Engineer our Future
This century will continue to see revolutionary changes to aircraft design – from environmentally-friendly aeroplanes to space tourism vehicles, there are many challenges ahead for blue-sky thinkers! Aeronautical, or aerospace, engineers design and develop products such as airliners, helicopters, fighter jets, satellites and space vehicles engineers. They also work on components that make up aircraft such as landing gear, engines and electrical/electronic systems also require highly specialised skills.
Specialist areas include:
· Aerodynamics
· Propulsion
· Manufacturing
· Materials and Structures
· Avionics
· Systems Integration
· Management & Business
Aerospace engineering may also offer some of the best hands-on jobs in the world! Working for aerospace manufacturers you can become highly skilled in building the airframes or other components which make up the aircraft such as the landing gear, engines or avionics systems. In the UK alone, all the wings for Airbus aircraft are produced in North Wales, landing gear for Airbus and the new Boeing 787 are made by Messier-Dowty, and Rolls-Royce in engine design.
Aircraft maintenance is another exciting alternative – aircraft engineers can travel the world maintaining, inspecting and servicing aircraft to high international safety standards. Specialising in either mechanics (engines, airframes) or avionics (instrumentation, electrical/electronic equipment), aircraft engineers work for airlines, maintenance divisions of aerospace manufacturers or specialist aircraft maintenance companies.
In this section, we give you more detail on some of the key career areas and how to get there.
Interested in Aircraft Maintenance? Click here for more information.
