Fly High in Sky

The first mention of aeronautics was in the writing of ancient Egyptians who described the flight of birds. Ever since, the fascination to conquer the sky has driven the growth of aeronautical engineering. A combination of Greek words aer and nautike meaning sky and sail, this branch of engineering deals with the design, manufacture, fabrication and maintenance of flying vehicles such as airplanes, helicopters and missiles.

One of the most challenging fields of engineering, this job requires manual, technical as well as mechanical aptitude. Aeronautical engineering has a wide scope of growth with technological developments in aviation. An engineer in this field can further specialise in structural design, navigational guidance and control systems, instrumentation and communication and production methods. One can also specialise in a particular product such as military aircrafts and helicopters.

Discussing job opportunities, Sriram, professor and head, department of aerospace engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, adds, "There are two major segments for employment, the traditional government sector and the newer private sector. The traditional sector would include agencies such as Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as well as organisations like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In the private sector, we have multinational corporations. Of late, software companies are taking engineering analysis projects from the likes of Boeing and Airbus and they are then hiring aeronautical engineering graduates. There are a small number of openings in the maintenance segment also, which would require separate training."

This field is not alien to the Indian education system and is very popular amongst the students. In Tamil Nadu, there are about 5,000 seats for this specialisation. It was introduced in the IITs in the mid sixties and has been on the rise ever since. Internationally, countries pioneering in aeronautical engineering education and research are Germany, France and Russia.

Aeronautical engineers usually work in teams, bringing together a vast range of skills and technical expertise. Aeronautical engineers need to be physically fit and fully dedicated to their work as this is a very demanding field. A high level of mathematical precision is vital and as Sriram explains, "Aeronautical engineering requires strong background in mathematics and physics. It involves a fair amount of modelling and analysis using abstract mathematical tools, so amath aptitude is essential. A starting salary is in the mid range between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh per annum."