Scaled Composites Career Day April 21st - Hot Company Looking For Cool Engineers!

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo at Scaled Composites Mojave, CA
 

SCALED COMPOSITES CARERR DAY - SATURDAY APRIL 21, 2012

 If you're a hands-on engineer interested in aviation and aerospace and you're looking for a career, you should probably be RSVP'n to Scaled Composites to take part in their Career Day coming up soon on Saturday April 21, 2012. The event will run from 10am to 2pm at the Scaled facilities at the Mojave Air & Spaceport in Mojave, California.

 Scaled is growing and has need to add a range of specialized positions for their ongoing work on some of the most interesting flying machines in the world... including the new Stratolaunch super-sized spaceship and mothership project.

 This Career Day is a very special opportunity for people who are seriously interested in working for the company. You'll get both an unprecedented look at some of the Scaled facilities as well as the opportunity to talk with Scaled employees. Read the info below (pulled from the Scaled Career Day page), or hit this link for all the details. Read it all closely so you understand the details and be sure to RSVP if you're planning to attend.

Scaled employees working on SpaceShipOne - 2004 winner of the Ansari X Prize

On Saturday April 21, 2012, Scaled Composites, LLC will open its hangar doors to give job seekers of all backgrounds the chance to talk to our employees and see some of our unique aircraft.  The Career Day and Open House will occur from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM; qualified applicants should come prepared to talk one-on-one with Scaled employees.

This is a chance for us to get to know you, for you to show us what you are passionate about, and for us to learn how you might fit into our company.  Fly or drive out with a resume, examples of your work, bottled water, sun protection, and be ready to find out what it means to have “FUN” at work.

Please RSVP with attached resume to “resume@scaled.com,” subject line “Career Day.”

Scaled Composites is looking for qualified applicants in the following categories:

  - Aerodynamicist
  - Avionics Engineer
  - Composite Fabricator
  - Composite Structural Analyst
  - Composites Design Engineer
  - Data Analyst Engineer
  - Electrical Engineer
  - Manufacturing Engineer
  - Materials and Process Engineer
  - Mechanical Design Engineer
  - Program Business Manager (PBM)
  - Program Business Analyst (PBA)
  - Domain/Software Administrator (IT)

Visit our careers page for further details.

Please note, Scaled Composites, LLC will consider applications and resumes from U.S. Citizens only; Scaled Composites, LLC does not offer foreign employee (H1) visa sponsorship. Scaled Composites, LLC does not offer internships at this time.

Event Location/Details:

Mojave Air and Spaceport
Hangar 78
1624 Flight Line
Mojave, CA 93501

April 21, 2012, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

This event coincides with Plane Crazy Saturday Fly-in and Static Display, a Mojave Transportation Museum Event. Please visit the Mojave Museum Website for more information.  http://www.mojavemuseum.org/index.html

 
SpaceShipTwo with Scaled employees on the ramp at their Mojave facilities

Scaled Composites Rocks! (The Music Video)

Scaled Overview from Scaled Composites on Vimeo.

 This fresh in-house video from the cool people at Scaled Composites shows a wide range of the unique flying machines they've built over the years... and it also gives you a good feel for the excellent camaraderie that the people working there experience.

 I know if I was young and working toward my engineering degree (like I should have been) I'd be doing everything I could to get my foot in the door! What could be better than loving the experience of being part of the team that designs and builds some of the most fascinating aircraft in the world?

Screenshot from the video that shows the past and the future at Scaled Composites

Video: Virgin Galactic Shows More Of SpaceShipTwo In Flight

 Here's a recent showreel video from Virgin Galactic with some stellar views of both WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo in flight. Impressive stuff... and fun to watch : )

 

Video screenshot of SpaceShipTwo looking fabulous in a glide test

Rutan/Scaled ARES Spotted: Gray, In The Wild Blue Yonder

Scaled Model 151 ARES in gray paint against a blue Texas sky (photo: Steve Douglass)

 The Scaled Model 151 ARES designed by Burt Rutan in the late 80's and first flown in 1990 did a great job of meeting the design goals of a small, inexpensive and agile close air support aircraft... but in the end, only one prototype was built. As is common with Scaled aircraft, the ARES moved past its original intent to be used for any purpose a customer was willing to pay for. That even included being in the 1992 film Aces: Iron Eagle III playing the part of a fictitious version of the Messerschmitt Me 263. And while this unique composite flying machine with the off-center mounted turbofan was sent to storage in 2000, it was seen in 2008 to be back in the air doing some sort of testbed work.

