Michael D. Knight
reply4@phantom.homelinux.net
Wilmington Island, GA 31410
(912) 898-1244 Home		 Savannah, GA 31410
(912) 965-4382 Work
Professional Experience
Preliminary Design Engineer - Systems Specialist, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (January 2001 - Present).
Work in Preliminary Design department doing high level analysis of competitive aircraft, new product evaluation, special missions configurations and integration.  Currently working on a Quiet Supersonic Aircraft using PD tools from NASA as well as developing in-house programs and methods for evaluation of sonic boom propagation and ground signature reduction.  Primary duties include configuration of the aircraft and systems as well as vehicle performance of the configuration.
Flight Controls Design Engineer, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (July 1996 - January 2001).
Sustaining and improvement of Auxillary Mechanical, Landing Gear, and Flight Controls for the G-IV and G-V programs.  Identified and reconciled engineerng problems.  Created layouts and detail design for product improvements and weight reduction on the G-V program.  Provided direct engineering support for on-site production of aircraft.  Current work includes modeling manual drawings from G-IV to CATIA for reconciliation of longstanding manufacturing discrepancies.
AIX Lab Support Representative, IBM (April 1996 - June 1996).
Supplemental employee for IBM's education and training division.  Prepared and packaged software for several AIX/UNIX classes.  Built multiple software images for various mid-level and high-level workstations.  Began design and implementation of a network installation system for software images that requires the installer to have very little or no experience with AIX or workstations.
Education
Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering Degree with Certificate in Engineering Psychology and Human Factors Design
Georgia Institute of TechnologyAtlanta, GA, June 1996.
Skills and Qualifications
Computer Related
CATIA v4.2.3(10,000 hours) -- Advanced Solids (SolidE & SolidM), Auxview2, Dimens2, Surf2., 2D and 3D Kinematics, Sheetmetal Design and Sheetmetal for Aerospace modules
CADAM (1500 hours)
Proficient with DOS/Windows '95, Windows NT,MacOS, and especially Unix/X11 operating environments.
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint.
Basic "C" programming skills,  some FORTRAN, World Wide Web HTML, and PERL.
Other
Relevant Courses include:
Aircraft Design
Jet Propulsion
Advanced Catia Functions --SolidE, Surf2, Dimens2, Kinematics, Sheetmetal Design, Sheetmetal for Aerospace
Flight Mechanics and Automatic Control
Control Systems Engineering
Vehicle Performance
Analysis of Thin-Walled Elements
Vibration and Flutter
Familiar with Russian and German Languages.
Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) since 1993.
Projects
Type III Emergency Exit - (Dec. 2000 - Feb. 2001) - Led a team of designers tasked with integrating a Type III emergency exit door which exceeded the FAR 25.801 requirements in opening size and still incorporate the Gulfstream "Signature" large oval window.  A major factor was the weight of the completed door and this ultimately drove the majority of the design decisions.
Quiet Supersonic Aircraft - (August 2001 - Present) - Currently working with a small team on the conceptual design of a Quiet Supersonic Aircraft capable of operating from typical business aviation fields with a reduced or supressed sonic boom signature strength at the ground.  Using NASA codes for analysis of geometry and some shaping techniques, the goal is to produce a configuration capable of overland supersonic flight with extremely low overpressures.
Interests
I currently hold a private pilot certification.  To date, I've flown C-150's, C-152's, C-172's, a 7AC, PA-28-140's, and PA-28-151's.
I currently run my own web server and FTP site through my cable modem connection on my home computer.
Last updated on Thurs. January 3rd, 2002 - 12:17 AM EST