Rob Coatney is an aerospace engineer at Zepher Flight Labs ( ZFL ) in Bingen , Washington . Two years ago , ZFL secured a contract with the Army Research Laboratory to “ develop technology that would improve the reliability , endurance , and acoustic signature of a Group II UAS in austere environments ,” ( according to a 2 / 23 / 23 press release ). Coatney knew he wanted to be an aerospace engineer as early as eight . But now he is realizing his dream .
Coatney reflected on getting to where he is today , an aerospace engineer . “ There ’ s one thing to getting an aerospace engineering degree — when you come out of college — you are an applied mathematician but at the same time , you have no experience .” He said it takes years to build on the theoretical background from college , along with learning what works , what doesn ’ t , and most importantly , what the customer wants .
Since 2010 , he ’ s worked in the industry and has been a primary driver of the airframe for the vertical take-off and landing ( VTOL ) UAS , called the Z1 . “ I was able to make an efficient and manufacturable airframe ,” he said . He ’ s also been involved with performance analysis , tooling , and structural design . “ Most of what you see externally on the aircraft , I designed ,” he said .
ZFL is building a hydrogen fuel cell powered UAS carrying 5kg / 11-pound payloads . It is highly reliable , can be mass manufactured , and is modular . The luxury of ZFL is that they can develop the UAS to these high specifications and envision a new reality for the future of UAS because they have earned contracts with the Army Research Laboratory to fund the program .
Adam Stolz , president and CEO of ZFL , understands one of Coatney ’ s early learnings : knowing what the customer wants . Stolz has focused on the customer for most of the 19 years of his career . He worked for eight years as a civilian for the Department of Defense at the Naval Warfare Center , Crane Division , before making his way out West to work at Zepher , Inc ., also in Bingen . He ’ s worked in business development and has spent time in customer outreach .
He said about the next generation UAS , “ The new way of UASs and how the industry was going to use them – it was not going to look like it did .”
The concept of ZFL came from a plan to build a company that can focus on research and development of new technology , according to Jaime Mack , CEO and CTO of Zepher , Inc . She is the executive board member of ZFL and couched the two companies as sister companies . However , Stolz said that ZFL operates independently of Zepher , Inc .
10 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS