I have been an “Aviation Consultant” since 1968 and I have often asked myself the same question. I have had several answers to my queries ranging from “A consultant is anyone with a briefcase and is more than twenty five miles from home”. I have also heard that a consultant is an expert in his own field, which leads to another question, “What is an expert?” The answer to that is an expert is someone that knows how many sticks of dynamite © to stuff up a bulls butt in order to blow his horns off without getting the bulls’ eyes bloodshot.
I have worked in this capacity in most of the worlds major aviation firms to include companies that build ships and on a government manned space station as well as communication satellites. The type of work I do (Product integrity) is mainly performed early on in the contract but in almost every case I was brought in after the design had been frozen which severely limited my effectiveness. If I came in early in the design the engineers would reject my input as being too costly or because it was (NIH) not invented here.
I have seen many contracts and designs come to fruition riddled with problems that would manifest themselves after the design entered service. Very few firms really do what the consultant suggests.
I have been doing this work for over 35 years and I keep telling myself never again. However if I look at it realistically and I want to keep working I have to keep on keeping on. My next job is on the A-380.
