Study Aerospace Eng. while building hours?

[Captain Bradley]

Hi Guys,

I would like to ask what is your opinion about getting a degree in Aerospace Engineering in parallel to building hours and gaining another licences and ratings.

Though I already have one M.Sc diploma (and I am 26), I came up with an idea of starting Aerospace as great addition to my flying background. I think this could improve my CV and open some more employment opportunities while waiting for a dream, airline job.. What is more, I think every pilot that knows technical sides of his aircraft is much more valuable. But that is just my opinion.

What do you think? Is it worth to go for it?

Cheers!

[portsharbourflyer]

It will take you three years to gain a BEng hons studying full time.

This will also be quite expensive. Further on the whole it doesn't really help that much in getting flying work. Paying 27k in tuition fees, well you would aid your flying career better by spending 27k on a type rating or multi time.

Study aerospace engineering if you want to be an Aerospace Engineer, but if you study it thinking it is going to help you gain flying employment then think again.

A aero degree will be mainly mathematics / analysis based rather than learning specific aircraft systems, so the ground school for a modern type rating doesn't go into sufficient depth to truly understand the aircraft systems anyway. If you have a technical education and wish to understand the technical side of the aircraft you are flying then you can source more detailed technical from other sources with out needing to study an entire degree.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I agree.

AeroEng MEng - 4 years, probably £60k including living costs.

AeroEng MSc - 1 year, probably £25k including living costs.

That's a lot of flying!


Do aero-eng if you want to be an aeronautical engineer or allied trade (test pilot, military officer...), or if you have a deep fascination for the subject. But, it won't help you much for pure piloting careers.

[Captain Bradley]

Thank you for your answers.

I did not mention that where I live studies (full time) are for free. Unfortunately, I do not have that much time so I initially chose extramural type. This basically means that I would have classes only during the weekends - exactly Friday evenings, whole Saturdays and Sundays. This kind of course is prepared for working people and of course costs something.. but much less than you wrote. Full Bachelor program lasts for 7 semesters (3,5 years), each one costs around €500 - so in total that would be €3500. As you can see money is not an issue here, rather time..

[Genghis the Engineer]

That changes things - but it's still a massive investment of time as you say.

I'd think 50 hours per nominal week x 40 weeks x 3 years for a BEng or equivalent. Apart from anything else, to keep going through all of that, you need a real passion for the subject (and maths!).

So, basically, are you interested enough to keep going through 6000 hours of study? Ultimately nobody can answer that but you.

[Captain Bradley]

Thank you Genghis.

I have the real passion for this area of engineering as well as to flying. As you wrote before, test pilot position combines both skills. This seems to be very attractive profession, though I have minimal knowledge about the requirements and current market situation.

Is it as terrible as in normal, commercial flying? Would my licences and ratings + another, (at least I guess) Bachelor degree related to Mechanical / Aeronautical / Aerospace Engineering be sufficient to start looking for this kind of job? I surely would spend another 3 years for studying these topics if only this opportunity would be real.

I did a quick research and found a few Test Pilot Schools around the world (for example "Empire" in UK). This looks amazing but must be way more expensive than any integrated course. Do you have any more information about it?


Thank you.

[Genghis the Engineer]

The only place you have even the faintest chance of self-financing into is NTPS in Mojave - which is to say that you only need a major corporation behind you, rather than a major government for ETPS., NTPS do take a tiny number of graduate "minimum wage" interns who usually do 3 years there and whilst there do the MSc in Flight Test Engineering, which is worth a heck of a lot and a fantastic way into the community.

I started with a PPL and a BEng, and have migrated without ever being unemployed to CPL, PhD and a succession of rather fun jobs, mostly fairly well paid, as well as seeing a pretty large proportion of the planet at other peoples' expense, and clocking up a little over a hundred types, most of those in flight testing. Not much of that time however was ever dong a mainstream industry job - probably 6 years of the last 21 have been spent in anything that you'd ever find listed in a career guide.


There's not a hope in Hades of getting a full time test pilot job with *just* a CPL and a BEng. There is a small chance of getting a job as an FTE; once there you can make your own career. There are Test Pilots who started as the junior assistant-to-an-assistant FTE somewhere: and eventually ended up in the left hand seat.

So - in my opinion, there are some fantastic jobs to be applied for by people with a good selection of engineering degrees and pilots licences - and Test Pilot is one of those, but right at the top of the ladder. But, none of these jobs are mainstream or easy to get.