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Professional and Technical Occupations

Research and development (R&D) are vital to the aircraft industry. Efforts are being made to devel­op vehicles with greater speed, range, and reliability. Engines with more power and new sources of propulsion such as nuclear and electric energy are being investigated and may be available in the future. Metals and plastics are continually being ex­plored for wider capabilities, as are electronic guidance and com­munication systems. The pace of discovery in aviation technology is do rapid that much equipment becomes obsolete while still in an experimental stage or soon after being put into production.

Emphasis on R&D makes the aircraft industry an important source of jobs for technical per­sonnel. Many employees are engineers, scientists, and tech­nicians, a considerably higher proportion than in most other manufacturing industries.

Engineers, scientists, and tech­nicians work together in develop­ing designs for aircraft. Before an engineering department can ap­prove a design for production, it must conduct tests to determine whether various design possibili­ties meet the conditions under which the vehicle will be operat­ing. A scale model is made from a preliminary design. It is tested in wind, temperature, and shock tunnels and in other testing areas that simulate actual flight condi­tions. The next step is to build a full-sized experimental model, or prototype, which is thoroughly tested in the air and on the ground. If the test results are sat­isfactory, production may begin. The design is modified many times during the course of devel­opment.

Many kinds of engineers and scientists work in the aircraft in­dustry. Electronic, electrical, aeronautical, chemical, nuclear, mechanical, and industrial engi­neers are among the larger en­gineering classifications. Scien­tists in the industry include phy­sicists, mathematicians, chem­ists and metallurgists. Aero­nautical engineers and scientists work in a wide and varied range of applied fields such as materials and structures, energy and power systems, and aviation sciences.

Among the many types of workers assisting scientists and engineers are technicians such as draftsmen, mathematics aides, and engineering and science technicians who do technical work that otherwise might have to be done by scientists and engi­neers. Engineers and scientists also work with other technical personnel such as production planners who plan the layout of machinery, movement of materi­als, and sequence of operations for efficient manufacturing pro­cesses, and technical illustrators who help prepare manuals and other technical literature describ­ing the best operation and main­tenance of aeronautical products.