What does an Aeronautical Engineer do? Find out in our detailed job description, covering responsibilities, skills, and the path to becoming an aerospace expert.
An aeronautical engineer is responsible for designing, developing and testing airplanes, space vehicles, missiles and related component systems. He applies engineering principles and techniques in the design process and builds commercial, military, executive or special purpose aircraft, and also satellites and related hardware systems.
Duties and Responsibilities
- An aeronautical engineer has to test models and prototypes of the plane or spacecraft in order to analyze and evaluate operational characteristics
- He studies and tests the effects of stress deliberately imposed on the aircraft during actual or simulated flight conditions
- An aeronautical engineer may specialize in design and development of structural components of the craft, like the wings, fuselage, landing gear or operational control systems
- He may have to deal with different analytical programmers concerned with ground or flight testing
- He is involved in the development of acoustic, thermodynamic or propulsion systems
- He has to assist in different processes right from planning the technical phases of air transportation systems to aspects like flight operations, maintenance or logistics matters
- He must investigate aircraft accidents and suggest precautionary measures
- He must interpret data and present the results of specific projects
- He must keep records of various data of a project
- He must work with different teams, suppliers, clients and managers to decide upon the budget, timescale etc
Skills and Specifications
- In order to be an aeronautical engineer one must have strong analytical skills
- He should be organised and calm under pressure
- He should have knowledge of the latest developments in the aviation sector and the new software related to this field
- He should be a team player and motivate others
Education and Qualifications
An aeronautical engineer must have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. He can go for course like physics, chemistry, math and statistics at the pre-graduation level.