SEBASTIAAN MENGER AS AIRPORT AND AIRSPACE SIMULATION SPECIALIST

Testimonial

In 2016, Sebastiaan graduated from the Aviation Logistics track. After that, Sebastiaan has been working as an Airport and Airspace Simulation Specialist at the Airport Research Center. He will tell us something about his experiences after graduation and his outlook on the future.

Started it in 2014 as a hobby project while still a student at the HvA, and 6 years later and countless hours of research later it is now available on Amazon. Still remember the day when I said to write it in one month ;)
Sebastiaan Menger - Graduated in 2016 from the Aviation Logistics track

How did you get your current job?

After working on international airport masterplanning and simulation projects at NACO in The Hague, I moved abroad and starting to work for ARC based in Aachen, Germany. What helped me to secure this job was experience in the CAST airport simulation software on international projects. Actually, the first introduction into the software is even covered in the curriculum at the HvA.

What are your daily operations?

Currently I primarily work on three main aviation topics. The first one being airside simulation studies to set declared runway capacities for German airports such as Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The second field of work concerns the (further) development of airspace simulation software as a product owner. This entails setting requirements which the CAST software should be able to offer (e.g. modelling of airspace SID, STAR infra, aircraft performance profiles, ATC separation types) and a lot of software testing.
Finally, the third topic which has my attention is the EU and UK legislation concerning airport terminal checkpoint applicability. Basically speaking, which regulations determine when border control, (transfer) security and customs checkpoints shall be in place.
Quite a broad palette of work, ranging from heaven to sometimes going plain crazy ;)

What do you like the most at your job?

Airspace, the ‘invisible infrastructure’ of the sky! Highly technical with impacts such as aircraft performance, airspace route design and regulations as dictated by ICAO, among others!

Furthermore, the international projects, ranging from Hamburg to Hong Kong.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I hope to have published one more book (airspace related) and aim to be living abroad on a ‘long-haul’ scale, maybe Singapore or Toronto ;)

What did you like the most from your education that helps you out nowadays in your work?

The ‘real’ projects which involved specialised companies such as the airport masterplanning project in the 2nd year of studies, mentored by NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants. To be working on real case studies, with their own ‘soul’, own local characteristics of the airport, was so inspirational and give a sense of purpose, apart from the learning aspect!
Furthermore, what made me eligible for my graduation internship were the (work) lectures in CAST simulation.

Are you still connected with the Aviation Academy?

From time to time through guest lectures, where I try to give students the valuable insights from airport planning and simulation, hoping to contribute to kickstarting their career with extra knowledge. In that respect I also recently published my first book concerning Terminal Checkpoints at EU, Schengen and UK airports. Started it in 2014 as a hobby project while still a student at the HvA, and 6 years later and countless hours of research later it is now available on Amazon. Still remember the day when I said to write it in one month ;)
That’s all for now folks, hope to meet you (potentially digitally) during a guest lecture!