Fairfax, Virginia, USA — The Vertical Flight Society, the world’s leading professional society dedicated to advancing vertical flight, announced today that Boeing’s Dr. Brahmananda Panda has been selected for the 2024 Alexander A. Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship. The Lectureship is awarded to “an individual who has a highly distinguished career in vertical flight aircraft research and development and is skilled at communicating technical knowledge and experience.” His Nikolsky Lecture is entitled, “Rotorcraft Aeromechanics Methodology and its Application to Rotor Dynamics, Loads, Vibration and Aeroelastic Stability at Boeing.”
Dr. Panda is a Boeing Technical Fellow and a Boeing Designated Expert in the area of rotorcraft aeromechanics methodology and its application to rotor dynamics, loads, vibration and aeroelastic stability. During his 44-year career, including 33 years at Boeing, Panda has significantly advanced the capabilities of multidisciplinary rotorcraft analysis tools.
Panda also applied Rotorcraft Comprehensive Analysis System (RCAS) to Boeing’s high-altitude, very flexible, propeller-driven uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Vulture program — a breakthrough for design analysis, loads and whirl flutter stability — as well as to Wisk Aero’s Generation 6 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) and to commercial open fan engines. His depth of knowledge, as well as his record of implementation, makes him uniquely capable as an expert developer and user of large-scale multidisciplinary non-linear simulation codes, especially in rotary-wing aeromechanics.
He is widely recognized within Boeing and internationally for pioneering the development of methodology, implementing and applying state-of-art multidisciplinary rotorcraft analysis tools to a variety of rotorcraft products (e.g., CH-47 Chinook, V-22 Osprey, AH-64 Apache and RAH-66 Commanche), new hybrid concepts (e.g., Boeing Heliwing VTOL UAS, Dual-Plane Tiltrotor and DARPA DiscRotor) and rotorcraft development programs such as the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) Technology Demonstration and CH-47F Advanced Composite Rotor Blade (ACRB).
Panda received his PhD in rotorcraft dynamics and aeroelasticity from the University of Maryland University College in 1985. Prior to joining Boeing, Panda worked as a Senior Technical Specialist at Kaman during 1986-89, developing theories and software designs, as well as implementing and testing the unique core assembly process and trim and maneuver solutions for the US Army’s Second-Generation Comprehensive Helicopter Analysis System (2GCHAS) for rotorcraft-based finite element modeling. He has authored 27 technical presentations, papers and reports, and was recognized as a VFS Technical Fellow in 2019.
Dr. Panda will present his Nikolsky Lecture at the Society’s 80th Annual Forum & Technology Display on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Québec, Canada. He will then be honored at the Forum 80 Annual Grand Awards Ceremony with the presentation of the Alexander A. Nikolsky medallion and certificate. His detailed written treatise expanding the lecture will be featured in the Journal of the AHS, the world’s only scientific journal dedicated to vertical flight. Information on Prof. Alexander A. Nikolsky and prior Nikolsky Lectures is available at www.vtol.org/nikolsky.
The Vertical Flight Society — founded in 1943 as the American Helicopter Society — is the global professional society for engineers, scientists and others working on vertical flight technology. VFS brings together industry, academia and government organizations to tackle the toughest challenges in vertical flight. For more than 80 years, VFS has led technology, safety, advocacy, and other important initiatives, and has been the primary forum for interchange of information on vertical flight technology.
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