Contact Dr Guy Gratton
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754474
- Email: Guy.Gratton@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @@GuyG_Boffin
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
Areas of expertise
- Air Transport Safety & Investigation
- Aircraft Design
- Airworthiness
- Aviation Management & Operations
- Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
- Environmental Impacts
- Flight Physics
Background
Guy Gratton's early career was in military flight testing, but he moved in 1997 to be Chief Technical Officer at the British Microlight Aircraft Association. Whilst at BMAA, he did his PhD part time with the University of Southampton, in the development of airworthiness evaluation techniques, and was approved as a test pilot for microlight aeroplanes.
In 2005 he moved to Brunel University London where he was subject lead for creation of their BEng and MEng programmes into Aviation Engineering, as well as supporting the new Aerospace Engineering MSc and building a body of aviation safety research.
In 2008 he moved to Cranfield, working for the Natural Environment Research Council, as head of the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (now FAAM Airborne Laboratory) for seven years, then another four years as Head of Airborne Science and Technology to the National Centre for Atmospheric Science.
Guy Gratton is also a commercial, test and instructor pilot holding commercial licences for the UK, Europe and the USA - he has logged 1900hrs in 109 aircraft types. He's written four books: The Microlight Flyers Handbook (Camber), Initial Airworthiness (Springer, 2 editions) and Achieving Success with the Engineering Dissertation (Springer, with Petra Gratton) Guy is also an experienced Expert Witness, practicing mainly in civil litigation related to aircraft accidents, and has regularly appeared on TV and radio in relation to aviation and air safety matters.
Research opportunities
Working in the overlap between aeronautics and environmental sciences, particularly interesting in collaborations in:-- Impact of climate change on aviation operations.
- Weather and environment related aviation safety.
- Low emissions flight.
- Use of aircraft as research platforms.
- How to deliver air transport in a world where infectious diseases such as Covid exist.
- Related ethical research and considerations.
Current activities
- Programme manager for EnabEl: Enabling Aircraft Electrification, a collaboration between Cranfield University, The Light Aircraft Company Ltd, Flylight Airsports Ltd and CDO2.
- Editorial boards for Aeronautical Journal (Royal Aeronautical Society) and Cockpit (Society of Experimental Test Pilots).
- PI for COSBAT (Covid-19 Secure and Biosafe Air Transport) consortium of Cranfield, Manchester and Brunel Universities - currently seeking funding.
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Daniels S, Braithwaite G & Gratton G (2023) Establishing best practices in the use of an upgraded airborne teaching laboratory, The Aeronautical Journal, 127 (1315) 1491-1504.
- Gratton GB, Williams PD, Padhra A & Rapsomanikis S (2022) Reviewing the impacts of climate change on air transport operations, The Aeronautical Journal, 126 209-221.
- Gratton G, Padhra A, Rapsomanikis S & Williams PD (2020) The impacts of climate change on Greek airports, Climatic Change, 160 (2) 219-231.
- Turner AG, Bhat GS, Martin GM et al & the INCOMPASS team (2019) Interaction of convective organisation with monsoon precipitation, atmosphere, surface and sea: the 2016 INCOMPASS field campaign in India, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 146 (731 Part B) 2828-2852.
- Gratton GB (2019) A pitch trimmer can cause a catastrophic structural failure in an aeroplane, but this is avoidable, The Aeronautical Journal, 123 (1260) 174-190.
- Bennett CJ, Nott GJ, Wellpott A, Lawson N, Delise M, Woodcock B & Gratton GB (2019) Characterizing instrumentation canister aerodynamics on the FAAM BAe-146-301 atmospheric research aircraft, Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 32 (4).
- Gratton G (2015) Flight testing the Titanic: re-visiting the loss of His Majesty's Airship R.101, Journal of Aeronautical History (Paper number 2015/05) 274-289.
- Gratton GB, Hoff RI, Rahman A, Harbour C, Williams S & Bromfield M (2014) Evaluating a set of stall recovery actions for single engine light aeroplanes, The Aeronautical Journal, 118 (1203) 461-484.
- Hoff R & Gratton G (2013) Spin induced aerodynamic flow conditions on full-scale aeroplane wing and horizontal tail surfaces, The Aeronautical Journal, 117 (1198) 1207-1231.
- Saeed B & Gratton G (2012) An approach to evaluate lift generated by an annular-Coanda-wing for vertical/short take-off and landing applications, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 226 (10) 1298-1314.
- Bromfield MA & Gratton GB (2012) Factors affecting the apparent longitudinal stick-free static stability of a typical high-wing light aeroplane, The Aeronautical Journal, 116 (1179) 467-499.
- Hoff R & Gratton G (2012) Camera tracking and qualitative airflow assessment of a two-turn erect spin, The Aeronautical Journal, 116 (1179) 541-562.
- Bromfield MA & Gratton GB. (2012) Testing the relationship between stick force gradient, workload, and loss of control in light aeroplanes, Cockpit Magazine (July - December) 6-32.
- Gratton GB (2012) The Meteorological Research Flight and its predecessors and successors, Journal of Aeronautical History (Paper 2012:06) 83-111.
- Gratton G (2012) A UK-centric history of the testing and certification of fuse-tube design microlight aeroplanes, Journal of Aeronautical History (2012/03) 32-47.
- Saeed B., Gratton G. & Mares C. (2011) A feasibility assessment of annular winged VTOL flight vehicles, The Aeronautical Journal, 115 (1173) 683-692.
