Presentation

Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work. I'm an aerospace engineer who believes in fast iteration, field testing, and learning from real-world performance. I care less about polished theory and more about building systems that actually fly, survive, and deliver value. What you'll see here reflects that mindset: simple ideas tested quickly, refined repeatedly, and pushed until they work.

This website showcases key projects across UAV systems, flight testing, navigation, and onboard autonomy. Each project demonstrates rapid prototyping cycles, performance analysis, and implementation of improvements based on field results. I look forward to contributing this iterative, hardware-driven approach to future aerospace challenges.

Amaury Lechapelain
2025
Startup Project

AI Optical Navigation System

Navigate in GPS denied environment

One of my greatest achievement was to design and build a system allowing a fixed-wing UAV to navigate without GPS using optical systems in less than a month.

We managed to fly 16km with 50m precision without GPS

We used a combination of classical odometry algorithms calibrated with AI image recognition tools to cancel the drift of the dead-reckoning system

We simplified the integration to the autopilot by emulating NMEA frame

AI Optical Navigation System - Image 1
AI Optical Navigation System - Image 2
2025
Shark Aero s.r.o.

Head of Sales France

Selling small fighter jets

Head of Sales France - Image 1

Show of Force with the Shark in Slovakia

Shark Aero's core business is the production of high-performance composite ultralight aircraft. These aircraft can cruise at around 300 km/h and offer a range exceeding 2,000 km. They are agile and highly maneuverable, giving pilots a sensation close to flying a fighter jet.

I managed Shark Aero's presence at the Le Bourget Air Show, overseeing all logistics and coordinating the presentation of the military variants.

My role involved coordinating demonstration flights throughout France, organizing marketing events, and providing after-sales support to customers.

This position required strong organizational and management skills, as well as a deep technical understanding of the aircraft and its regulatory framework.

Presenting a military aircraft fitted with electronic warfare equipment to South American armed forces at 23 years old

was both challenging and high-pressure — but it taught me to prepare thoroughly, remain composed, and communicate with clarity and confidence.

Head of Sales France - Image 2

Presenting to French press the Shark U1

2025
Shark Aero s.r.o.

One Way Attack UAV

One Way Attack UAV - Image 1

Building a kamikaze drone for under €5,000

I have been hired for one year to design from scratch a kamikaze flying wing for Ukrainian conflict, leading a team of 7 young engineers from all around the world in a challenging environment.

We prioritized analytical and empirical methods to design our aircraft, placing a strong emphasis on testing and iteration. For example, the structural layout was revised around ten times, and the landing gear geometry was modified six times in less than 6 months.

70 kg
Weight
400 km
Range
200 km/h
Speed

We prioritized analytical and empirical methods to design our aircraft, placing a strong emphasis on testing and iteration. For example, the structural layout was revised around ten times, and the landing gear geometry was modified six times in less than 6 months.

"You have 1 km runway, just test it as soon as possible"

Mass production oriented design

We addressed the typical production bottleneck of composite UAVs, which often require over weeks to manufacture each airframe. Our design can be produced in under 50 hours of non-specialized labor, using only standard workshop tooling.

2025
Project

Flight Simulator

Flight Simulator - Image 1

One friend needed a realistic flight simulator for his video game.

So I did it

I fully developed a realistic flight simulator using Unity Game Engine.

A big thank you to Jules Lievre for their crazy talent in map design and shaders. You should check out their video game: Beast Of Steel Video Game

2023
Airbus Helicopters
Internship

Airbus Helicopters Internship

Size composite parts for helicopters rotors

During a 5 months internship I learned how to size composite parts for helicopter rotors. Structural components gradually lose strength due to wear and crack propagation. To guarantee safety while minimizing weight, modern composite rotor parts are sized using S-N fatigue curves. My assignment was to design a lightweight composite blade pitch fitting for the D-Lab Hybrid helicopter.

Airbus Helicopters Internship - Image 2
Airbus Helicopters Internship - Image 1

H160 Helicopters — Photo by Amaury Lechapelain

Using Altair and SAMCEF software

The sizing process began with a pre-sizing phase, incorporating the aircraft's load spectrum and expressing these loads in the fitting's local reference frame. I then optimized the composite layup to balance manufacturability, fatigue resistance, and weight reduction, while maintaining full compliance with CS-29 airworthiness requirements. The geometry was developed in CATIA (Generative Shape Design), meshed in Altair HyperWorks, and structurally solved in SAMCEF, with composite stack optimization also performed using Altair tools.

Let's work together

Open to collaboration and full-time roles.