Radim Štukavec: Aviation is fascinating

We introduce young faces of our company
Radim Štukavec
designer/engineer electric

Before you joined ZLIN AIRCRAFT you had studied electrical engineering. Could you give more details about your studies?

I completed the faculty of electro engineering and communication technologies in Brno, program „electro technology, electronics, communication and control technology“ specialization „electronics and communication technology“. After graduation I continued with PHd for three years. I published the results of my research in specialized conferences and foras and in expert magazines. A teaching was an obligatory part of the curriculum so I also lectured laboratory measuring. Before completing the dissertation I left for ZLIN AIRCRAFT and due to heavy workload I have not be able to finish the dissertation so far. Beside that the topic of the paper is a bit out of my current profession (Computer simulation of digital TV broadcasting).

When doing his job, the designer should „live with“ aviation. How is it in your case?

I am fascinated by aviation – who would not be taken away by moving through the air, which used to be the domain of birds in a machine heavier than the air, right? As a child, my most loved book was an encyclopedia of aero planes. Then I glued plastic kits and continued with radio control models. I love technology in general, so complex machines like aero planes attract me a lot. I always loved reading history of individual aircraft, particularly „extras and backroom information form their development. Unfortunately I myself have not reached the final phase – flying.

And your personal opinion on ZLIN?

Classic of the classics, legend of Czechoslovak sport aviation. Thousands of pilots learned flying on them. Its construction proves the tradition since times, when things were designed and manufactured really cleverly. I am half way now in building a kit of the “Trener” model.

How did you get into ZLIN AIRCRAFT?

By pure coincidence. I searched LZIN AIRCRAFT web while preparing for building a new model. As I was approaching the end of my studies I clicked on „Career“ as a habit. There I found a vacant position of „electrical designer“. As I have been interested in aviation for a long time and the requirements meet my profile I saw it as a chance of lifetime how to enter into aviation industry. And I made it!

A job should be a hobby, ideally. Which it is in your case. What makes the fun for you and what you see its biggest benefit?

I do enjoy the feeling of „be part of it“. To have access and solve details, which other people have no clue about that they even exist. Most of people see aero planes only in the air. Some of them touch them during air shows or when visiting aero clubs. Even less of them are taken up there. Few of them have a pilot license. But only really individuals have a chance to change or improve them. I have this privilege.

What is really the content of your job?

It starts from communication with other manufacturers of components and their selection, through designs of electrical circuits and connections, design of building them in, preparation of production documentation up to the design of processes and protocols for set up and testing of functions.

Design is a part of development and development in aviation means works on new prototypes and their parts. What does it feel like taking part in creation of new aero planes?

To be honest, it is like a rollercoaster. Ups and downs. It is fabulous when everything works fine and we progress. It is less fabulous when the deadlines are coming too close, something does not work as I envisaged it. Perhaps nobody loves to redo his own work, which took so much time and energy already. But this is simply the pitfall of the development.

What is the biggest job challenge for you?

Definitely it is a modernization of ZLINs, of their parts and innovation of electro installations. It is a very complex project, where a whole bunch of technical details and complications had to be solved. Fortunately we managed to do it. This was a really good (and admittedly relatively hard) lesson for me.

Let´s talk about your private life now. How do you relax from your work?

I have a number of hobbies. The biggest being electro technical, flying kits and do-it-yourself in general. As for the kits, I build and fly electrically powered semi-models of aero planes, especially aerobatic ones and high performance electrical gliders. When the weather is nice and no wind, I drive out of town to fly at least one model. It is an excellent relax for me. Evenings I think of improvements of both airframes and electrics. Lately I reduced active sporting, yet I like biking in summer and skiing in winter.