Lead Structural Analysis Engineer at Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) with 8+ years substantiating metallic and composite aerospace primary structure. Current scope spans AI-assisted method-and-tool development for the stress organisation and Fatigue & Damage Tolerance ownership on a fighter-jet programme. Track record includes EASA CS-23 certification on the Hürkuş trainer (forward fuselage, rudder), GFEM-driven sizing across fighter-jet primary structure, and preliminary landing-gear and e-VTOL structural studies. Authors release-level stress reports, drives slow-crack-growth and fail-safe assessments, and closes non-conformances across loads, design and test interfaces.

1. Oct 2025 — Present · concurrent

   Method & Tool Development Engineer

   Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) · Ankara, Turkey

   • Develop AI-assisted internal tooling that automates repetitive stress-analysis workflows and scales analyst throughput across the organisation.
   • Build machine-learning surrogate models that approximate expensive FE evaluations, enabling rapid sizing trades and design-space exploration.
   • Use LLM-based code generation and agentic workflows to accelerate Python tooling, Nastran/Abaqus parser development and stress-report automation.

2. Aug 2021 — Present

   Fatigue & Damage Tolerance Engineer

   Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) · Ankara, Turkey

   • Lead the Durability & Damage Tolerance (DaDT) workpackage on primary metallic and composite airframe structure of a next-generation fighter platform.
   • Own the DaDT analysis chain — GFEM internal-load extraction, detailed sub-models, fatigue spectra application, crack-growth assessment, and inspection-interval setting.
   • Author and release DaDT stress reports for fracture-critical and durability-critical parts with formal revision control and design-office sign-off.

3. Sep 2017 — Aug 2021

   Structural Analysis Engineer

   Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) · Istanbul, Turkey

   • Hürkuş Trainer — substantiated metallic and composite primary structure on the Hürkuş-B forward fuselage and Hürkuş-C rudder against EASA CS-23 requirements.
   • Hürkuş-B — authored the forward-fuselage certification stress report and closed authority and internal review comments through release.
   • Hürkuş-C — led the rudder weight-reduction study via composite lay-up resizing and hinge re-design while preserving reserve-factor compliance.

4. Jul 2016 — Jun 2017

   Project Student & Intern

   TEI — TUSAŞ Engine Industries · Eskişehir, Turkey

   • Undergraduate research on a gas-turbine-engine curvic coupling — parametric FE study of tooth-flank stress and contact pressure under various load cases (B.Sc. thesis).
   • Earlier 2016 summer internship — hands-on exposure to the engine programme stress and design teams.

1. Feb 2018 — Jul 2022

   M.Sc. in Solid Mechanics

   Istanbul Technical University · GPA 3.69 / 4.00

   Thesis: Optimization of CFRP Prepreg Composite Rim by Using MOGA-II Genetic Algorithm

2. 2012 — 2017

   B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering — Specialty: Structure

   Yıldız Technical University · GPA 3.55 / 4.00

   Thesis: Behavior of a Gas Turbine Engine Curvic Coupling Parameters Under Various Loads · TEI undergraduate research

3. 2015 — 2016

   Erasmus+ Exchange — Mechanical Engineering

   Brno University of Technology

• Fighter Jet — Method & Tool Development

  2025 — Present · Python · pyNastran · Machine Learning

• Fighter Jet — Durability & Damage Tolerance

  2021 — Present · DaDT · GFEM · MSC Nastran

• Hürkuş Trainer — Certification Stress Analysis

  2018 — 2019 · EASA CS-23 · MSC Nastran · Patran

• Landing Gear — Preliminary Stress Sizing

  2017 — 2018 · Landing Gear · MSC Nastran · Hand Calcs

• e-VTOL — Conceptual Structural Sizing

  2019 — 2020 · e-VTOL · Conceptual Design · Trade Studies

• M.Sc. Thesis — Composite Rim Optimisation (MOGA-II)

  2018 — 2022 · MOGA-II · CFRP · Composite Optimisation

• Topology Optimisation of an Aircraft Bracket

  2021 · Topology Optimisation · Abaqus · Non-linear FEA

• Non-linear FEA of Bolted Joints

  2020 · Abaqus · Contact · Bolted Joints

• Composite Plate Buckling Study

  2019 · Composites · Buckling · Stiffened Panels

• B.Sc. Thesis — Curvic Coupling Parameter Study

  2017 · Gas Turbine · Curvic Coupling · Contact

Notes from the stress office — now playing on air.

• When stiffness, not strength, kills the panel

  Thin panels go unstable long before they run out of strength, and the linear eigenvalue load FE hands you is an optimistic upper bound, not an answer. Notes on eigenvalue versus post-buckling, stiffener pitch, boundary conditions, and imperfection knockdowns.

• Hello, again — re-launching kuskira.com

  A short note on starting over with a simpler, faster portfolio site.

• Thermal stress, the load case people forget

  Constrained thermal expansion makes real stress with no external load on the part. Why a free part sees nothing, what alpha-delta-T-E buys you as a sanity check, CTE mismatch in joints, and why you can't always just add it to the mechanical case.

• What a broken part tells you

  A short note on reading a fracture surface. Beach marks and striations, fatigue versus overload, finding the origin, and why the broken part is the one piece of evidence the analysis can't argue with.

• FE-test correlation notes that don't fit on a slide

  Practical lessons from correlating models with coupon, element and full-scale test. Gauges, boundary conditions, the conservatism multiplier on fatigue, and the little reference model.

Always happy to talk fatigue, FEA correlation, certification and aeronautical structures.

• Email
  berkaykuskira@gmail.com
• Phone
  +90 538 983 78 44
• LinkedIn
  linkedin.com/in/berkaykuskira
• Base
  Ankara, Turkey