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Whats your day job?

Doc James Hammond

Doc James Hammond

Very Strong User
I put this in the wrong place earlier so I think putting this a new one is better.

What is your day job?

I'm 'techically' retired.

But I used to be a technology transfer consultant working for Cambridge Scientific Instruments, roving the planet teaching Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Gallium Phosphide (GaP) Indium Phosphide (OnP) and also oxide laser crystal growth technology to big companies and research organizations. When that got boring, I changed back to my beginnings in Aviation - designing AUV's.

In between I have done a fair bit of work on competition racing bike wheel and frame aerodynamics design.

And now I make gliders!

Here are some of my racing wheels under much feared Ironman champion Ceri Lines. Those hoops have won quite a few races, I can tell you.
278846687_10159434835141141_8410688292749118257_n.jpg


How about you guys - what do you do each day?

Doc.
 
Wayne said:
I work at the local hobby shop. We sell some planes and stuff.
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Wot...toy planes?

incredibly strange though it might sound - Aloft IS my most LOCAL model shop at only 6420.97 miles away, 'cos I'll tell you that its the only place I know that I can find all I want.

Cheers,

Doc.
 
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Hank GB Z said:
I fix pumps that pump LNG and other cryogenic fluids, but mainly LNG.

Hank
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Sounds like a cool job, Hank. Sorry...yeah I know, I let my fingers do the talking...:alien:

Actually that sounds really interesting. The challenges for mechanical devices operating at low temperatures are really complex.

Doc
 
Doc James Hammond said:
Sounds like a cool job, Hank. Sorry...yeah I know, I let my fingers do the talking...:alien:

Actually that sounds really interesting. The challenges for mechanical devices operating at low temperatures are really complex.

Doc
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Yeah it is interesting. Using the differential contraction to work for you not against you is really interesting. Some designers swear that at operating temperature if you could get the bolts out the pump would stay together, in operation, from the parts all squeezing each other. Of course nobody has tried this yet...

I've had lots of other jobs, auto mechanic, hobby shop worker, Hard ware store assistant manager, and shop manager for the Art department in a university. But this one has been the most full filling but i do miss the hobby shop and hardware store some times...


Hank
 
In my working life, I've been, an aircraft engineer, office furniture builder, alloy boat builder, a specialist welder (plaza spraying and hard surfacing), armed security for the education department, an international freight forwarder, powder hand and die setter for injection molding, worked in a number of hobby stores, ran a Bond store for alcohol and food stuffs, and now, I run a warehouse for restaurant equipment and packaging/filling machines, parts and service, as well as the machines.

The company I work for (22 Years now) is one of those companies that nobody knows of, but, here in Australia, you will eat drink or use something every day that we have had our fingers in. PET bottle making and Filling machines and packaging machined for the food and drink industries, quality control machines (check weighing, X-ray and metal detectors). Every brewery in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Coca Cola are customers, all the breakfast cereal manufactures. We supply and service food equipment for all the chain restaurants Mcdonalds, KFC, Dominos, Cosco and various others. We also manufacture coffee pods for over 140 coffee companies in Australia, if you fly QANTAS and have an espresso, it's our coffee pods used on all QANTAS aircraft. I've been treated well here and will probably be with this company till I retire.

Dave
 
iflylilplanes said:
In my working life, I've been, an aircraft engineer, office furniture builder, alloy boat builder, a specialist welder (plaza spraying and hard surfacing), armed security for the education department, an international freight forwarder, powder hand and die setter for injection molding, worked in a number of hobby stores, ran a Bond store for alcohol and food stuffs, and now, I run a warehouse for restaurant equipment and packaging/filling machines, parts and service, as well as the machines.

The company I work for (22 Years now) is one of those companies that nobody knows of, but, here in Australia, you will eat drink or use something every day that we have had our fingers in. PET bottle making and Filling machines and packaging machined for the food and drink industries, quality control machines (check weighing, X-ray and metal detectors). Every brewery in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Coca Cola are customers, all the breakfast cereal manufactures. We supply and service food equipment for all the chain restaurants Mcdonalds, KFC, Dominos, Cosco and various others. We also manufacture coffee pods for over 140 coffee companies in Australia, if you fly QANTAS and have an espresso, it's our coffee pods used on all QANTAS aircraft. I've been treated well here and will probably be with this company till I retire.

Dave
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Wow you have done just about everything, Dave.

Doc.
 
