Vikas Patel Is Built for the Landing

Aerospace Engineering graduate Vikas Patel (’24) brings intuition, imagination, and precision to the future of flight.

On the final lap of an international Design-Build-Fly competition, Vikas Patel (’24) didn’t panic.

He’d seen this moment coming.

“There’s no percentage readout — just voltage,” he says. “And I’d watched that voltage curve so many times, I knew exactly when the battery was going to go.”

That level of preparation, intuition, and technical nerve defines Vikas’s approach to engineering — and to life. Behind the national awards and research credentials is a test pilot’s calm, a storyteller’s imagination, and a problem-solver who always shows up early and watches closely.

The Pull of Engineering

Vikas grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, with a fascination for space. But it wasn’t about stargazing.

“I started off reading books about astronauts and astronomy,” he recalls. “And I realized that in order to do all this science, there’s a lot of people — engineers — working behind the scenes. That engineering was what brought me in.”

Both he and his older brother Kushan (’14) gravitated toward aerospace. “My dad is a software engineer,” he explains. “But before him, it was mostly business. He was the first in STEM. Then both of his kids became aerospace engineers. Not very diverse,” he adds with a laugh, “but it’s all right.” 

Landing on the Moon, Not Just the Runway

Now interning at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Vikas works on terrain-based navigation and guidance systems for lunar landings.

“We’re trying to get back to the Moon,” he says. “And we can’t do it the way we did before. Now that we’re staying longer, you have these complex orbits — the Moon’s pull, the Earth’s pull — and we need autonomous systems to help us land safely in rugged, unfamiliar terrain.”

For Vikas, it's all about timing. Sensing, reacting, recovering — in real time.

That instinct sharpened during his time on the Design-Build-Fly team.

“In our second year, we knew we needed nine laps to take second place at competition,” he says. “But in testing, we only ever got five before our battery ran down.”

So the team got to work — streamlining the airframe, preconditioning the batteries, patching every vulnerability.

They didn’t get nine laps. But they got eight.

“And we landed with just enough battery left to keep the plane gliding,” he says. “It was incredible. A testament to all the work and intuition we’d built up over time.”

Building Flight — and Flying It

That same drive powers Vikas’s own flying career. He holds a taildragger endorsement and is now beginning aerobatic training, guided by pilot mentors who supported him throughout his undergraduate years.

Working in the university’s Space Technologies Laboratory, Vikas led battery testing for the LLAMAS project, the student-built camera system that traveled to space aboard the Polaris Program's Polaris Dawn mission.

“To have something you built reach space — and then be used in orbit? Still baffles me,” he says.

When a Master’s Turned Into a Mission

Vikas originally planned to earn a master’s and head into industry. When the National Science Foundation awarded him a graduate research fellowship, the decision started to shift. Conversations with mentors at NASA and Embry‑Riddle nudged him toward a Ph.D. at Stanford University.

“I’ve been set on industry for a while,” he says. “But the academic side has been creeping up. I’m not sure if that’s where my heart’s set yet — but I’m definitely considering it.”

What is clear: he loves solving problems that protect human life.

“Whether it's payloads or planetary landings, it all comes back to building robust solutions for human safety,” he says. “You see these landings that don’t go well — and you want to make sure we can do better. That’s the challenge that excites me.”

Mentorship and Mindset

Much of Vikas’s success traces back to mentors.

One Design-Build-Fly teammate, now a close friend, taught him the power of preparation. Another major influence is associate professor of Aerospace Engineering Dr. Troy Henderson, director of Embry‑Riddle’s Space Technologies Lab.

“He was a big influence, and not just in the classroom,” Vikas says. “But outside it too — how to be a better person. I’ve learned so much from him. I’m incredibly thankful.”

Art and Engineering: One Vision at a Time

He also brings an artist’s perspective to engineering. As an oil painter, Vikas sees strong parallels between composition and computation. Inspired by astronaut and alumna Nicole Stott, he launched The Drive to Fly, an aerospace-themed art competition for juniors and seniors at public high school in Volusia and Flagler counties in Florida. His goal is to give back, encourage creativity and support higher education.

“We just wrapped up our second year of the competition, with the top three winners being awarded $3000, $2000, and $1000. The art was judged by Nicole Stott, Dr. Troy Henderson and Bill Chapin, a local architect and sculptor.

He sees a strong link between artistic vision and engineering ingenuity.

“With art, it’s just you and the piece. You have an end vision — and you figure out how to get there,” he explains. “That process, that creativity, is very complementary to solving an engineering problem.”

Though public recognition is growing — he recently spoke at Space Center Houston during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month—he remains grounded in the work itself.

What’s Next?

At Stanford, Vikas looks forward to immersion in a diverse and interdisciplinary community.

“It’s not just aerospace,” he says. “It’s computer science, business — students who are focused on advancing the world through personal means as well as academic ones.”

He also hopes to return to painting, keep flying and — if all goes well — own a plane of his own.

“The first one I could probably afford is a Pitts,” he says, eyes lighting up. “Maybe an Extra or Panzl later on.”

A Trajectory Set Early

Asked what advice he’d give his younger self, Vikas doesn’t hesitate.

“I honestly wouldn’t change anything,” he says. “I was lucky to have the right people around me. They helped me build intuition early — and that set my trajectory.”

For Vikas, the next phase of that trajectory loops through Stanford, NASA. Afterwards? Who knows? Wherever it leads, chances are he’ll get there long before the voltage runs out — and with a perfect landing.