Aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions that are driving global climate change, especially with air travel increasing at a phenomenal pace !
Chetan Rao Shankar, our next pathbreaker, Fuel Systems Engineer at Airbus (UK), works on Design and Development of a Liquid Hydrogen Fuel System for future aircrafts.
Chetan talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about several interesting projects he worked on during his masters such as a new battery based system which is used to power the aircraft when it is taxiing on the ground and saving tons of fuel !
For students, always prioritize knowledge over money and success, because when you develop skills, everything else will follow !
Chetan, can you share your background with our young readers?
I am Chetan Rao Shankar and I am an Aerospace Engineer working in Airbus Protect UK. I am currently working as a Fuel System Engineer designing the fuel system for future hydrogen powered aircraft which is expected to enter into service in 2035.
I grew up in a lower middle class family. I am originally from Bangalore. My mom is a primary school teacher and my dad was a clerk (now retired).
Aviation has always been my dream since childhood. During my childhood days, whenever I looked at the sky and saw an aircraft fly, it used to make me curious about how such huge machines could fly so high with astonishing speed. This curiosity led me to develop an interest in aviation. Similarly, I used to attend air shows back in my hometown in Bangalore during my childhood. It was there that I saw these magnificent machines perform heart-stopping manoeuvres at such great speed. This curiosity pushed me towards pursuing a career in the aviation industry, as it was my dream to design these high-performance machines one day.
Since my mom was a teacher, her number one priority was education. Both my parents always wanted me to study well and were ready to do anything for my studies. Hence they wanted me to get the best education possible no matter how difficult it was for them. I ended up going to a ICSE syllabus school called BP Indian Public School in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. I was good at studies and used to get 80% consistently. I was not a class topper though I was an average student all along my school days.
My main hobby during my childhood was playing cricket. That was my only main hobby at that time and I was so into it that I wanted to make a career in it at some point in my life. I admire Rahul David a lot and grew up watching him bat. But later on went on to realize that my real passion is aviation and hence went on to make a career in it.
What did you do for graduation/post graduation?
I did my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and went on to do a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from Cranfield University, UK.
What were some of the key influences that led you to such an offbeat, unconventional in Aerospace Engineering?
Since my childhood, I was always passionate about aviation and always wanted to fly aircrafts. As a child, my aim was to become a pilot and fly aircrafts everyday. I wanted to become a fighter pilot with the Indian Airforce and serve my nation. I did try my level best to get into IAF but due to my height and my body limitations I could not become a fighter pilot. Then I thought of becoming a commercial pilot but when I saw the fee that is required to become a commercial pilot, I realized it is out of my reach and my parents’ reach (it requires close to 1.2 crore rupees in today’s value to become a commercial pilot in India). But, I still wanted to be in the aerospace domain, and that’s when I decided to become an aircraft designer.
My biggest inspiration has always been Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Sir. Since my childhood, he has been my greatest source of inspiration. The primary reason is that he was an aerospace scientist who made significant contributions to the development of aerospace technology for our nation. Secondly, his personality and character set an example for how a person should live in society. Thirdly, his life story demonstrates that anything and everything can be achieved in life with passion and determination. And when I came to know about his career, and that even he wanted to become a fighter pilot but could not become one and ended up as the greatest aerospace scientist the nation has had, It inspired me to become an aerospace design engineer like him.
I have been lucky to find good mentors who have guided me in the right direction all through my career. Some of them being:
Commodore CD Balaji Sir – Sir is my boss from my previous company. Sir is a distinguished scientist from DRDO and the former Director of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), the organization responsible for designing fighter jets in India. Sir has played a very crucial role in my life from inspiring me, mentoring me, supporting me for my master’s and guiding me through my career.
Mr Ramesh Kumar Sir – Sir is a former Flight Controls Engineer from HAL and former Head of Maintenance and Overhaul of Jet Airways. Sir is one of the key mentors for me and most of the knowledge l have today about aircrafts has come from sir. He is a brilliant engineer and designed the flight controls system for LCA Tejas and a lot of other fighter aircrafts for India.
