How to become Aerospace Engineer in 2024

Aerospace Engineer Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture. May recommend improvements in testing equipment and techniques.

Aerospace Engineer is Also Know as

In different settings, Aerospace Engineer is titled as

  • Aeronautical Engineer
  • Aerospace Engineer
  • Aerospace Stress Engineer
  • Avionics Engineer
  • Design Engineer
  • Flight Controls Engineer
  • Flight Test Engineer
  • Structural Analysis Engineer
  • Systems Engineer
  • Test Engineer

Education and Training of Aerospace Engineer

Aerospace Engineer is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Aerospace Engineer

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Aerospace Engineer

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Aerospace Engineer

Training Required for Aerospace Engineer

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Aerospace Engineer in different industries are

What Do Aerospace Engineer do?

  • Direct or coordinate activities of engineering or technical personnel involved in designing, fabricating, modifying, or testing of aircraft or aerospace products.
  • Plan or conduct experimental, environmental, operational, or stress tests on models or prototypes of aircraft or aerospace systems or equipment.
  • Formulate mathematical models or other methods of computer analysis to develop, evaluate, or modify design, according to customer engineering requirements.
  • Write technical reports or other documentation, such as handbooks or bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, or customers.
  • Analyze project requests, proposals, or engineering data to determine feasibility, productibility, cost, or production time of aerospace or aeronautical products.
  • Evaluate and approve selection of vendors by studying past performance or new advertisements.
  • Plan or coordinate investigation and resolution of customers' reports of technical problems with aircraft or aerospace vehicles.
  • Maintain records of performance reports for future reference.
  • Design new or modify existing aerospace systems to reduce polluting emissions, such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, or smoke emissions.
  • Design or engineer filtration systems that reduce harmful emissions.
  • Evaluate biofuel performance specifications to determine feasibility for aerospace applications.
  • Research new materials to determine quality or conformance to environmental standards.
  • Review aerospace engineering designs to determine how to reduce negative environmental impacts.
  • Formulate conceptual design of aeronautical or aerospace products or systems to meet customer requirements or conform to environmental regulations.
  • Evaluate product data or design from inspections or reports for conformance to engineering principles, customer requirements, environmental regulations, or quality standards.
  • Develop design criteria for aeronautical or aerospace products or systems, including testing methods, production costs, quality standards, environmental standards, or completion dates.
  • Diagnose performance problems by reviewing reports or documentation from customers or field engineers or by inspecting malfunctioning or damaged products.
  • Direct aerospace research and development programs.

Qualities of Good Aerospace Engineer

  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.

Tools Used by Aerospace Engineer

  • Acoustic emissions systems
  • Anechoic chambers
  • Argon-ion lasers
  • Atomic force microscopes
  • Axial flow compressor facilities
  • Axial flow research fans
  • Axial flow turbines
  • Centerless grinders
  • Cluster computers
  • Computer numerical controlled CNC milling machines
  • Digital oscilloscopes
  • Digital pressure gauges
  • Digital voltmeters DVM
  • Electronic flight instrument systems EFIS
  • Electronic pressure scanners
  • Fatigue testing machines
  • Fiber optic interferometers
  • Flight management systems FMS
  • Flight simulators
  • Flow meters
  • Force transducers
  • Impact guns
  • Impinging jet apparatus
  • Laboratory centrifugal pumps
  • Laser Doppler velocimeters LDV
  • Laser velocimeters
  • Lasers
  • Lathes
  • Load frames
  • Mainframe computers
  • Multi-axis mills
  • Parallel computers
  • Personal computers
  • Plotters
  • Power microwave generators
  • Profilometers
  • Propellant combustion chambers
  • Push/pull dynamometers
  • Reflection polariscopes
  • Signal generators
  • Spectrometers
  • Strain gauge balances
  • Surface grinding machines
  • Terminal computers
  • Ultrasonic inspection equipment
  • UNIX work stations
  • Vacuum facilities
  • Vibration isolation tables
  • Viscometers
  • Wave analyzers
  • Welders

Technology Skills required for Aerospace Engineer

  • 1CadCam Unigraphics
  • Ada
  • Alstom ESARAD
  • Alstom ESATAN
  • Altera Quartus II
  • Analytical Graphics STK Expert Edition
  • ANSYS simulation software
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • C
  • C#
  • C++
  • Collier Research HyperSizer
  • Computational fluid dynamics CFD software
  • Computer aided design and drafting CADD software
  • Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
  • Computer-aided engineering CAE software
  • Cullimore & Ring Technologies SINDA/FLUINT
  • Cullimore & Ring Technologies Thermal Desktop
  • Dassault Systemes Abaqus
  • Dassault Systemes CATIA
  • Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
  • Data acquisition systems
  • Digital Equipment Corporation DIGITAL Fortran 90
  • ESI Group AutoSEA2
  • Extensible markup language XML
  • Fatigue analysis software
  • Finite element analysis FEA software
  • Finite element method FEM software
  • Flexible dynamics modeling software
  • Formula translation/translator FORTRAN
  • Grid generation software
  • Harvard Thermal TAS
  • Hewlett-Packard HP OpenVMS
  • IBM Rational ClearCase
  • IBM Rational ClearQuest
  • IBM Rational DOORS
  • IBM Rational RequisitePro
  • Image processing systems
  • K&K Associates Thermal Analysis Kit TAK
  • Linux
  • Maplesoft Maple
  • Mathsoft Mathcad
  • MathWorks Simulink
  • MAYA Nastran
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Project
  • Microsoft Visio
  • Microsoft Visual Basic
  • Microsoft Visual Studio
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • MSC Software Fatigue
  • MSC Software Nastran
  • MSC Software Patran
  • National Instruments LabVIEW
  • Network Analysis SINDA-G
  • Oracle Java
  • Perl
  • Phoenix Integration ModelCenter
  • PTC Creo Parametric
  • PTC Pro/INTRALINK
  • Python
  • SAP software
  • Shell script
  • Southwest Research Institute NASGRO
  • Stress analysis software
  • Structure query language SQL
  • Sun Microsystems Java
  • TEAM Engineering FEMAP
  • Tecplot Focus
  • The MathWorks MATLAB
  • Thermal analysis software
  • Thermal design software
  • Thermal Radiation Analysis System TRASYS
  • Thermal Synthesizer System TSS
  • UGS Solid Edge
  • Universal Technical Systems TK Solver
  • UNIX
  • Verilog
  • Wolfram Research Mathematica
  • Xilinx TMRTool