The Scaled ARES recently passing thru amarillo Texas  (photo: Steve Douglass)

 And now here recently it was spotted by photographer Steve Douglass as it made a stop in Amarillo Texas. It appears that the aircraft was on its way eastward and is presumably doing some work for the Navy. So, technically, that may not have been the Wild Blue Yonder that its sweet and simple gray paint was contrasting with : )

 It's just great to see this little Warthog-ette, that once had a 25mm canon mounted onboard, is back in the air and working again!

More ARES design info: Video: Getting To Know The Rutan Model 151 'ARES' Circa 1990

Scaled Composites Seeking Really Big Engineers! (Stratolaunch Mega Mothership)

(click pic to enlarge) Stratolaunch Rendering of the Scaled mothership & SpaceX rocket

Highly qualified engineers are encouraged to consider a career
at Scaled Composites as the future is looking very, very big!

 The recent announcement by Paul Allen of the Stratolaunch Systems space venture that includes both Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites (along with SpaceX and Dynetics) got me thinking right away about how involved Burt would be. He's retired now and moved away from Mojave, so I wondered to what extent he'd be directly involved. So, I sent him an email and simply asked "are you directly involved in the design and engineering of the mega mothership or is that task completely handed over to Scaled?" I was fortunate to get a response directly from Burt, which reads: "Over the past 20 years I have conducted preliminary designs of various mega-mother ships as in-house research and for various prospective customers. As the program moved into a real, funded phase to build the beast, I handed off the design effort to the young engineers at Scaled. I am retired now and my work will be limited to being a Stratolaunch Board member and giving occasional advise."

 That's pretty much what I had expected to hear... I don't think any of us expected him to be sitting in a rocking chair on the porch in his retirement, but being directly involved in day to day hardcore engineering challenges on a project of this size didn't seem realistic either. You may already know that WhiteKnightTwo, the mothership for Virgin Galactic is an aircraft that Burt pointed out long ago as being designed by the young engineers at Scaled. The mantle has truly been passed, and Scaled is embarking on some new and very large territory with a project like the Stratolaunch million-pound-plus Mega Mothership.

(click pic to enlarge) Wow! The Stratolaunch Mega Mothership is huge compared to a 747!

 My friend and Scaled employee Elliot Seguin shared with me that Scaled is in the market for new and big-minded engineers. The 1.2 million pound plus Stratolaunch Mega Mothership project may be poised to bring in as many as 30 engineers soon, and as it progresses, more engineers will likely be added. It's an incredibly exciting time to be thinking seriously about trying to get a job at Scaled.

 But what kind of people work at Scaled? They aren't your ordinary engineers to be sure. The work environment at Scaled is light on managers and heavy on very motivated self-starters that not only need experience in the design-build-test loop, but that's how the work is done. Many of the engineers are also young... not that's there's a bias against older highly experienced people, but packing everything up and moving out into the desert simply isn't as easy for established families. But one thing is sure, there isn't much hand-holding in the Scaled work atmosphere, so you better be good at balancing being a team player while also being that highly motivated self-starter.

 If you're and experienced engineer, or maybe a year or two out of school with some great hands-on experience, I encourage you to check into the careers page at Scaled. You've got nothing to lose by checking in to it, and you've got so much potentially to gain by getting involved in one of the greatest engineering work environments on the planet.

 Lastly, if you're still in high school and are leaning toward (or are already committed to) getting an engineering degree, keeping Scaled Composites on your radar may really help drive you forward. Their need in the future for more of these unique engineers is likely to continue to grow. This would be a great time to cultivate your own experience in the design-build-test loop... and it's always a good time to become a dedicated self-starter!

