Aerospace Engineering

E-Portfolio
Karson Billings
Salt Lake Community College

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Aerospace Engineering

Job Description
Aerospace Engineers or aeronautical Engineers as they are sometimes called, work to develop
and design air and spacecraft and their components. They can work on anything from
commercial airliners and cruise missiles to space shuttles and satellites. Depending on the focus
of their work they can be tasked with designing a new engine or fuselage or even designing the
production methods for a new engine. Whatever the task however the work remains relatively
similar. The main job is to design or invent new components for air and spacecraft. If a more
efficient engine is needed then that reasonability falls to an engineer. They are essentially the
people who take a concept and turn it into a reality. (Baine, 1998, P. 87)
An Aerospace engineer will spend most of his time getting a general outline of what he want
to design and then a lot of time crunching numbers and trying to find flaws in his own design.
CAD models are extensively used in in this field because it gives the Engineer the ability to
visualize his design and notice flaws or any kind of design changes he would like to make,
without having to spend the money on a physical version. Paper sketches are also used although
they are falling out of style in a more digital centric world.
Career Path
You need at the least a Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering or in Mechanical Engineering
with an emphasis on aerospace. Neither Utah State University nor University of Utah have a
Bachelors program for Aerospace Engineering but the University of Utah has a bachelors in
Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on Aerospace that meets the prerequisites for Utah
State Universities masters program for Aerospace engineering. That looks to be the path I will
end up taking. I will first have to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of
Utah then go through the masters program at Utah State University.

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General Education Experience

Aerospace Engineering requires at least a Bachelors degree. You need at the least a Bachelors
in Aerospace Engineering or in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on aerospace. A
knowledge of Chemistry, Physics and Calculus is needed for the job. A lot of math is used in
Engineering and strict knowledge of calculus, trigonometry, geometry and algebra is needed to
accomplish the work needed to design and troubleshoot his work. Classroom study, laboratory
time and field work are all usual in engineering degrees and are used to teach the fundamentals
of Aerospace engineering. Utah State University has good ties with both ATK and NASA and
has helped them work on certain projects in the past. This is used to help give students the real
world experience needed for the job. (Unversity, n.d.)
Average Salary
The median income of an Aerospace Engineer is $107,830 or $51.84 per hour. The average
starting salary was $67,850 or $32.62 per hour. The salary can range from $67,850 all the way to
$158,700 at the very top. Its a pretty high paying job because it requires a lot of education and is
a very competitive field. The works is extremely difficult and companies that hire Aerospace
Engineers are usually the more established companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Therefore you would most likely have to move close to these companies headquarters to get a
job. However if you can get a job its most likely going to pay well. (American Registry, 2016)
Outlook
The outlook for this field doesnt look great. The field is expected to shrink by 2.5% from
2014 to 2024. Thats about 1,600 jobs. The total workforce of Aerospace engineers in the United
States is about 72,000 people. However due to the nature of the job and the fact that air and

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spacecraft will always need to be improved upon, it is a relatively stable profession, one that will
provide employment for decades to come. (Aerospace engineers: Occupational outlook
handbook: U.S. Bureau of labor statistics, 2015) Although this would make this career more
competitive, it hasnt deterred me from wanting to pursue a career in engineering.
Interview of someone in the profession
The person I decided to interview was my dad, Richard. My dad attended Iowa State
University while in the Airforce. The Airforce put him through college and in exchange he would
become an officer after he graduated, which he did in 1987.
He originally wanted to be a petroleum engineer because a man in his neighborhood growing
up was one and my dad really admired him. He said he thought the career would be beneficial
because it paid well and seemed very stable and he didnt want to have to switch jobs frequently.
He eventually decided to be an Aerospace Engineer because it helped with his immediate work
and with the Airforce paying for it and offering perks to stay on as an officer after graduation he
figured it could help advance his life in the military.
He then went to work as an officer in the U.S. Airforce. He worked on the A-10. He stayed
with the Airforce till 1996 when he retired as an officer to work as a civilian. He went to work
for Boeing after that in Derby, Kansas. He designed landing gear for the commercial airliners. I
still remember he kept the landing boot to a 747 as a souvenir. However after working for Boeing
for four years he left to work for the Airforce again in 2000 as a civilian this time.
He then went to work at Hill Airforce Base for their A-10 Program where he currently works.
He Worked on Redesigning the inner structure of the A-10s fuselage and wings to allow the fleet
of planes to last into the 2030s. He worked on this for over ten years and said it was very
challenging. There were many reasons why this was so difficult. One the A-10 was a ground