- Saeed B. & Gratton G. (2011) Exploring the aerodynamic characteristics of a blown annular wing for vertical/short take-off and landing applications, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 225 (6) 689-707.
- Saeed B & Gratton GB (2010) An evaluation of the historical issues associated with achieving non-helicopter V/STOL capability and the search for the flying car, The Aeronautical Journal, 114 (1152) 91-102.
- Hoff R, Gratton G & Gee A (2010) Estimating sailplane mass properties, Technical Soaring: An International Journal, 34 (4) 118-125.
- Gratton GB (2008) A timed method for the estimation of aeroplane take-off and landing distances, The Aeronautical Journal, 112 (1136) 613-619.
- Gratton GB (2008) Stalling speeds and determination of maneuver speed for rogallo-winged microlight airplanes, Journal of Aircraft, 45 (2) 723-725.
- Gratton GB (2007) Use of Global Positioning System velocity outputs for determining airspeed measurement error, The Aeronautical Journal, 111 (1120) 381-388.
- Gratton GB (2006) A method for predicting the rate and effect of approach to the stall of a microlight aeroplane, The Aeronautical Journal, 110 (1112) 683-690.
- Gratton GB & Newman S (2006) Towards the tumble resistant microlight, Cockpit Magazine (January - June).
- Gratton G & Newman S (2003) The 'tumble' departure mode in weightshift-controlled microlight aircraft, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 217 (3) 149-163.
- Gratton GB (2001) The weightshift-controlled microlight aeroplane, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 215 (3) 147-154.
Conference Papers
- Shukri S, Millar R, Gratton G & Garner M (2016) The potential risk of communication media in conveying critical information in the aircraft maintenance organisation: A case study. In: 6th Innovation in Aerospace Engineering and Technology, AEROTECH 2016, Kuala Lumpur, 8-9 November 2016.
- Bromfield M, Gratton G & Young M. (2015) The effects of stick force gradient on pilot mental demand. In: AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, Kissimmee, Florida, 5-9 January 2015.
- Gratton G (2015) Flight testing the Titanic: re-visiting the loss of His Majesty's Airship R101. In: 58th Annual Symposium of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP 2014), Anaheim, California, 24-27 September 2014.
- Gratton & GB (2014) Flight Testing the Titanic: re-visiting the loss of His Majesty’s Airship R.101. In: 46th SETP EC & 25th SFTE EC Annual symposium, Lulea, 15-18 June 2014.
- Bromfield M, Gratton G & Watson T. (2013) Flight Testing in a University Environment: challenges and lessons learned. In: 24th SFTE EC Symposium, Braunschweig, 11-13 June 2013.
- Gratton G, Gascoyne M & Nott G (2013) Maximising scientific return by combining manned and unmanned airborne atmospheric measurements. In: 1st Conference of the International Association for Atmospheric Research using Remotely-piloted Aircraft (ISARRA), Mallorca, 18-20 February 2013.
- Gratton GB. Mares C (2012) Design Considerations for Unmanned Aerial Systems. In: Unmanned Aerial Systems, London, 24-25 October 2012.
- Gratton G (2010) Planning and execution of atmospheric research flight operations in the UK following the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption. In: 41st Annual International Symposium of the Society of Flight Test Engineers 2010, Washington DC, 13-16 September 2010.
- Bromfield M & Gratton G. (2010) Loss of control testing of light aircraft and a cost effective approach to flight test. In: 41st Annual International Symposium of the Society of Flight Test Engineers 2010, Washington DC, 13-16 September 2010.
- Bromfield M. & Gratton G. (2009) Flight test: Supporting the investigation of factors affecting loss of control of light aircraft. In: 40th Annual International Symposium of the Society of Flight Test Engineers 2009, Linkoping and Stockholm, 7-11 September 2009.
- Bromfield MA & Gratton GB (2009) Factors affecting loss of control in general aviation aircraft. In: 39th Symposium of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, San Diego, California, 19-20 March 2009.
- Saeed B & Gratton GB (2008) Numerical Evaluation of the Aerodynamic Characteristics of Annular Wingform for V/STOL Applications. In: CEAS Aerodynamics Group Conference on The Aerodynamics of Novel Configurations: Capabilities and Future Requirements, London, 27-28 October 2008.
- Gratton GB & Bromfield MA (2008) Aspects of general aviation flight safety research. In: Royal Aeronautical Society 2008 General Aviation Conference, Cambridge, 28 September 2008.
- Gratton GB (2008) Test Pilot Skills in the Courtroom. In: 40th European Symposium of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Luzern, 4-7 June 2008.
- Gratton GB & Porteous TC (2007) Protecting the flight test programme. In: European Flight Test Safety Workshop, London, 17 October 2007.
Books
- Petra Gratton & Guy Gratton (2020) Achieving success with the engineering dissertation. Cham: Springer, ed. 1st.
- Gratton G (2018) Initial airworthiness: determining the acceptability of new airborne systems. cham: Springer, ed. 2nd.
- Gratton G. (2015) Initial airworthiness: Determining the acceptability of new airborne systems. Springer International Publishing.
- Gratton GB. (2014) Flight Test Reports. In: Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering. Richard Blockley, Wei Shyy (ed.), John Wiley, p. 1-10.
- Gratton GB (2012) Use of Airborne Vehicles as Research Platforms. In: Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, John Wiley, p. 1-9.
- Gratton G (2008) Microlight Flyers Handbook. Airplan Flight Equipment.