Contact Dr Simon Place
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754235
- Email: C.S.Place@cranfield.ac.uk
- ORCID
Areas of expertise
- Air Transport Safety & Investigation
- Airworthiness
- Aviation Management & Operations
Background
After graduating from Loughborough University in Engineering Science & Technology, Simon served as an RAF Engineer Officer in the Communications/ Electronics field. He studied for a Master's degree in Flight Dynamics at Cranfield in 1994-95, and carried out his thesis at Delft University (Netherlands) under the ERASMUS exchange scheme. There followed a period as a software engineer at Goodrich Aerospace, after which he returned to Cranfield. The 3-year research project to develop methods for the safety assessment & reliability prediction of helicopter transmission systems formed the basis of Simon's PhD thesis. He then worked for an engineering consultancy, where he spent 4 years in safety & reliability assessment on the West Coast Route Modernisation project for Network Rail and Virgin Trains.
In 2004 he returned as a Lecturer in Air Transport Engineering, keen to teach and do research in the fields of aircraft systems, safety and risk assessment and maintenance management. He is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
Current activities
Senior Lecturer in the National Flying Laboratory Centre. Lead demonstrator for airborne laboratory training and education. Previous teaching in MSc Airworthiness; Safety & Human Factors in Aviation; Safety & Accident Investigation.
Contribution to modules in Airworthiness Fundamentals, Safety Assessment of Aircraft Systems and Practical Reliability.
Research interests cover safety & risk assessment, and reliability analysis in the transport sector, including maintenance human factors.
Clients
DSTL
Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department
Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
QinetiQ
Raytheon Systems Ltd
Royal Netherlands Air Force
Singapore International Airlines Engineering Company
STM Aerospace (Turkey)
UK Ministry of Defence
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Whidborne JF, Place S, Alam M & Lu L. (2024). Supporting flight dynamics, parameter identification and simulation teaching with a flying classroom. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 58(16)
- Rashid HSJ, Place CS, Mba D, Lim R, Healey A, .... (2015). Helicopter MGB oil system failure analysis using influence diagrams and random failure probabilities. Engineering Failure Analysis, 50
- Rashid H, Place S, Mba D, Keong RLC, Kleine-Beek W, .... (2015). Reliability model for helicopter main gearbox lubrication system using influence diagrams. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 139
- Rashid HSJ, Place CS & Braithwaite GR. (2014). Eradicating root causes of aviation maintenance errors: introducing the AMMP. Cognition, Technology & Work, 16(1)
- Place S. (2013). Quality and reliability in engineering. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 227(1)
- Rashid HSJ, Place CS & Braithwaite GR. (2013). Investigating the investigations: a retrospective study in the aviation maintenance error causation. Cognition, Technology & Work, 15(2)
- Rashid HSJ, Place CS & Braithwaite GR. (2010). Helicopter maintenance error analysis: Beyond the third order of the HFACS-ME. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 40(6)
- Place CS, Strutt JE, Allsopp K, Irving PE & Trille C. (1999). Reliability prediction of helicopter transmission systems using stress–strength interference with underlying damage accumulation. Quality and Reliability Engineering International, 15(2)