Alvery Grazebrook – Alvery is my current mentor here in Airbus. He is a brilliant engineer with close to 30+ years of experience in aerospace. He has designed some of the best passenger aircrafts in the world like A350, A320, A330, A340, etc
Some of the major events that have happened in my life are:
- When Boeing rejected me for a role in their Bangalore office. This motivated me even more to do my masters and work for Airbus.
- Getting an admit to study Masters in Aircraft Design from Cranfield University which is one of the best Universities in the world rankings to study aerospace.
- My first job in the UK where I got to work for Rolls Royce to design the fuel system for their latest Ultrafan Engine (the biggest jet engine in the world currently).
- Getting a job in Airbus to work on their future aircraft.
One of the major turning points in my career was when Boeing rejected me for a role in their Bangalore office when I was the most deserving candidate. Even when I did the interview very well and had answered all the questions correctly and received positive feedback, due to some internal politics and favored candidates I got rejected.
This incident was the major turning point for me to pursue my master’s and because of which I am where I am today.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career path
Once I had clarity that I want to become an Aerospace engineer, I started to plan my steps on how to reach that goal. Hence, based on advice from my seniors and some people working in the industry, I did my BTech in Mechanical Engineering as it is a good base to learn the basic concepts and then went on to do master’s in Aerospace Engineering where I get to specialize in one field.
As explained earlier, I did my Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering as it provides you with a strong engineering base and then went on to do a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering where I could specialize in one field.
Hence, my approach here was to get a Mechanical Engineering degree, then work for some years, get some Industrial experience which is some practical exposure to the Industry and then go on to do a specialization in the field of Aerospace.
However, my main approach in life has been to prioritize knowledge over money. This is very important because if you have the knowledge, then money will automatically come. Hence, first try to be an excellent engineer and be the best in your field. Then success will come chasing you. In my case, when I was looking for jobs initially, I had received a lot of offers from many companies with really good packages. But still, I chose to work in a company where they paid me very less but where the people I worked with had a lot of knowledge and experience. Hence, I prioritize knowledge over money and today that knowledge has helped me earn more than 10 times the packages I had received earlier. Hence my simple advice to young people is to always prioritize knowledge over money.
I started as an Intern and worked for a company called Dynamatic Technologies Pvt. Limited in Bangalore where I was working on the final assembly line as a quality inspector. Dynamatic makes major aerospace structures for Boeing and Airbus. It is here where I learnt how to manufacture aircraft parts.
Then, my next role was as a Design Engineer in the Center of Excellence in aerospace and Defense. It is here where I learnt how to design aircraft parts and systems.
My next role was again in the Center of Excellence in Aerospace and Defense, Bangalore where I worked as a Model Based Systems Engineer. Here, I learnt how to design Aircraft Systems and the process that is involved in the design.
Both the above roles were at Center of Excellence in Aerospace and Defense. Ornnova was the company which was responsible for paying us salaries as the Center was setup by the Govt of Karnataka to provide skills and training related to aerospace to engineering students to enable them to get a job. Since it was a govt. run organisation which was for non profit, our salaries were taken care by Ornnova. To keep it simple, I was an employee of Ornnova who was deputed to work in Center of Excellence in Aerospace and Defense.
Most of my tasks here were purely software modeling., basically creating 3D CAD models of aircrafts and running simulations on them.
At Cranfield, as part of my Master’s, we had to submit two thesis projects to get our degree. One was an individual project and the second being a group project.
My first individual project was “Design of Thermal Management System for the E-taxi System”.
This is a new system which is used to power the aircraft when it is taxiing on the ground. It makes use of batteries which power the landing gear wheel through a motor and gearbox enabling it to move. By using this system we need not use the engines for taxiing which can save up to 15 tons of fuel in the aircraft. This makes the aircraft more efficient and reduces the operating costs which helps in making aviation more environment friendly and makes it more affordable for people to travel. In the project, I designed the Thermal Management System to cool the batteries. I determined the requirements, created the system architecture, then performed system sizing and then verified it by creating mathematical models using Matlab and Simulink. Then, I finally created a 3D CAD model of the whole system using CATIA.
