Meet the Team: Aircraft Engineer Simon Clifford
Humans of Swoop Aero: Aircraft Engineer Simon Clifford
Swoop Aero is dedicated to changing how the world moves. Our HQ is a space where engineers build aircraft alongside technology architects, operations managers, and marketers.
In our new team profile series, Humans of Swoop Aero, we’re introducing you to the incredible individuals who work to tackle seemingly insurmountable challenges, create a nuanced strategy, and deploy our ground-breaking technology to positively impact millions of people’s lives every day.
For Simon Clifford, aircraft engineer at Swoop Aero, no two days at Swoop Aero are the same.
“Tasks can vary widely from day to day. From bench commissioning aircraft, assembly and testing, procurement, packing & shipping flight operations equipment, design and fabrication feedback into the tech team, 3D printing, and helping with prototypes, to troubleshooting hardware problems, working alongside flight ops to prepare for overseas deployments, procuring new stock & hardware, creating maintenance procedures— and generally having a fantastic time along the way!”
Simon began working in aerospace in 2013 during a year at Cambridge, UK at e-Go Aeroplanes, a startup building single-seat, carbon-fiber aircraft.
He returned to Australia to complete a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering & Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) at Monash University and found himself involved in a number of engineering and aerospace associations— including in the Mars rover team, as the first Australian team competing overseas on the deserts of Utah.
For Simon, the varied nature of the work, the hands-on aspect, which involves an entire aircraft system (not just piecemeal subsystems), and the knowledge that the hardware we are making is going out into the world to make a difference, is what he loves about working at Swoop Aero— as well as the team!
“The people – the Swoop team are fantastic people, and are also fantastic at the work they do (separate things, I may note!). The way that the teams work together to support each other to achieve our goals is great to see.”