The Mega Mothership Space System From Stratolaunch

A new space launch system named Stratolaunch introduces the mega mothership

 Yesterday Paul Allen announced an ambitious space launch project called Stratolaunch... it takes the high-altitude mothership launch system concept seen in his 2004 collaborative effort with Burt Rutan on SpaceShipOne to a massive new scale.

 In fact, this mothership, to be built by Scaled Composites, will have a wingspan of over 380 feet making it by far the largest aircraft in the world based on wingspan. Possibly more amazing is that the largest aircraft by this measure is still the Howard Hughes H-4 Hercules (Spruce Goose) built in the mid 1940's which has a wingspan of just a tic under 320 feet. This mothership will also come close to being the heaviest aircraft on earth with a projected gross weight of over 1.2 million pounds, but the An-225 at 1.323 million pounds and the A380 at 1.3 million pounds will have it beat on the scales.

 The basic launch configuration looks very much like a scaled up version of Virgin Galactic's sub-orbital system, logically so because Burt Rutan is directly involved in the Stratolaunch project. His success in using a mothership to launch a spacecraft at high-altitude in both the SpaceShipOne and Virgin Galactic systems is being taken to a new massive size that should make space access far more economical than traditional launch systems.

Rendering of the Stratolaunch high-altitude launch system in action

 It would seem pretty basic that it would require less energy and complexity to launch a spacecraft horizontally from an aircraft at 30,000 to 50,000 than it does to literally go directly against gravity from the ground with a ballistic launch system like we have used for years - like with the Space Shuttle. The amount of horsepower (and unimaginable amounts of fuel to feed that power) make the task incredibly difficult and expensive. High-altitude launching just seems to make a lot of sense. It also allows potentially faster turn around times with far simpler systems to prep (and the ability have multiple, affordable motherships), and it offers the ability to travel some distance once airborne to find the best weather for launch.

 SpaceX will be building the approximately 120 foot long spacecraft and multi-stage booster for the Stratolaunch system. Initial efforts will be focused on delivering unmanned cargo into space in the 10,000 lb class, with manned spaceflights taking place once safety and reliability have been proven. The timetable for all of this is obviously difficult to project, but Stratolaunch hopes to have the mega mothership built and flying by 2016. Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin is on the Stratolaunch board (as is Burt Rutan), and former NASA manager Gary Wentz is CEO/Chairman. Watch for more info and systems details to be posted in the future.

Learn more at Stratolaunch.com

The Electric, Amphibious Lazair... Pilot Report By Elliot Seguin

Elliot Seguin flying Dale Kramer's amazing electric and amphibious Lazair ultralight

(11 pix)

Elliot Seguin works at Scaled Composites, has experience racing at Reno with his Wasabi Air Racing Cassutt, and he loves to fly... this extensive pilot report is posted here on Airpigz with his permisssion. The electric Lazair is a recent update to the design by Dale Kramer, the original designer of this very popular late 70's ultralight aircraft.

For more details on the electric Lazair project, check out this 
extensive forum thread by Dale Kramer (KiloOne) at RCgroups.com

PILOT REPORT:

 We had an amazing opportunity recently to fly arguably the most operational electric airplane out there. Dale Kramer is a master builder of all kinds of interesting projects. His shop was extensive and impressive.  He designed the Lazair in the 70’s during the boom in the ultra-light industry.  Over the next several years the factory he set up sold 1200 of the airplane to enthusiasts from all over the world. Dale became interested in other types of flying (heavy lift airships, competition soaring) and separated himself from the Lazair.

 But recently the electric aircraft boom has inspired Dale to dust off his Lazair. The resulting set of experiments resulted in a new chapter for the design and perhaps for general aviation. Dale’s final iteration included hanging two Joby electric motors from the Lazair’s nacelles replacing the two JPX two strokes he had flown behind for years.  When he put this new configuration on floats he had the first electric seaplane, a terribly practical electric airplane, and one heck of a beach toy.

