Johannes Stephan has a diploma degree in aerospace engineering (Dipl.-Ing.) and a bachelor's degree in business administration (B.Sc.), both from the University of Stuttgart. From 2014 to 2019, he held a research assistant position at the Institute of Flight Mechanics and Flight Control, working under Prof. W. Fichter, where he continues to share his knowledge as a lecturer. In 2020, he was awarded a Ph.D. for his research on Flight Control for Manned Multirotor Aircraft. Since 2019 he has been working at German aircraft manufacturer Volocopter GmbH, currently as a team leader for flight control systems and flight control laws. Since joining Volocopter, Johannes has played a key role in the development of cutting-edge flight control systems and particularly the control laws for various Volocopter projects and models. He holds multiple patents in the eVTOL domain with a focus on control concepts and architecture, human-machine interface, and features for enhanced handling qualities.
He has published several papers and contributions to proceedings on flight control and guidance for fixed-wing aircraft and multicopters (unmanned/manned) covering various techniques such as parameter-variant control, control allocation, and anti-windup methods.