The Mission
• The Mission: To develop an affordable roadable aircraft.
• How: By expanding the team to include YOU — volunteers, supporters, partners and sponsors. Team members can see our technical approach in the forum presented at AirVenture 2009.
• When: Now!
• Where: Sherman Oaks, California
• Who: Joseph R. Caravella, Jr., Founder of Caravella Aerospace
Joe's Bio —
A native of Washington D.C., he grew up in Reston, Virginia. He soloed a Cessna 152 before graduating high school and designed his own radio controlled model planes, built a hovercraft, hang gliders and a jet powered skateboard.
His interest in aviation led him to Purdue University where he earned a BS in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (AAE) with honors in aerodynamics and propulsion. As an undergraduate, he completed a co-op program at NASA Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Virginia, where he worked in the low-speed, transonic and hypersonic test organizations. He continued on at Purdue as an Andrews and Koerner fellow earning his MS AAE with honors in propulsion and aerodynamics. His thesis work on radial flow hybrid rocket engine combustion was published by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Journal of Propulsion and Power.
Before founding Caravella Aerospace, Joe worked at Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, California. While at Rocketdyne, he cut his teeth on the X-33 program as a development engineer for the nozzle ramps, taking that component from initial design through development, manufacturing and hot fire testing. He had the opportunity to be more creative as a project engineer on smaller programs earning him the 2002 General Managers Award and co-authorship on a NASA technical report. This led to team leader positions for combustion device elements on the RS-83, RS-84 and finally J-2X programs. Over the course of his career, Joe gained experience in design, analysis, procurement, development and hot fire testing, team leadership, customer interface and project planning. He also built and statically test fired two unique nitrous/acrylic hybrid rocket engines as a member of the Reaction Research Society.
After working for 10 years in the aerospace industry as a leader in combustion devices development, Joe decided to pursue his passion for aviation - full time. His first endeavor was to develop roadable aircraft technology concepts germinating since college. This led to the “affordable roadable aircraft” currently in development at Caravella Aerospace.
He is currently an active member of local EAA chapters 1, 40, 96 and 723.
