Enoch M Kund

Mechanical engineer.Commercial pilot.

Mechanical engineer and commercial pilot with an entrepreneurial mindset and a passion for aviation and innovation.

Portrait of Enoch Kund against a plain light-grey background, wearing a white patterned shirt with a navy collar.

About

I’m a mechanical engineer and professional pilot who enjoys tackling difficult problems at the intersection of engineering, aviation, and business.

My experience includes aircraft mechanical design, UAV development, and redesigning legacy aircraft components. I’m particularly interested in understanding complex systems, improving designs, and bridging the gap between engineering concepts and real-world performance.

After more than 1,700 flight hours across ferry flying, flight testing, and aerial photography, I’ve developed an appreciation for both the technical and operational sides of aviation. I also enjoy exploring entrepreneurial ideas, analyzing investments, and finding opportunities to turn ambitious concepts into reality.

Experience

  1. Jul 2023 – Present

    Independent Contract Pilot

    Freelance · Daytona Beach / Orlando, FL

    • Fly aerial photography, ferry and test flights for private clients.
    • Handle each operation end to end: flight planning, coordination with the client and aircraft evaluation.
  2. Nov 2023 – Mar 2026

    Flight Test & Mechanical Inspection Assistant (part-time)

    Aviators Academy · Daytona Beach, FL

    • Flew post-maintenance evaluations on Cessna 172 and Piper PA-28 aircraft, checking powerplant performance, flight-control rigging and system integrity before return to service.
    • Diagnosed mechanical and avionics discrepancies found in test and wrote squawk reports with root-cause analysis for the maintenance team.
    • Worked with A&P mechanics to confirm repaired systems met reliability and safety requirements under FAA 14 CFR.
  3. May 2025 – Aug 2025

    Field Engineer Intern

    Ovation Construction, Inc. · Oviedo, FL

    • Reviewed drawings, specifications and submittals, and inspected installed work against design intent, code and safety requirements.
    • Coordinated subcontractors, vendors and field crews to resolve build issues and keep multi-trade schedules on track.
  4. Jun 2024 – Mar 2025

    Mechanical Engineering Technician & Flight Simulator Instructor

    Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum · Titusville, FL

    • Reverse-engineered obsolete aircraft parts in SolidWorks and redesigned them for 3D printing, cutting lead times by 40% and reducing part cost.
    • Validated the redesigned parts through FEA stress analysis and physical fit and load testing before installation.
    • Carried out mechanical diagnostics, structural repairs and system overhauls with the restoration team, to FAA and historical-preservation standards.
    • Taught hands-on flight simulator sessions to participants of all ages, explaining aerodynamics and flight procedures in plain terms.
  5. Aug 2023 – Feb 2024

    Math & Physics Tutor

    University of Central Florida · Orlando, FL

    • Tutored mathematics at every level from elementary arithmetic through Calculus 2, shaping each session around what the student needed most.
    • Guided students through general physics concepts and problem-solving, breaking each problem into clear steps they could apply on their own.
    • Helped students prepare for exams, strengthening their understanding and improving their academic performance.

Earlier

  • Jan 2025 – May 2025Sales Intern, Whisp.io
  • 2020 – Apr 2021Operations & Sales Associate (apprenticeship), Tembeza Consulting SARL

Projects

The carbon-fibre UAV resting on asphalt in low sun, seen from above and behind the left wing. A single carbon tube runs from the wing to the tail surfaces; a two-blade propeller sits at the nose.

Jan – Jul 2025 · Mechanical design lead, 5-person team

High-speed STOL UAV

I led the mechanical design of a carbon-fibre UAV built for short takeoff and landing, taking it from SolidWorks models and structural and aerodynamic analysis to fabricated, assembled hardware.

Lighter airframe, with required safety factors heldDesign result from analysis
12%
SolidWorks parts, assemblies and GD&T fabrication drawings
40+
Read the case study
  • SolidWorks screen showing a shelled fuselage body, open along one side to reveal a series of internal ring bulkheads.
    Fuselage modelled as a thin shell with internal bulkheads in SolidWorks.
  • Workbench covered in plastic sheeting; two people work on the opened fuselage, with the carbon tail boom and a carbon tail surface laid out beside it.
    Team assembly on the bench, with the tail boom and a tail surface laid out.
  • The fuselage held open by two people, showing servos, wiring, a battery and connectors packed inside the carbon shell, with the wheels attached.
    Inside the fuselage — servos, wiring and power distribution.

3–4 yrTime to bolt failure in service20 yrDesign life of the blade-root joint

May – Jul 2026 · Investigation lead

Wind turbine blade-root bolt failure investigation

Led a root-cause investigation into blade-root bolts failing after three to four years on an operating utility-scale wind turbine designed for twenty — analysis, a parametric load model, and a test and inspection plan.

Read the case study : Wind turbine blade-root bolt failure investigation

Jan – Apr 2025 · Team project

Low-Cost Upper‑Limb Prosthetic

A low-cost, body-powered prosthetic arm for amputees in Nepal, where few people who lose a limb can get or afford a prosthesis. Our team designed it around locally available PVC and HDPE so it can be made, fitted and repaired close to home, then modelled and analysed it in Autodesk Inventor.

Maximum displacement, at the hook tipsSimulation result
0.016 in
Peak von Mises stress, concentrated in the hookSimulation result
3.73 ksi
Read the case study : Low-Cost Upper‑Limb Prosthetic
Three CAD components rendered against a dark background — a white upper-arm section with a shaped cup, a beige tapered forearm section with two pin holes, and a grey hook terminal device on a short post with a cable stud.
The main components modelled in Autodesk Inventor: upper-arm section, forearm section and hook.

