Mike Gockel

United States of America

 

1936-2024

Mike Gockel, Sikorsky and MSC Engineer

Michael Arthur Gockel was born on Nov. 6, 1936, in Cleveland, Ohio, and was the oldest of nine children of Frieda (Roll) and George Gockel. He initially attended Addison Junior High School in Cleveland, and won the 7th Grade Mental Arithmetic Contest. He was 14 when his family moved to Bainbridge, Ohio, where he attended Kenston High School. During his high school years, he read the book, “Pioneering the Helicopter,” by Sikorsky test pilot C.L. (Les) Morris. Gockel was captivated by the book and decided “[I’ve] got to fly one of those things.” Following his high school graduation, Gockel enlisted in the Army and served from 1954 to 1957. Gockel expected to go to helicopter pilot school but that ended when a medical exam found that he was color blind. Instead, he was sent to mechanics school. His earliest contact with vertical flight was as a crew chief for the Army’s Bell 47/H-13 Sioux.

Following his Army duty, Gockel started his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he earned a BS in mechanical engineering. Before leaving MIT, he participated in the MIT co-op program. He was hired as a junior engineer at Hamilton Standard Division of United Aircraft Company (later United Technologies Corporation, UTC, and today part of RTX), where he worked in the turbine engine fuel control group. While there, he became familiar with hydraulic analog computer techniques and fuel control calibration procedures.

Following his graduation from MIT, Gockel was hired by Sikorsky Aircraft as a dynamics engineer in the vibration attenuation group. He performed vibration tests on Sikorsky’s S-64 Skycrane and CH-53A heavy-lift assault transport helicopters.

In 1965, he was promoted to Fuselage Dynamics Group Leader where his activities included preparation of the fuselage dynamics section of Sikorsky’s proposal for the Army's Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) requirement (which was eventually won by the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne), programming of dynamic analysis for redundant structures, and vibration and stability analysis for full-scale isolated model tests in the NASA Ames Research Center wind tunnel.

Gockel participated in solving a variety of vibration and stability problems encountered in field service of turbine and reciprocating engine helicopters, including design and development of passive and active vibration absorbers, engine vibration isolation and attenuation, super-critical drive shaft development, and component vibration isolation through active and passive devices. Through independent research, he devised a solution to the vibration problem with President Kennedy’s desk on the presidential helicopter.

While at Sikorsky, Gockel also earned a Master of Mechanical Engineering degree from Yale University and took advanced classes at Columbia University.

In 1966, Gockel moved his family to Los Angeles, where he was employed in the rotary-wing division of Lockheed-California in Van Nuys, California. At Lockheed, he performed analysis with NASTRAN (originally coined from NASA Structural Analysis) and Lockheed’s Flutter and Matrix Algebra System (FAMAS) on the Cheyenne gunship helicopter. He supervised ground vibration tests used to verify analysis results. He was the task leader on the development of two interactive graphics application programs for dynamic analysis. He also applied Floquet theory to rotary-wing instabilities.

In 1972, Gockel moved from his technical specialty into an organization within Lockheed that had the responsibility for integrating the efforts of many technical experts. While at Lockheed, Gockel won top honors in the VFS (then the American Helicopter Society) 1970–71 Regional Paper Competition for his submission to the Western Region: “Practical Solutions of Linear Equations with Periodic Coefficients.” His paper was printed in the January 1972 issue of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society.

It was also during his time at Lockheed that Gockel did the coursework for an MBA at Pepperdine University and began his research project.

Gockel moved to the MacNeal Schwedler Corporation (MSC) in 1973 — later MSC Software Corporation and now part of Swedish technology company Hexagon AB — which had developed NASTRAN and just released a commercial version of it, called MSC/Nastran. By 1975, Gockel was an MSC consultant to other companies as an expert in mathematical modeling of rotating machinery, and in applying modern methods of testing to rotating machinery.

Among other projects, Gockel generated MSC/Nastran models of OH-6 and AH-64 helicopters. He performed all dynamic analysis of the AH-64 helicopter through the design stage, including the first super-element dynamic analysis of an airframe structure.

In 1983, Gockel became vice president of technical operations. He was responsible for all activities relating to the development and maintenance of MSC/NASTRAN.

He retired in 1990 but continued to work for MSC and other companies as a consultant for several more years.

Gockel was the founder of the company newsletter MSCese, and wrote a number of tributes to the early founders and contributors to NASTRAN. In 2010, he organized NastranFest in Burbank, California, in 2010, bringing together current and former employees.

Michael Arthur Gockel passed away on Nov. 7, 2024, in Los Angeles, California, the day after his 88th birthday. After he passed away, a second NastranFest was organized in January 2025 in memory of Gockel.

Society Updates: In Memoriam, Vertiflite, July/August 2025