Operations
The Operations Discipline is responsible for building the machine that builds the machine. Being an engineering club, the business side of the team often gets overlooked, despite its extreme importance. The Operations team manages GTSC's finances, works to market our club within Georgia Tech and to external sponsors and industry professional, and also owns on the logistics and planning of the flight testing campaigns of GTSC vehicles.
Shown below are the subteams within the Operations Discipline and the various projects within them!
Subteams
The Flight Operations team is responsible for the planning and logistics of the flight testing campaigns of GTSC's vehicles. This includes coordinating with the FAA to ensure we are abiding by all regulatory standards of flight and are cleared to fly in specific airspace. This also includes working with vehicle Chief Engineers to write the test plan documentation that guides the data collection during flight test.
The Finances team is in charge of managing GTSC's financial accounts. This includes making the purchases of all hardware, software, and equipment, and ensuring GTSC always has money to support our vehicles and projects. For anyone interested in money or account management and supply chain, please express interest in helping our finances team create streamlined processes!
The Marketing team is responsible for telling the GTSC story in an exciting and compelling way. This includes running our social media accounts, building our website, and taking photographic accounts of our progress and accomplishments. Anyone interested in graphic design, storytelling, or photography/videography should reach out to our marketing team, as we are always appreciative of more help in this realm!
Projects
The flight test plan for Hyperion is the first work by our Flight Operations team to compile a full test matrix, test objectives, and measures of performance to fully characterize the Hyperion system through calculated envelope expansion. This flight test plan will be put into play in the Fall of 2025 when Hyperion takes flight for the first time.
With Kestrel being the first jet-powered aircraft built by GTSC, there is an extra level of complexity with its flight test planning. This aircraft is more powerful and more capable, requiring us to step away from AMA fields and begin coordination with the FAA for larger test ranges. Furthermore, this is a maneuverable aircraft and characterizing the dynamics of the aircraft and its performance becomes much more nuanced and detailed. This is GTSC's next step towards a consistent test cadence and a good relationship with the FAA and all governing bodies.