Individual research paper

Thermodynamics of Laser‑Processed Aircraft Alloys

A graduate research paper on what happens inside titanium and nickel aircraft alloys when they are laser processed or 3D printed. I compared three thermodynamic models against published experiments, built my own analytical plots in Python, and looked at what the results mean for FAA and EASA certification.

How far the Rosenthal model overpredicts cooling rate against published experimentsFrom my analysis of published data
40–55%
Scan speed range, in m/s, giving the highest yield strength in the compiled Ti‑6Al‑4V dataFrom my analysis of published data
0.4–0.8
Read the case study : Thermodynamics of Laser‑Processed Aircraft Alloys
Line chart of cooling rate at the solidification front against laser scan speed from 0.2 to 1.6 m/s. A straight blue line shows the Rosenthal analytical model; red squares with error bars show experimental data from three published studies, sitting consistently below the line.
Cooling rate versus scan speed: the Rosenthal model prediction (blue) against experimental data compiled from three published studies (red).

Jan – Apr 2026 · Project & research proposal

Bio-Inspired Airfoil for Turbulent Flow

A research proposal to test whether humpback-whale-style bumps on a wing's leading edge, called tubercles, can increase lift, reduce drag and delay stall in the turbulent air aircraft actually fly in. Our team designed a combined CFD and wind tunnel study to find out.

Read the case study : Bio-Inspired Airfoil for Turbulent Flow
A nine-step flowchart of the planned CFD process, from generating the airfoil CAD and meshing it, through boundary conditions and running ANSYS Fluent with the Transition SST model, to exporting lift and drag coefficients and flow contours.
The planned CFD workflow, from CAD and meshing to lift and drag results in ANSYS Fluent.

Team project

CubeSat Thermal Control Payload

Collaborated on the design and development of a refrigeration system for a 3U CubeSat payload. The work focused on automatically regulating temperatures for sensitive instruments during launch and recovery, combining thermodynamic modeling, microcontroller controls and hardware integration.

Read the case study : CubeSat Thermal Control Payload
Schematic of the refrigeration line. Nitrogen flows from an N2 cartridge through a regulator, a two-way solenoid valve, a pressure transducer, a pressure release valve and an expansion valve into an evaporator with a fan and thermistor, then exits outside the payload. Pressure transducers monitor the line at three points.
The refrigeration line: nitrogen cartridge, regulator, solenoid valve, expansion valve and evaporator, with pressure transducers at three points.
  • Team project

    RC Boat Design and Competition

    Worked with a team to design and build a remote controlled boat for a university competition. We used SolidWorks, Arduino, Verilog and electronic circuitry to develop the structure and control system, and integrated sensors and software to help the boat navigate around the UCF reflection pond. Our team reached the competition finals.

    Tools SolidWorks, Arduino, Verilog, Sensors, Electronic circuitry

Aviation

Enoch Kund smiling and holding up a sheet of paper beside a white twin-engine airplane with blue stripes, on a sunny airport ramp lined with hangars.
On the ramp with a twin-engine trainer.

1,705

hours of flight time · logbook total as of August 2026

Pilot in command
1,581
Cross-country
1,415
Instrument
510
Night
331
Multi-engine
240

FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate

Airplane Single-Engine Land, Airplane Multi-Engine Land, Instrument Airplane

  • High-Performance Endorsement
  • Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit · FCC

In progress Airline Transport Pilot: aeronautical experience requirements of 14 CFR 61.159 met; ATP-CTP course and ATP knowledge test in progress.

Types of flying

  • Aerial photography, ferry and test flights for private clients
  • Post-maintenance flight evaluations before return to service
  • Single-pilot IFR and instrument approaches
  • Multi-engine operations
  • Flight simulator instruction, normal and abnormal procedures

Education and skills

  • M.S. Mechanical Engineering

    University of Central Florida, July 2026

    Thermo-fluids track

  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering

    University of Central Florida

    Minor in Mathematics

Professional affiliations and leadership

Leadership

  • Pegasus PilotsFounding member of the first aviation club at the University of Central Florida · 2024

Aviation associations

  • National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)Member · 2025 – present
  • Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)Member · 2024 – present
  • Central Florida Business Aviation AssociationMember · 2024 – present
  • South Florida Business Aviation AssociationMember · 2025 – present
  • Miami Pilot AssociationMember · 2025 – present

Clubs

  • Young Investors ClubA club dedicated to investing, trading and the financial markets, where members analyze opportunities, discuss strategy and build financial literacy
  • SolidWorks Design ClubMember of a hands-on CAD and simulation club. Through design and simulation workshops, I modelled aircraft, drone and mechanical assemblies in SolidWorks using surfacing, sheet metal, weldments and top-down assembly, then ran structural FEA and flow simulations to improve their strength-to-weight ratio · Nov 2023 – Apr 2026

Skills

Design

  • SolidWorks
  • Autodesk Inventor
  • Fusion 360
  • GD&T fabrication drawings
  • DFM/DFA

Analysis

  • Structural FEA
  • CFD and XFLR5
  • MATLAB, Python, C++
  • Fatigue and failure analysis

Making and testing

  • Additive manufacturing
  • Composite structures
  • LabVIEW, Arduino and Verilog
  • Root-cause analysis

Flying

  • Single-pilot IFR
  • Multi-engine operations
  • Post-maintenance evaluation
  • Aircraft systems and powerplant

Get in touch

I’m open to mechanical engineering roles and first-officer opportunities, and always glad to talk about work where engineering and aviation meet.