I am a medical doctor and primarily do geriatrics and sleep medicine. My earliest memories are of lying in the grass and watching aircraft fly overhead. I love most things that fly.
Have been a full scale instrument rated pilot and sailplane enthusiast for more than 45 years. Flying RC aircraft is my passion. I have immensely enjoyed reading the Aloft Forum posts and learning from the many interesting topics on the forum. I am new to open Tx for < 1 year and am getting ready to play with Ethos as well.
Raymond Gaskins
 
I thought this was kind of a silly thread at first, but am enjoying learning more about our forum users. :)

As a bit more of my background. I started with delivery route for news papers at around 12 years old. Saved up my earnings and bought a go-kart. LOL Then worked at a burger joint in high school. After high school I worked for a small aerospace company shipping spare parts to airlines. I also had a micro business designing and producing PSS kits out of the family garage. Then worked at a hobby shop chain (Hobby People) and ended up as a store manager before moving into a better paying job with better hours as a purchasing agent for a small appliance parts chain (only 3 stores). This was my first "real" job, and my brother worked in the advertising department for the same company. Later my brother and I branched out from there and started our own graphics design business and ran that for about 8 years. Growing it to a number of employees. Mostly producing magazines and catalogs. This gave me my desire for business ownership. When we closed that business and I worked for a trade show business for a number of years doing graphics. Then worked as a temp for graphics and had some fun and challenging jobs during this time as well as some bizarre ones. this eventually led to working in a sea of cubicles for Pacific Life. This job while boring was very secure and I could have stayed there, but decided it was not rewarding my soul and left to help my Mom after my Dad passed. Then it was an economic downturn and I did a year of nasty freelance work, first time I ever had an issue finding a regular job, it was alarming I never knew if I could pay all my bills. Was a bad year. Finally got a decent job for small manufacturer, just the job I had been seeking as I had the freedoms to do many different things there, it was like owning my own business but with less stress. I was happy there, but the owner seemed to want to run the business into the ground, and loved to fire people. Even though I loved the work, the writing was on the wall that they were going to fail. I attempted to start a Kayaking forum online as a side gig. It ran this same software as this forum. It was really slick, far better than any existing kayak forum, but I just could not attract enough people to give it try. :( I then built a web store for a buddy, and was amazed at how well it was working for him. This got my juices flowing again.. So I started Aloft in my garage with the hope that I would get a little side cash to help fund my own flying. Sell stuff I love and use.. Within about 3 or 4 months of opening the site I was able to leave the day job and go full time with Aloft. (Later the small manufacturer I was working for did indeed fail, oddly enough, the websites I built for them are still alive, they now sell old stock from their garage.)

There you go.. sorry if that is a bit long.. I tend to do that.
 
I used to enjoy traveling all over to fly with new clubs and new friends but aging and the increasing costs and hassles of travel have greatly hampered my out of state excursions. While “getting to know others with similar interests” in a forum type format is different than meeting people in person, I have enjoyed this forum and welcome the opportunity to learn more about “us”. While we have all encountered individuals that use forums to pump up their egos, this forum seems to foster a much more civil and helping group. I avoid most forms of social media like the plague, but have been touched by the kindness shown to me when I reached out for help and by the soundness of the advice given to me. I hope that I, too, will be able to help other forum members in the future.
I especially appreciate the helpfulness of the Aloft organization and the honesty and integrity that you show your customers.
Raymond Gaskins
 
Doc James Hammond said:
Wow you have done just about everything, Dave.
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That's only the main jobs I've had, while still in high school I worked weekends in a repetitious engineering factory making nut, bolts and plumbing fittings, also worked as a metal spinner, wood turner, builders laborer and motor mechanic and a special effects artist for television with my father, he was a full time grip and effects for film and television from the late fifties till his retirement.

There are probably more jobs I've done and can't remember. Never worked in medical, but have trained in first aid with St Johns Ambulance just in case.

Dave
 
Red said:
Ah yes. No collaboration with those entities I'm afraid.

Red
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They tend to keep a low profile. I even have to wear a badge so that I don't forget who I am - you know the kind of organization...

I'm not so actively involved now that those super-smart young engineers are swarming all over the place, but I can tell you those buggers learn fast and well. Me? I love them! Good thing is now I have the chance to use some of the (less sensitive) good R&D stuff I did on more important projects - like model gliders! Happily there are some parallels between model gliders and UAV's.

Now I'm working on setting up my own research centre here to develop new manufacturing methods as well as prototypes.

Don't you find that development is addictive? For me it seems to apply to pretty much everything I do - even mundane tasks.

Cheers,

Doc.
 
I flew as a corporate pilot for 30 years. Started out as a co-pilot in an old Piper Cheyenne 2 turboprop after "paying dues" as a flight instructor for almost 2 years. Retired now and have FAR more fun flying models. Unfortunately, as I've progressed in the hobby, I keep wanting more and more expensive planes and hardware to go in them. I have spent way more than is reasonable in the last 10 years.
 
tic said:
I flew as a corporate pilot for 30 years. Started out as a co-pilot in an old Piper Cheyenne 2 turboprop after "paying dues" as a flight instructor for almost 2 years. Retired now and have FAR more fun flying models. Unfortunately, as I've progressed in the hobby, I keep wanting more and more expensive planes and hardware to go in them. I have spent way more than is reasonable in the last 10 years.
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Hey Tic - I bet it must be nice to TOTALLY forget about flight schedules!

Doc.
 
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