“In the air or on the road” Manufacturing Design with Paul Kumler

Drones – The First Step to Autonomous Human Flight

I received my first recreational drone for Christmas three years ago. It was a pretty simple system. The frame was light weight plastic with four independently powered props. It had an on-board camera that could take still pictures and videos. It also had colored tip lights to…


Could South Carolina Be The Place? Part I

It’s a valid question. It’s not too presumptuous to think. Why not? Could South Carolina be the home to the next supersonic commercial airplane? Perhaps this isn’t on anyone’s radar screen yet. For decades, there has been discussion of a new supersonic commercial airplane. During my Boeing…


Offshoring engineering will come back to haunt us

When American businesses outsource their engineering, especially to lower cost offshore service providers, are those companies increasing current profits at a significant future cost? Businesses continually look for ways to reduce their costs to enhance profits. Large corporations reward their executives and managers when they find ways…


Think you don’t need a professional engineering (PE) license in aerospace?

Guess again and fly higher I’m asked often by recent engineering graduates if they should pursue a professional engineering (PE) registration.  Most of the questions come from graduates entering the aerospace field. When I was beginning my engineering career, I wrestled with the same question. The process…


Roads? Where We’re going, we don’t need roads

The Future of Aerospace I admit it, I am a Trekkie. Yeah, Star Wars was OK, but I always preferred the original Star Trek.  Watching this show in my younger years, combined with seeing nearly every single NASA rocket launch and the first moon landing triggered my…


The Small Business Eco-System

An aerospace retrospective with KTM Solution’s Paul Kumler I recently attended an SC Aerospace Advisory Board meeting where a preliminary supply chain study report was presented. The report was generated to understand the impact of the aerospace supply chain in South Carolina. I found one statistic particularly…


Where Should Workforce Development Start?

KTM Solutions will celebrate 14 years in business in 2019. My wife and I founded KTM Solutions after 22 years working for large corporations. While employed by world class aircraft companies, I heard a steady stream of reports about the eminent work force shortage, particularly engineers. During the last 14 years, nearly every chamber event […]