The Axalp Team from A to Z
Adrian Hachen
Engineer and Board Member
Adrian Hachen has 9 years of experience in aerodynamics, robotics, systems and structures. He was former airframe lead on eVTOL program, design engineer on high altitude platform at Aurora Flight Sciences. Adrian is a passionate paragliding pilot, ranked vice-world champion 2016, and former test pilot for Gin paragliders.
Adrian Hachen
Engineer & Board Member
Dominik Dusek
Engineer and Board Member
Dominik Dusek is a senior structure analyst with 16 years experience. He was former structures lead at Aurora Flight Sciences and led the airframe development of the Boeing PAV eVTOL in the Swiss office. Dominik is an expert in advanced dynamic analysis, modal coupling and conceptual design and started his career as stress engineer at Solar Impulse.
Dominik Dusek
Engineer & Board Member
Frederick Tischhauser
Engineer and Board Member
Frederick Tischhauser brings 13 years of experience in design, system integration, testing and operations. He was former design lead at Aurora Flight Sciences and project lead on the Porsche/Aurora eVTOL development. Former design engineer and test engineer at Solar Impulse.
Frederick Tischhauser
Engineer & Board Member
Eduard Cabot
Engineer
Eduardo Cabot is a structures analyst with experience in light-weight optimization and dynamic analysis. Eduard brings experience in multiple vehicle developments where he's been involved in early conceptual all the way to detailed sizing.
Eduard Cabot
Engineer
Amir Kalaoun
Business Development and Board Member
Amir Kalaoun is a business development professional and previously held the position of Director of International Business Development at Aurora Flight Sciences. Prior to that, Amir was in the aviation maintenance industry, he has extensive aviation experience from maintenance, modifications, retrofits, to supply of new parts and systems (OEM). His experience is spread over commercial, military and VIP sectors.
Amir Kalaoun
Business Development
& Board Member
Presley
Happiness Pawject Manager
Presley is a golden retriever rescue who loves people, toys and umbrellas (prepared for a rainy day). His favorite toy is his friend Sharky. He's currently working on the Happiness Pawject and enjoys his time at the office. Free headpats are always welcome!
Presely
Happiness Pawject Manager
Edgars Eglitis
Engineer
Edgars Eglitis is a structures analyst who has gained experience in a wide variety of environments spanning from the construction and wind tunnel industries to commercial aircraft component and eVTOL prototype development. He holds a PhD in numerical methods from Riga Technical University.
Edgars Eglitis
Engineer
Fabian Byland
Engineer
Fabian is leading test activities at Axalp Technologies. He brings 6 years of experience in Flight Test Instrumentation for Helicopters. This includes sensors, data acquisition, testing, telemetry systems, wiring and programming. He has a Master’s Degree in Robotics from ETH Zürich.
Fabian Byland
Engineer
Alexandra Frey
HR and Operations Manager
Alexandra Frey is the HR and Operations Manager for Axalp Technologies, supporting all aspects of human resources and business operations such as accounting and finance. She brings her years of experience supporting other high-performance teams at companies ranging from Swatch Group to Aurora Swiss Aerospace.
Alexandra Frey
HR & Operations Manager
Jean-Philippe Kuntzer
Engineer
Jean-Philippe Kuntzer is an aerodynamics engineer with experience in mechanical engineering. His is an MSc graduate from Imperial College London in computational methods for aeronautics. Jean-Philippe helps the team with fluid dynamics simulations and conceptual design.
Jean-Philippe Kuntzer
Engineer
Lars Killian
Engineer
Lars Killian has worked on many different types of UAVs over the past years. Aside from designing, developing, and optimizing Quadcopters at IAV, he programmed a 3D-vision-based autonomous collision avoidance algorithm during his studies. In his master thesis, he developed a novel flight control algorithm for VTOLs and modelled the corresponding flight physics. In addition, Lars is a passionate and licensed remote pilot.
Lars Killian
Engineer
Liam Brennan
Engineer
Liam Brennan graduated from ETH and joins us as a Mechanical Engineer with a focus on product development. He completes the team with experience in subscale prototype vehicle builds.
Liam Brennan
Engineer
Mathieu Houles
Program Manager
Mathieu Houles is a Program Manager with many years of experience at Bombardier, Alstom, and RUAG Aerospace. He has Master’s Degrees from INSA and Ecole de Management de Strasbourg in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration, respectively.
