Aaron Ghattas, Caliber Design
QUALIFICATIONS
  • BE Aerospace (Hons) – 2009

SOFTWARE
Mechanical CAD Software
  • CATIA (Dassault)
  • OnShape (PTC)
  • Rhino (Rhinoceros)
  • SolidWorks (Dassault)
  • Spaceclaim (Ansys)
Architectural / Structure CAD Software
  • Navisworks
PDM/PLM Software
  • SolidWorks PDM (Dassault)
Analysis Tools
  • ABAQUS (Dassault)
  • ANSYS Fluent
  • ANSYS Mechanical
  • Excel (for numerical method analysis)
  • Nastran/ Patran
  • SolidWorks Flow
  • SolidWorks Simulation

Aaron Ghattas

TEAM LEAD

Skills Overview

Aaron Ghattas has an impressive foundation in aerospace engineering. His varied career spans aerospace structural analysis, aircraft heavy maintenance and modification, and airline administration. His knowledge spans composites, electrical, cryogenics, and defense … showcasing his adaptability across industries. Aaron excels in product design and development, and faces engineering challenges head-on. His fusion of theoretical knowledge with practical application is evident in his contributions to diverse projects, making him a go-to for innovative and dependable engineering solutions.

    • AEROSPACE ENGINEERING – Aaron’s expertise in airframe structural analysis and repairs is exemplary. He’s adept in working with varied materials composites, aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, and ferrous alloys.

    • STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS – Aaron gained significant experience in structural engineering in his early career in the aerospace industry. In his role at Caliber, Aaron has performed analysis on many structures, from first-of-its-kind cryogenic pressure vessels to seismic mechanical structures. 

    • ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY – Aaron’s has experience collaborating with PCB and electrical designers and been effective in getting an effective feedback loop established. As a result, he has delivered robust mechanical and product designs to our clients, and expanded his expertise in electrical and electronic disciplines.

    • ANALYSIS & FEA/CFD EXPERTISE – Aaron’s analytical expertise is highlighted by his extensive background in structural design and analysis. Throughout his career, he has had numerous opportunities to demonstrate his proficiency in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

    • PROJECT MANAGEMENT & CLIENT ENGAGEMENT – Aaron has strong project management skills. He has effectively led various projects and proven his ability to manage client expectations and conduct design reviews efficiently. His practical understanding of engineering operations is evident in his everyday work. His work at BOC, Enatel, John Holland Aviation, and AirNZ has given him broad experience in handling complex processes and projects.

    • PRACTICAL WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE & SITE WORK – Aaron has significant hands-on experience in workshops, and understands the capabilities and constraints of various machining, fabrication, and assembly processes and techniques. His skills in onsite collaboration and problem-solving were particularly evident during his tenure at Enatel, Motion Design, Fabrum, and NDA.

    Caliber has experience in the Aerospace industry
    Caliber has experience in the Agriculture industry
    Caliber has experience in the Aerospace industry
    Caliber has experience in the Aerospace industry
    Caliber Design has experience in the Biofuel industry
    Caliber Design has experience in the Biofuel industry
    PERSONAL STATEMENT

    The profession of engineering is amazing in that mankind has been able to transform rock and earth into high strength materials to make machines that fly and drive.

    From a young age, we had a drawer of gadgets, cables, and tools. I would spend days tinkering. The family got very frustrated at me for pulling apart the computers and all their bikes to make a better variant … it was a calling.

    Today, I can take ideas and use the tools of engineering design to develop solutions and products for our customers to their requirements, with the satisfaction that it will perform as anticipated.

    Project Experience

    BOC Gases

    BOC GASES

    Cryogenic Project Management

    Project Manager for the import, plant upgrade, installation, commissioning and handover of new high value cryogenic machines in Melbourne and Sydney on major hazard facilities. I was involved from the start, pulling together financial models, scope of works, capital expenditure, layout, HAZOPs and safety reviews and all vendor, contractor and supplier management. The breadth of this project involved understanding minute details and failure points to overall funding. Other work with BOC was commissioning an new cryogenic vessel and pump, modifying plant design for more efficient operations, new dry ice machines and upgrading the plant’s electrical distribution boards and PLC controller. CASE STUDY

    Enatel

    ENATEL

    Electrical & Enclosure Design

    Design of new electrical distributions & customising current distributions for telecommunications and UPS to meet UL requirements. Production support for electronics assembly line. Plastic injection moulding design for DIN rail mounted products. Bus bar design. Working very closely with electronic engineers on PCB design and all that interfaces with PCB enclosures for plastic and metals. Sheetmetal and wiring harness design and drawings. Data cabinet layouts and design from concept to large production runs including design and analysis for seismic rating. Design products to meet UL 62368.

    Enphase
    New Product Development

    Designing and specifying harness, electrical connectors, wiring and coordinating PCB layout to meet UL standards.

    design and fabrication of stainless steel parts for water treatment plant.

    DESIGN & FABRICATION

    Supporting the design and fabrication of stainless steel parts and piping for the Wairi water treatment plant.

    Pipe Layout, Storage Silos & Hopper

    VORTEX ENGINEERING

    Pipe Layout, Storage Silos & Hopper

    Supporting the client with a tight deadline. Designing pneumatic conveying pipe layout and modifications to existing bulk storage silos. Design of a unique mobile hopper for unloading bulk material for pneumatic conveying.

    Automation System

    MOTION DESIGN

    Automation System

    Fill a resource gap remotely by helping design and model a new automation system, including conveyor systems, gantries, and modification of existing plant equipment.

    Intales
    FEA Research & Formula Benchmarking

    Testing new FE methods their performance against commercial available FE software.

    Air New Zealand
    Commercial & Military Aircraft Technical Support

    Designing aircraft modification, repair and continued airworthiness. Heavy maintenance technical services & customer technical focal/ point of contact.

    GKN Aerospace
    Award & Scholarship

    For Engineering Excellence in Aerospace Structures.

    Hydrogen Liquification Fabrum

    FABRUM

    Detail design and analysis of one of the largest pressurised liquid hydrogen tanks mounting to a vehicle, both with hand calculation and FEA. This tank design & analysis included thermal stress and thermal displacement, openings penetrations and piping into multi skinned tank,  sizing of tank, determining skin thickness, end cap types and welding requirements, assembly order, analysis for all components and mounting high G loadings to meet ISO 13985 requires and fatigue analysis.

    F-35 aircraft

    GKN / LOCKHEED MARTIN

    Pre-Production Airframe Testing Support

    F-35 Stress analyst for additional harnesses (the orange cabling seen in the open weapons bay) and equipment for the testing of the pre-production airframes.

    John Holland
    Commercial Aircraft Technical Support

    Technical support for customer’s aircraft (B737, A320). Maintenance program management and development of aircraft maintenance systems, entry into service and end of lease management, forward planning, configuration control, and modification design.

    Jet Boat Designed by Aaron Ghattas

    WILD WATER JET

    Company founder, past director and designer of jet boat hull design and jet boat intakes, tail piles, gimble steering nozzle design and impellers.

    Aaron Ghattas

    GOOD BUGGER AWARD

    April 2021

    Aaron got the Good Bugger Award because, despite being new to Caliber, he truly hit the ground running on a new project, taking some other new engineers under his wing in the process.

    Career Development at Caliber, Aaron Ghattas
    What Makes Aaron Ghattas a Caliber Engineer