My second project was a group project and it was a “LH2-21 Liquid Hydrogen Powered Aircraft “
This was a group project where the whole class had to work together to design an aircraft and each one of them would be responsible for designing different parts of the aircraft. In this project, we were challenged to take an existing aircraft and convert it to run on hydrogen and design all the relevant systems. I was given the responsibility to design one of the most crucial systems which was the Liquid Hydrogen Fuel System. Along with that, I was given additional responsibility to be the Project Manager and the Systems Technical leader. Hence, I again captured the requirements, made a fuel system architecture, did system sizing, safety analysis of the system, and made the 3D CAD model of the system. Along with that, I coordinated with the team and ensured all the timelines were met and the project was completed within the given schedule.
This project was very challenging because I was under constant pressure with multiple tasks and responsibilities on my shoulder. Along with this, I had to do my part-time job as well. But with some smart planning and god’s grace I was able to manage it.
And now, because of my experience in designing the fuel system for a hydrogen powered aircraf, I got this role in Airbus where I am designing the Fuel system for a real hydrogen powered aircraft.
After graduating from Cranfield, I got a job to work for Rolls Royce to work on their jet engine. Here I learnt how to design the architecture for the Fuel System of jet engines.
I am currently working for Airbus where I am designing the Fuel System for Airbus aircrafts.
My master’s degree in aerospace and mechanical has helped me.
The approach is simple. Prioritize knowledge over money and try to be the best in your field. Everything else will follow you later.
How did you get your first break?
It is tough to get such jobs here in UK, but since I had this unique skills in Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) which I had learnt when I was working in Center of Excellence in Aerospace and Defense, it helped me get a job here because this is a very niche skill and they were finding it very difficult to find anyone here with this type of skills . Hence they offered me this job even though I was on a visa because of the niche skills I had.
Therefore, I would again like to tell the youngsters to focus more and prioritize knowledge always over money.
I got my first break when I got an offer to work for Airbus in 2022.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
Arranging funds to do my master’s
One of the major challenges I had was to arrange funds for my master’s, which was very difficult with the financial situation I was in. Hence, I had to sell off some of my assets and my mom’s gold and take an educational loan for the remaining amount.
Challenge 2: Surviving in the UK
It is actually very challenging to come to a new country where you don’t know anyone and to survive here without any help and support. It was very difficult for me during my master’s. I used to do a part time job during the night and attend classes in the morning. I had to do this for my survival since I did not have money.
Challenge 3: Finding a job in the UK
It was a challenge to find a job in the UK because the job market was very bad post Brexit and the economy was in a very bad state. Hence, it was very difficult to find a job, but luckily because of my past work experience and God’s grace, I was able to find a job.
Where do you work now?
I am currently working at Airbus UK with cutting-edge technology that is going to change how people travel in the future. I am working as a Fuel System Engineer on Airbus’ most ambitious project, ZEROe, which is designing a hydrogen-powered aircraft. This has the potential to revolutionize air travel, as hydrogen is a clean fuel that emits zero emissions, making air travel more environmentally friendly. As a result, the heart of this aircraft is the new hydrogen fuel system, of which I am a part. It has always been my dream to work in the aviation industry and create things that will have a strong impact on the way people travel, and this current role is making my dream come true.
What problems do you solve?
I am currently solving problems on how Hydrogen can be used as a Fuel to power aircraft in future.
What skills are required for your role? How did you acquire the skills?
Skills needed for this job are a solid engineering base and good knowledge on aircraft systems. You can acquire this knowledge by doing your master’s in Aerospace and with relevant work experience.
What’s a typical day like?
A typical day is like a very common day. We go to the office at 9, have meetings and discussion with the Chief Engineer and then brainstorm on the solutions to address the problem and then start working on the solutions.
What is it you love about this job?
The best thing about this job is that I get to design the future through the hydrogen powered aircraft which is going to change the way people travel, as hydrogen is an environmentally friendly fuel and is abundantly available in nature.
How does your work benefit society?
It is going to change air travel by making it more sustainable and environment friendly.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
I got the opportunity to present one of my works on a Self Propelled cable car concept at a forum for which I received a lot of appreciation.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
Always prioritize knowledge over money and success. Always be passionate about this field and never ever lose it. Keep trying hard and one day you will achieve your dream.
Future Plans?
Future Plans is to become an Architect and design better aircraft.