Chair holder
Since March 1, 2019, Professor Christoph Keßler has held the new chair for helicopter technology at the Faculty of Transport Sciences "Friedrich List". This chair was agreed between the Technische Universität Dresden and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). From 2007 to 2019, Professor Keßler was Head of the Helicopter Department at DLR's Institute of Flight Systems. Since 2019, he has been Vice Director of the institute. In this role, he is still responsible for the institute's helicopter research. The institute is located at DLR site at the research airport in Braunschweig. Professor Keßler is a member of the board of the Lower Saxony Aviation Research Centre and a member of the Vertical Flight Society. Within the Vertical Flight Society, he is also a member of the Dynamics Committee. At DLR, he managed the guiding concept No. 4 "Future Rescue Helicopter" from its early beginning until 2020. This guiding concept focuses DLR's civil program-oriented rotorcraft research across institute boundaries on a product of a new rescue helicopter. There is a close coordination with ADAC Air Rescue gGmbH for this concept.
The DLR Helicopter Department is the largest department in Europe for research on helicopters and rotary-wing aircraft in general with a staff of more than 50.
Teaching tasks
Prof. Keßler gives two lectures, each with two semester hours per week. One of these lectures is a basic lecture, the second a specialization lecture.
- Helicopter Technology: Basics
- Helicopter Technology: Dynamics and Flight Mechanics
International Awards
- Hafner VTOL Prize 1998 of the Royal Aeronautical Society, UK
- Best Paper Award on Test and Evaluation 2003 of the American Helicopter Society, USA
- The 2003 Gruppo Agusta International Helicopter Fellowship Award of the American Helicopter Society, USA
- Group Achievement Award 2003 of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
- Best Paper Award October 2009 of the Aerospace Control and Guidance Systems Committee Meeting (ACGSC), USA
- Best Paper Award on Test and Evaluation 2016 of the American Helicopter Society, USA
- Best Paper Award 2016 of the Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (EREA), Europe