Those days are gone when the only profession that we would know about was about a limited branches of engineering or medical. There are many more subjects today than you can imagine. If you have interest in any particular field you can easily find any subject that can help you build a defined career. Today we are going to discuss one such subject in our student career guidance series. The subject of discussion is Aeronautical Engineering.

Aeronautical Engineering is also called aerospace engineering. It is one of the streams of engineering studies. It is now taught in almost all engineering colleges all over the world as it has become such a popular subject and many students are showing interest in the same. It is the study of design, construction, and the technicalities that are needed to operate an aeroplane. It also involves the study of space ships.

It uses computer technology and space design as subjects to study the aerospace technology better. It also studies how these space crafts can be tested. Even missiles are a part of aeronautical Engineering. Aerodynamics and science of propulsion is also an integral part of this subject.

In case you find this subject of interest and you want to join the course you must know that you should take up physics, chemistry and maths as subject in your 10+2 class. This will enable you to persue a degree on diploma program in Aeronautical Engineering. In case you don’t get through this course then you can join the course called ASI (Aeronautical Society of India). They conduct an associate membership exam every six months. Passing this exam is as good as getting a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Once you are through with it you can apply for a job anywhere that you want to and most probably you will get hired.

There are plenty of jobs in the market that are related to the Aeronautical Engineering. There are jobs in both private and public sector. Jobs range from aircraft companies, air lines, army, even in research and development. You name it and you have an application of this education in that sector. In a private sector the starting salary for a fresher is about twenty to twenty five thousand a month. In the public sector this can be anything from twenty five to thirty thousand. The scope for growth is also quite good. As there is high demand for the job and there are very few people who are well trained in the same job and have specialised knowledge on the subject. The salaries increase with years of experience. There are promotions that are possible every year. This improves the possibility of good career options for all. I hope this has answered all your queries about Aeronautical Engineering. As a subject and profession Aeronautical Engineering is definitely a good choice if you have aptitude for the same.

The skills that are required to become an Aeronautical Engineer are enclosed in here. You must have manual, technical and mechanical skills that are needed in order to complete this training. You must have a good technical mind that can understand the operations of machines. A mathematical mind for complex calculations, you must have an eye for detail, physical fitness, you should be ready to do team work as these jobs in aeronautical engineering require a lot of team work. It is a on the job learning experience that you grow with every day. This is exactly why to do this job well you must have a great passion for knowledge. The level of precision that you need in this job is so high that you don’t have any scope for errors. A single error can be very fatal in this profession. If you have all these qualities in you then you can definitely try for this profession.

We will now discuss a little more in details about the various activities that you can do as an Aeronautical Engineer. These are research, design, development, testing, maintenance and even manufacture. The scope of operation is huge in this field. Some Aeronautical Engineers also specialize in propulsion, aerodynamics, materials, structures and computational fluid dynamics, the list is a long and exhaustive one. You can work on the structural designs and become a structural designer. You can also gain expertise in navigational guidance and control system and specialise in war plane and space missile, etc. These will sound interesting to a hard core technical guy. However, if you are interested in computers then you can definitely find another scope of interest in the field of aeronautical engineering it is called CAD (computer aided design). This is software that will help in research and development as well as in designing. You can make new designs of wings, engines and any other part of the plane or space craft. This will improve the efficiency of the devise and thereby make them more suitable to the purpose that they are meant for. This is the job of a designer to come up with better parts for these vessels.

Aircraft maintenance is a very challenging job and this too is a part of Aeronautical Engineering. If you are not a technical person but have a passion for flying then you can try aircraft maintenance as a field. It is a managerial job. These people are assigned the job to maintain the plane. There is another very important field in aeronautical engineering that is air accident investigation. When you do this course you can join the air accident investigation bureau. This body is responsible for finding out the reasons and causes of air mishaps and accidents.  This helps the aviation companies to ensure that how these accidents can be avoided and minimised. Lot of analytical thinking and immense reasoning ability are required to understand the causes for air accidents. This is a very popular job that aeronautical engineers look forward to. The profile is interesting as well as challenging and the career option in this are also many.

So far we have covered all about what exactly Aeronautical Engineering is, how one can do it, the eligibility for it and also the career prospects. I hope we have given all the answers to the queries that you might have regarding Aeronautical Engineering. This is complete and comprehensive student career guidance on the subject of aeronautical engineering. If you feel that you have the passion for this subject and you can prove yourself in this field then you must definitely give it a try. There are many online aptitude tests that are available on the subject. You can also meet a career counsellor and try understanding your aptitude better so that you can take a better decision.