National
| Median wages (2008) |
$44.48 hourly, $92,520 annual |
| Employment (2006) |
90,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2006-2016) |
Average (7% to 13%)
|
| Projected need (2006-2016) |
27,000 additional employees |
17-2011.00 - Aerospace Engineers
Perform a variety of engineering work 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.
Sample of reported job titles:
Aerospace Engineer, Flight Test Engineer, Design Engineer, Systems Engineer, Structures Engineer, Test Engineer, Aeronautical Engineer, Aerospace Stress Engineer, Avionics Engineer, Flight Systems Test Engineer
Tasks
- Direct and coordinate activities of engineering or technical personnel designing, fabricating, modifying, or testing of aircraft or aerospace products.
- Formulate conceptual design of aeronautical or aerospace products or systems to meet customer requirements.
- Plan and coordinate activities concerned with investigating and resolving customers' reports of technical problems with aircraft or aerospace vehicles.
- Plan and conduct experimental, environmental, operational and stress tests on models and prototypes of aircraft and aerospace systems and equipment.
- Analyze project requests and proposals and engineering data to determine feasibility, productibility, cost, and production time of aerospace or aeronautical product.
- Evaluate product data and design from inspections and reports for conformance to engineering principles, customer requirements, and quality standards.
- Maintain records of performance reports for future reference.
- Develop design criteria for aeronautical or aerospace products or systems, including testing methods, production costs, quality standards, and completion dates.
- Write technical reports and other documentation such as handbooks and bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, and customers.
- Review performance reports and documentation from customers and field engineers, and inspect malfunctioning or damaged products to determine problem.
back to top
Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
| Flowmeters — Flow meters; Laser Doppler velocimeters LDV; Laser velocimeters |
| Lasers — Argon-ion lasers |
| Milling cutters — Computer numerical controlled CNC milling machines; Multi-axis mills |
| Signal generators — Power microwave generators |
| Vibration testers — Axial flow research fans; Vibration isolation tables |
Technology used in this occupation:
| Analytical or scientific software — The Mathworks MATLAB; Thermal Synthesizer System TSS; Universal Technical Systems TK Solver; Wolfram Research Mathematica |
| Computer aided design CAD software — Autodesk AutoCAD software; Mathsoft Mathcad; Thermal design software; Xilinx TMRTool |
| Computer aided manufacturing CAM software — Dassault Systemes CATIA software; PTC Pro/ENGINEER software |
| Development environment software — C; Digital Equipment Corporation DIGITAL Fortran 90; Microsoft Visual Basic; Verilog |
| Object or component oriented development software — Microsoft Visual C++; Practical extraction and reporting language Perl; Sun Microsystems Java |
