In the fall of 2012 the world watched as Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian
daredevil, plunged from the edge of space and skydived to Earth. Starting
at nearly 40 km above the Earth's surface, it was the highest-ever skydive.
It was also the first time a human had broken the sound barrier outside of
an aircraft or vehicle.
Scores of aerospace engineers made Baumgartner's amazing feat possible.
One of them was Shane Jacobs, with the David Clark Company. He led a team
of aerospace engineers that worked on designing the special suit Baumgartner
wore during his historic leap.
"The uniqueness about it was having to design a suit that you can skydive
in, because that's not something that normally you'd do," says Jacobs. "We
have been lucky the past few years [to] have been working on projects for
NASA and the U.S. Air Force that have had all sorts of really unique requirements
that required us to come up with all sorts of new, novel and different designs."
Like many aerospace engineers, Jacobs is involved in creating the technology
that helps put humankind and machines into space. Aerospace engineers are
also involved in the analysis, design and operation of aircraft and equipment
within the Earth's atmosphere. For this reason, the terms aerospace and aeronautics
are often interchangeable.
Aerospace engineers develop new technologies for use in commercial aviation,
defense systems and space exploration. They often specialize in structural
design, guidance, navigation and control, instrumentation and communication,
or production methods.
They may also specialize in a particular type of aerospace product, such
as commercial transports, helicopters, spacecraft or rockets.
Aerospace engineers may be experts in aerodynamics, propulsion, thermodynamics,
structures, celestial mechanics, acoustics or guidance and control systems.
Companies often combine teams of engineers from other disciplines whose expertise
can best match a given project.
"It's nice that most of the people you deal with are smart, hard driving,
passionate people that are passionate about space and they really want to
advance the field," says Jacobs. "You do kind of have to have that desire
and that passion to get into the field, and it definitely does take a lot
of hard work."
Most aerospace engineers work a standard 40-hour week. Deadlines and design
standards may bring extra pressure to a job. When this happens, engineers
may work long hours and experience considerable stress.
Since the aerospace industry is subject to intense international competition,
engineers need to continuously update their skills. To be successful, they
must be motivated, highly skilled professionals.
"I would suggest anyone interested in the aerospace industry to definitely
gain some experience during college through co-ops or internships," says Wendy
Toelle. She's a recruiter for UTC Aerospace Systems through Kenexa. "When
hiring candidates right out of college, hiring managers want to see they have
taken the initiative to gain some experience."