Beanny Wang: From Drone Enthusiast to NASA Collaborator

In 2017, Beanny was admitted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, known as the "Harvard of the Aerospace". He then continued his studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), specialising in aerospace engineering, and is currently pursuing a PhD. He studied under Professor Dimitri Mavris, an internationally renowned aeronautics expert, whose students are NASA’s Chief Engineer for the X57 and X59 test vehicles. In the future, Beanny will work on system design for urban air transport.

Become the Fellow Students of NASA’s Engineer

Beanny's future is closely linked to the Georgia Institute of Technology's Aeronautical Systems Design Laboratory. The head of this laboratory is the famous Professor Dimitri Mavris, a "big name" in the field of urban air transport in the United States.

Professor Dimitri Mavris has been teaching for more than 30 years and has graduated nearly 300 PhD students. ...... Professor Mavris' students include A.J. Piplica, Founder of Hermeus, Founder of Whisper Aero, Mark Moore, Chief Scientist of NASA's X57 Project, Nicholas K. Borer, Chief Scientist of NASA's X57 Project, Nicholas K. Borer, Chief Scientist of NASA's X57 Project, and many others. Nicholas K. Borer, Chief Engineer of NASA's X59 vehicle Michael Buonanno, etc. Beanny was one of his students.

We can't help but wonder what Beanny's credentials are for being his student.

Professionalism and courage.

In the year 2020, Beanny, who had just started his doctoral studies, did not yet have a regular tutor, so he chose some courses to attend according to his own interests.

One day Beanny came to Professor Mavris' class. At the time, Professor Mavris was talking about research into urban air systems. Beanny became more and more fascinated by what he heard. He found an opportunity to share his own views. The professor was impressed by Beanny's professionalism and logical presentation.

Beanny immediately decided to become Professor Mavris's PhD student."It took him two months to agree.”

Beanny expected to be "on the bench" for a while when she joined the lab. But his other skill opened up a new dimension. That skill is photography.

Photography has captured many shining moments in Beanny's student career: he went to Finland to photograph the aurora borealis; he made silhouettes for school; he joined the famous Zhuhai Civil Safety Rescue Team because he was familiar with aerial photography and took part in many rescues. And this time, Beanny has captured many precious moments for the lab through photography, including his teacher's photos on the school's official website.

"Now the professor also arranges jobs for me outside of photography, such as working as his teaching assistant".

Under Professor Mavris' guidance, Beanny has published professional papers such as "Feasibility Study for the Development of Advanced Air Traffic Operations within an Airport City (Aerotropolis)" and "Route Planning for Advanced Air Traffic Systems", and has steadily grown in both professional competence and confidence.

In January 2023, Beanny passed his PhD qualifying exams and is now preparing the opening statement for his dissertation. "The supervisors are much stricter than at school, the logical details have to be pinpointed with particular precision. It feels more like the content of a philosophy dissertation".

Beanny specialises in the design of airspace for urban air traffic terminals, specifically the system design of stopover airports in urban air traffic. "This area of research aims to reduce carbon emissions and urban ground traffic congestion by flying transport between buildings in cities using smaller electric helicopters."

This is an area with a bright future.

At the end of last year, the Yihang Intelligence H216-S received the world's first airworthiness certificate for an unpiloted electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft! In a sense, this marks the beginning of the era of commercial urban air transport.

"Although the US has a temporary technological advantage in this field, domestic political support is stronger, and the bend in the road to overtaking the car is just around the corner." Yihang Intelligence's success confirms Beanny's consistent viewpoint.  Seeds and planting techniques are important, but soil is even more important.

Standing out from the competition

In a highly specialised field where grit and professionalism are both essential to get ahead, Beanny experienced tough competition in his previous undergraduate studies.

Beanny's undergraduate school, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is known as the “Harvard of the Aerospace”. It has more than 90 aircraft available for flight training. More than a quarter of pilots in the US have graduated from the school. Almost all pilots in South Korea have come here for training.

In 2017, more than 1,300 students enrolled, but just over 200 graduated, and Beanny managed to cross the finish line in a tie for first place.

As the winner of this competition, Beanny went his own way.

As a student at Dulwich Zhuhai, Beanny had his sights set on studying at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. After doing some research on universities and programmes, he learned that credits from his A-Level programme could be transferred directly to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's undergraduate programmes. While the average student takes 129 credits over four years to complete an undergraduate degree, Beanny only needs to take a further 106 credits to graduate.

"It gave me a lot of free time to do what I wanted to do." Beanny often finds time to borrow his senior's training aircraft to train with him and gain experience.

Beanny's hectic schedule of school and training has improved his life. In his spare time, he misses his hometown's food because "it's hard to find authentic food here". Beanny decided to cook for himself. The skills he learned from the cooks at Yung Wing School's canteen helped to ease his nostalgia. "I learned how to make fried rice noodles." When I arrived, I was unable to purchase Cantonese rice noodles. So I just cooked with pork, and that was enough."

The Connection with Aerospace

In fact, Beanny's connection to aerospace comes from his family. "My grandfather was one of the experimental designers of the country's 'Yun 10', but he passed away before I was born."

"The Yun 10 was China's first domestically designed and built large aircraft. Although there was no direct interaction, the connection was enough to create a longing in Beanny's heart. What really excited Beanny were the various model aircraft his parents had locked away in a glass bookcase at home, which he "could only look at, not touch". Perhaps it was in this environment that the seed of the aerospace dream was planted.

By the time he was in his second year of junior high school, Beanny knew that aerospace was what he wanted to do in the future.

In 2010, Beanny enrolled in Dulwich Zhuhai. To his delight, his love for aerospace was further recognised and supported at Dulwich Zhuhai. In his junior year, Beanny joined the school's aeromodelling club and, along with other club members, took on the responsibility of capturing aerial footage of the school's sports matches and other major events.

"Aerial photography wasn't popular at the time, so we bought our own propellers, motors and other parts to assemble an aerial drone."

DJI drones were not yet on the market that year.

Beanny and his peers have received special support from the school for their aerial photography CCA. The school has also given the aeromodelling club a special office to use as an activity room for club members. "In addition to the special space, it also gave us a lot of opportunities to take group photos and make promotional films, which was rare," Beanny recalls.

It was also in this CCA that Beanny turned his love of aerospace into the power to contribute to the community. John Jiang, a fellow CCA student, came into contact with the Zhuhai Civil Safety Rescue Team by chance and was recruited to join the team because of his mastery of aerial photography. Beanny joined the team on his recommendation. What's more, John, who shares the same hobby, was admitted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University together.

When the Jiuzhaigou earthquake struck in 2017, the Zhuhai Civil Safety Rescue Team began recruiting members to assist in the rescue of the victims. Beanny signed up but was turned down because he was under 18, which made him feel terrible. "It was a very meaningful action, my parents were very supportive of me going at the time, but unfortunately it didn't work out in the end." Beanny regretted this.

If urban air transport becomes popular in the future, it will change the way people travel. "If you walk down the street and look up, you would notice planes flying in and out of the city, which could help reduce the city's carbon footprint and congestion. Think about it; it's very sci-fi and amazing.”