The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is hosting a series of short courses that are germane to VFS members, including for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) and vertical and/or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) aircraft.
If you aren't already an AIAA member, VFS members can save $200 off the AIAA non-member rate with a special membership code for VFS members only, which has been posted on the VFS Hover Community for members only.
VFS and AIAA partnered on a now-recorded comprehensive short course earlier this year:
- VFS-AIAA Short Course on Electric VTOL Aircraft Design: Theory and Practice: Feb. 25 – March 27, 2025. (20 total hours of instruction)
Now, former VFS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg, a 30-year member of the AIAA V/STOL Aircraft Systems Technical Committee, is co-organizing and lecturing at a new short course focused on jetborne and other types of V/STOL aircraft:
This course will introduce the student to the design aspects of vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft, with an emphasis on the basic configurations available to the designer and what design criteria drove a particular configuration. Emphasis will be placed on the operational need for V/STOL, their long-sought benefits, its industrial legacy, past challenges, and state-of-the-art. The course will briefly look at how the future may be shaped by these specialized aircraft.
The technical obstacles associated with developing aircraft that have vertical and short take-off and landing capabilities will be presented, along with case studies that will reveal both successful and unsuccessful V/STOL aircraft programs and their important lessons.
This course is offered by the AIAA V/STOL Systems Technical Committee. The expert speakers from US industries, the government, and academia, all have firsthand experience in the development of V/STOL aircraft.
See the Online Course Flyer for the V/STOL Aircraft Design (pdf) or the online description for more details.
The special discounted VFS Members-Only code is also applicable for all the following upcoming courses:
- Rotorcraft and Propeller Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics: Numerical Approaches and Practical Applications (Starts 2 Sept 2025)
- Machine Learning for Aircraft Applications – Online Short Course (Starts 8 September 2025)
- Aerodynamic Interactions in Multi-Propeller Aircraft Configurations – Online Short Course (Starts 7 October 2025)
- Aircraft and Rotorcraft System Identification Engineering Methods for Manned and UAV Applications with Hands-on Training using CIFER® – Online Short Course (8–11 December 2025)
Posted May 27, 2025