Mathieu Houles
Program Manager
Manuela Sauer
Engineer
Manuela Sauer is a Senior Systems Engineer, with particular expertise in developing Concepts of Opersion (CONOPs) for complex systems. She has a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences from Leibniz University Hannover and did post-doctoral research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, USA. She has previously supported systems engineering and CONOPs tasks for projects at NASA and Wisk.
Manuela Sauer
Engineer
Stefan Pfammatter
Engineer
Stefan Pfammatter is structures analyst with the main background in the analysis of experimental and certified aircraft. During the last 11 year he has gained experience at several places like Solarimpulse, Pilatus Aircraft, and Aurora Swiss Aerospace, working through all program phases from conceptual design work, to detail analysis, to structural testing and certification.
Stefan Pfammatter
Engineer
Simon Steinegger
Engineer
Simon Steinegger is a structures design contractor, with 8 years of experience ranging from conceptual design, to metal and composite part design, to supplier management and shop support. He started at Pilatus Aircraft LTD and previously worked at Aurora Swiss Aerospace.
Simon Steinegger
Engineer
Samir Maiga
Engineer
Samir Maiga graduated from ETH Zürich and has joined Axalp as a Junior Structure and Mechanical Engineer. He brings his experience in co-developing Formula Student electric racecar prototypes.
Samir Maiga
Engineer
Max Rotunno
Engineer and Board Member
Max Rotunno has led engineering efforts on UAVs for over 18 years, in addition to work on GNC for space and terrestrial applications. Max was recently the chief engineer for the development of an advanced eVTOL aircraft, including the full-sized prototype. Max has led the engineering development of three different military UAVs, including contributing to the military type certification of the aircraft. Max holds MSc and PhD degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from Sapienza Universita di Roma; plus an MSc from Georgia Institute of Technology and a C.Phil degree in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from the University of California San Diego.
Max Rotunno
Engineer & Board Member
Tim Dawson-Townsend
CEO and Board Member
Tim Dawson-Townsend has 30 years of aerospace experience, beginning at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the USA. His technical experience ranges from flight simulation to flight test to avionics systems engineering. In addition, he has served in various program management and in engineering management roles at Aurora Flight Sciences, including setting up and growing the European subsidiary Aurora Swiss Aerospace. Tim has degrees from the University of Dayton, Boston University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Tim is an FAA- and EASA-licensed private pilot.
Tim Dawson-Townsend
CEO & Board Member
Tim Moser
Advisor and Board Member
Tim Moser is an engineering professional and serial entrepreneur with an in-depth understanding of aerospace and particular mechatronics development. Previously he was Chief Engineer at Aurora Flight Sciences. He co-founded the company Swiss UAV in 2008, and after merging Swiss UAV with UMS Skeldar worked for the company as CTO. Tim instantiated the Swiss entity of the aircraft electronics provider EuroAvionics – now a Hensoldt company – as Partner and was promoted to Head of Engineering for the EuroAvionics Group.
Tim Moser
Advisor & Board Member
Team Legacy
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Multiple eVTOL airframe and system developments and builds
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Rotor-dynamic simulation and load models
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Multiple UAV GN&C developments
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Vehicle integration and testing
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Solar and HAPS aircraft
History
Axalp Technologies AG is a newly founded company (2020), based in Switzerland, bringing cross-functional world-class engineering services to partner companies.
Built on recent collaboration, the team presents itself in a new corporate package: Axalp Technologies.
The Axalp team builds on previous years of successful work together on fast-paced engineering development programs. Axalp’s performance will reinforce the value of having an existing, efficient and integrated team working for you.
With a background heavily rooted in - but not restricted to - aerospace systems, we offer a broad set of engineering skills and tools to tackle any complex engineering system.
Axalp Technologies can be your partner to guide your project or product from a blank sheet of paper to a fully-functional prototype, and onwards to a product ready for the market. Our experienced team will bring your prototype to life with efficiency and precision, ranging from sub-scale concept models, to technology demonstrators, to production-ready prototypes.
How do we work?
By leveraging each individual’s talents and experience, we are building an efficient and competitive team to solve real-world challenges. We are driven by an inventive curiosity and pioneering spirit challenging the status quo.
We're a diverse team
Like a living organism, our team is built on generalists and specialists from various parts of the industry. We celebrate diversity and multiple points of view. We complement each other and challenge each other to reach higher.
We're problem-solvers
We create solutions by fully understanding the problem and taking a system-level even while solving details.
We speak up
We take responsibility. We’re honest and don’t make promises we can’t keep. We ask for help when and where needed and learn from our mistakes.
Join us
We are excited to meet passionate and skilled people to join the team. If you are interested please get in touch.