About Aerospace Engineering:
Aerospace Engineering is the most demanding and interesting career option across all streams of education. This course is ideally suited for students who are immensely interested in learning about missiles, satellites and aircrafts. Aerospace Engineering deals with the development of new technologies in the fields of space, aviation and defence systems. This branch of engineering involves design and manufacturing of hi-tech systems and thereby demands high levels of technical, manual and mechanical abilities. This discipline specializes in construction, development, designing, testing and maintenance of commercial and military spacecrafts, aircrafts, missiles and helicopters.
This field is pretty new and under-developed as of now in India, primarily because of the huge investments it needs during its nascent stages. Also it is to be mentioned that career in Aeronautical and Aerospace engineering is not that much easy as you may not start earning as good as your friends in software industry. Yet there are a lot of opportunities for professionals in this field as this sector works on skill wise payment methodology. Till now experienced workmen with the right attitudes are highly in demand and hence an engineering degree in Aerospace and Aeronautics will come in handy to set your foot on this not yet fully conquered territory.
Key industries for Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineers:
Job opportunities have sprung up in almost every sector in the recent years. In particular jobs are available for Aeronautical/ Aerospace engineers in:
- Airlines
- Air Force
- Defense Ministry
- Corporate Research Companies
- Aviation Companies
- Helicopter Companies
- NASA
- ISRO
Top Recruiters of Aerospace Industry:
Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineers are equally searched for in many public and private sector organisations. A few of the top recruiters here are:
- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
- Indian Space Research Organisation
- Defense Research and Development Organization
- Civil Aviation Department
- Air India
- Tata Advanced Systems
- Taneja Aerospace
- Mahindra Aerospace
- Pawan Hans Helicopters
- Samtel Avionics
- L&T
- General Electric
- Airbus
- Boeing
- National Aeronautical Lab
- Godrej & Boyce Aerospace
- Goodrich
- Aeronautical Development Establishment
- Indian Airlines
- Spice Jet
- CSIR
- Indian Air Force
- Indian Navy
- Taneja
- Merlin Hawk Aerospace
- Cassidian
Job description of Aeronautical Engineers:
A lot of companies hire aeronautical engineers to mainly carry out the following tasks:
a) Constructing the aircrafts
b) Supervising testing activities such as efficiency testing, flight testing etc
c) Carrying out design activities such as airframe design, engine design etc
d) Maintenance of aircrafts
e) Ensuring smooth functioning of aircrafts
f) Taking part in manufacturing process of aircrafts
g) Investigating airplane crashes, impact on environment etc
h) Acting as air traffic controllers or flight controllers
i) Researching for efficient ways to produce fuel-efficient parts and engines
j) Conducting ground-level flight testing
k) Collecting and analyzing test data
l) Estimating project timescales and total costs incurred.
Expected salary of an Aeronautical/ Aerospace Engineer:
Beginners in this field can earn high salaries, if they are skilled enough and willing to readily shift to the southern parts of India, where the aerospace industry is primarily located. The average salary of an Aerospace Engineer is 35, 000 INR to 40,000 INR per month. The maximum salary offered to an Aerospace Engineer who has graduated from IIT is INR 15 lakh per annum.
Courses Available in Aeronautical/ Aerospace Engineering:
An engineering aspirant with a strong interest in Aerospace branch of study can pursue the following courses available in the top most colleges of India. Here it is to be noted that for admission to a bachelor’s degree course, the candidate must have passed 12th Class in Science stream with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Cracking IIT JEE test is compulsory to get admissions in IITs. The various courses available in India in this industry are as follows:
- Aircraft Maintenance Engineering
- Bachelor of Engineering in Aeronautical Engineering
- Bachelor of Technology in Aeronautical Engineering
- Bachelor of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering
- Bachelor of Technology in Aerospace Engineering
Job Positions for Aeronautical/ Aerospace Engineers:
Depending upon the skill sets and the number of years of experience the Engineers can assume one of the following roles:
i) Consultants
ii) Thermal Design Engineers
iii) Aircraft Production Manager
iv) Assistant Technical Officers
v) Aerospace Design Checker
vi) Mechanical Design Engineers
vii) Aerospace Technologist
viii) Graduate Engineer Trainees
ix) Aircraft Design & Analysis Engineer
x) Aircraft Production Engineer
xi) Aerospace Modeling & Simulation Engineer
xii) Aerospace Maintenance Engineer
xiii) Researcher in Satellite & Space Application Development
Various Branches in Aircraft industry:
Aircraft typically have thousands of parts and most professionals don’t even identify all of them throughout their careers. So be careful in choosing your path as it will be your work stream for the rest of your life. Some of the departments typically involved are given below:
i) Aerodynamics
ii) Structural Design
iii) Environment Control
iv) Life Support
v) Safety
vi) Electrical and Avionics
vii) Hydraulics
viii) Fuel System
ix) Power plant
x) Flight Controls
Due to the heavy risks involved and the growing emphasis on quality and complex technicalities, in order to grow in this field it would require a minimum of 10 to 15 years of experience. Increasing familiarity about air travel and space exploration has brought in new demand for experts to design and maintain improvements. Looking at heightening growth rate, the demand for clever and innovative Aerospace Engineers is only going to increase in the near future. The challenges in this field are many and with increased government funding, the future of aerospace engineering in India is going to be bright for sure.
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