitions of aerodynamic coefficients;
  • 3DOF and 6DOF equations of motion;
  • Stability derivatives, importance and effect;
  • Trim and linearization (coupled and decoupled);
  • Static and dynamic stability analysis (longitudinal and lateral modes).
• Familiarity with aerodynamic models and stability derivatives/lookup tables;
• Good technical documentation writing and presentation skills.

Nice to Have:

• Prior experience with fixed-wing UAV platforms;
• Good working knowledge of GIT version control system;
• Good understanding of the working principles of BEM and CFD;
• Basic understanding of Simulink Compiler, C++, and compilation using MSVC.