 I called Dale after seeing the airplane at Oshkosh. I was hoping to learn more about the switch to electric and where he thought electrics could go. When he responded with an invitation to visit his home in western NY and “find out for myself” it was just a matter of buying the tickets. In the three days we spent with Dale and Carmen on Keuka Lake the Electric Lazair was flown almost twelve hours total by six different pilots in many different atmospheric and water conditions. We walked away with a much better understanding of this new way to propel aircraft and with big smiles on our faces.

 Could electric power plants change full size aviation the way they did r/c? The shift to electric from glow power in RC aircraft has drastically improved accessibility, ease of maintenance, and in general relieved the boundaries of entry to that sport. Before electrics even the most experienced RC pilot might spend ten minutes getting his glow engine to start on his model, and he would most certainly smell like glow fuel when he was done.  With modern electric models an operator no longer has to spend all that time and energy dealing with the powerplant. I wondered if that would be the case with electric man carrying airplanes.

Click to read more ...

Oshkosh Pix #4: Wednesday 7.27.11 - The Rain Day (14 Pix)

 There are several of Burt Rutan's unique aircraft designs all clustered together just off the edge of the main display ramp at Oshkosh. As you might expect, this collection of flying machines attracts a lot of attention thru the day. After the rain finally stopped around noon on Wednesday, I put some attention on the Rutan Model 81 Catbird.

 The Catbird was conceived and built in the late 80's by Burt as an outgrowth of a design-project by Scaled Composites (owned by Beech at the time) for a possible Bonanza replacement. The five seat cabin is unusual (imagine that) in having the pilot sit in the middle of the airplane, slightly forward and between the second and third seats. Then, the last two seats are facing aft. If I remember the idea from back in the day, this arrangement kept the biggest part of the body mass fairly close together for CG control while also putting the heads of all five people relatively close together for easy and delightful airborne chat.

 The airplane also had both a canard and an aft mounted (forward-swept) horizontal tail. To learn a boatload more about the Catbird, check out this 1988 Catbird article in Sport Aviation... it'll really give you the inside scoop. Most of the Catbird pix here are from Wednesday. The two without a big crowd around it are from Sunday, before Oshkosh started.

Click to read more ...

Oshkosh Pix #1: Sunday 7.24.11 - Before It Starts (14 Pix)

  Even tho Sunday is still a day before Oshkosh officially begins, there's still a ton of things to see and do. One that's always interesting to check out is the Sonex open house over on the east side of the airport at Sonex headquarters. I ran over there at 10am when things got started to see what I could find out about the Onex. As these first two pix show, the Onex is all prettied up for OSH11 with (surprise) yellow paint. I found out that the airplane is still short of 40 hors total time but that flight testing has progressed nicely.

 Initial kits components for the Onex are just beginning to ship to customers, tho the Sonex team is still finishing up the complete package. The good news however is that Onex airplanes will soon be under construction, and there's every reason to think that the follow-on components will be fully prepped soon to keep these builders moving forward. As expected, the prototype Onex was drawing a lot of attention at the open house, and I'm sure it'll be heavily gawked during the week!

 Inside one of the hangars was a second Onex aircraft still under construction, and as you can see, it's a trike version. The airplane looked pretty decent, but in my mind, there's never been a tricycle version of any airplane that looks anywhere near as nice as the taildragger version. However, the already more pleasing lines of the Onex over the Sonex translate to a good looking little airplane, even without paint.

Click to read more ...

EAA Video: Elliot Seguin (Scaled Composites - Wasabi Air Racing)

 My friend Elliot Seguin had the opportunity to share his unique aviation experiences in this recent EAA Timeless Voices video. It's a long video that chronicles his journey from being around flying as a kid, to winding up working at Scaled Composites, and also racing at Reno in the Formula One class with his Wasabi Air Racing Cassutt... all this by the time he was in his mid 20's. It's a great encouragement to anyone young looking to make a way forward into aviation, and it shows that persistence is one of the most important elements of reaching your goals!