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attack airplane. This meant that it has to be able to carry up to 16,000 pounds of ordinance
without the wings snapping. Also the A-10 was designed with two of everything. Two engines,
two fixed wings instead of delta wings. The reason for this is because the plane comes within
such a close proximity to ground forced it was essentially designed to fly with half a play in case
it gets shot. So it was hard to design around everything and add the new scaffolding to the plane.
However he said the most difficult thing in redesigning it was updating the tools they used to
design it.
The plane was introduced in 1984 and all the schematics for it were sketches and on paper.
This didnt work when you have to CAD model it and show someone 2000 miles away what you
did. So my dad had to petition for a long time to get the air force to allow him to update their
tools so they could digitize everything. But he finally got it pushed through and was able to
finish his work of redesigning the A-10.
My dad told me he never regretted going into Aerospace Engineering. He said hes never had
to look for a job and hes always had enough money to put food on the table. My dad told me he
thinks its a great idea to go into engineering and offered to help me too. He gave me advice like
maybe joining ROTC if I was interested. One thing he said is that its a versatile degree and that I
could find work outside of designing planes and that if I got a degree in aerospace engineering I
most likely would be able to find employment.
Pros and Cons
The pros to a career in aerospace engineering are pretty good. The pay if very high. Its one of
the highest paying engineering careers out there, in the top 5 best paying engineering jobs.
(Degrees, 2016) Another con is that there will always be a demand for Aerospace Engineers.
Were never going to stop improving aircraft or stop sending things into space. We will always

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need to improve and innovate what we have in order for us to do bigger and better things and
improve our own lives. Also its a very interesting field to go into. I would be able to work on
cutting edge technology and be on the forefront of innovation, testing out and developing the
newest stuff in space and air.
A great thing about aerospace engineering is its also versatile. Many of the skills used for a
career in this field also translate into many other thing.
There are many cons however too. For starters actually getting the degree takes time and is
very difficult. Actual aerospace companies are spread out and not all that common. One of the
biggest fears for me is how the field is projected to shrink in the next ten years, making my
chances of getting a job in an already very competitive field even smaller. The jobs at the really
prestigious employers like NASA are also slim picking. However I feel as though the pros far
outweigh the cons. (Allen, 2015)
Conclusion
Looking back at what I thought about this career in the beginning, its definitely more difficult
that what I thought. Also I thought that the field was growing but I was wrong. While that makes
this career all the more challenging and difficult, I still feel like this is the career for me and that
this is where I would fit in the most. I want to be one of the people designing engines for new
rockets and have my name on the list of people that took something into space.
I definitely feel as though I could do well as an Aerospace Engineer. I love physics,
Chemistry and math (not so much math) but I could learn to love it. All in all its a career I look
forward to being a part of and I cant wait to help design and improve to world of tomorrow.

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Sources
Source 1:
Baine, C. (1998). Is There an Engineer Inside You? Eugene, OR: Engineering Education
Service Center.
Source 2:
Aerospace engineers: Occupational outlook handbook: U.S. Bureau of labor statistics.
(2015, December 17). Retrieved November 29, 2016, from
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/aerospace-engineers.htm
Source 3:
Unversity, U. S. NASA selects USU engineering team for small rocket motor research.
Retrieved November 29, 2016, from https://engineering.usu.edu/news/nasa-grant
Source 4:
Made. (2016). Aerospace engineer. Retrieved November 29, 2016, from
https://www.sokanu.com/careers/aerospace-engineer/salary/
Source 5:
Recognition plaques, award plaque, countertop display, acrylic displays, banner printing.
(2016). Retrieved November 29, 2016, from
http://www.americanregistry.com/recognition/top-aerospaceengineering-companies/74368
Source 6:
Degrees, T. of E. (2016). The 6 highest paid engineering jobs. Retrieved November 29, 2016,
from http://typesofengineeringdegrees.org/highest-paid-engineeringjobs/#context/api/listings/prefilter

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Source 7:
Allen, B. (2015, April 1). Careers in aerospace technology. Retrieved November 29, 2016,
from https://www.nasa.gov, https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/FS-200109-68-LaRC.html