Cubdriver

Very Good. Saying things like that, IF you can get through an engineering curriculum somewhere and get an AE/ EE/ ME degree, you will be a qualified candidate and a good fit for flight test engineering.

If you are worried about being marketable for jobs, any of the above will open doors for you. The least multi-use or multi-purpose of the three is AE, but as an engineering specialty it is not seen as inferior to the other two, superior actually, and if you go applying to non-aircraft manufacturing jobs with an AE degree you are going to have a bit of explaining to do. You can say something like my wife's family is based here to avoid the interview quandary, but the money is no better in EE or ME than it is in AE, and the aircraft industry. Other industries are somewhat more stable and offer more positions than the aircraft industry does, so if airplanes are not that significant you may want to skip it. It sounds like you prefer airplanes though, and with your background there is a definite advantage to sticking with it. I would say get the AE degree, or the EE and expect to make avionics systems.

Flight test engineering pays well, can pay very well, I was able to push 6 figures last year not doing overtime. I have pals who were "overtime suckers" who wanted to make as much as possible, in it for the money so to speak, several said and I believe they made $175k a year, they would have you believe they were going to hit a quarter million per annum in the future doing that. One is an EE putting the G3000 into a new airplane. He liked his job enough to do it 6 days a week.

There's good money in airplanes- especially Boeing, Airbus, and government work. I worked for three jet makers over the last few years and was hired and turned down a 2 year Boeing contract that paid quite well. I am a bit of a weird guy, money does not light my fire, I am more about the life experience than the dollar cost of it. Country boy, as they say. Who wants a Porsche when you can go twice that fast in an airplane owned by some company? But if you like money, new Porches, want to have your kids in medical school, the flight test industry will pay for it. If you need more money even than that (>$300k), I suggest going into finance instead of engineering.

pimashahs

Cubdriver, you been very helpful. Thank you so much. Ill stick with engineering lol. I'm not a big finance person. I think engineering will keep me thinking for the rest of my life in a positive way.... I just cannot support my future family making 20k a year or even 40k a year as just a pilot and I refuse to do it with a bad QOL. I'm still quite young only 25 and I'm dedicated to getting EE done. Thank You again.

mozak

Excellent choice on the degree! Definitely pursue it. I graduated college with EE and 1500 hrs with CFI, CFII, and two type ratings. The flight test field is NOT hard to get into so don't let people make you think it's so challenging. There are people fresh out of college with no pilot's experience that get FTE jobs, it's not a big deal. If anything you are overqualified and you WILL get calls if you apply to different manufacturers.

There is one kicker though, which I am sure you are familiar with, and that is simply the aircraft industry. I love aviation, but I chose not to study AE (although it is ideal for a test pilot position) because I didn't want my life to depend on the aircraft industry. If one aircraft manufacturer is laying off, chances are all them will too. EE (or even CSE nowadays, but coding is too boring for me) gives you a lot of flexibility. If an aircraft manufacturer lays you off, you can just look for a job nearly anywhere else (power distribution, RF, optics, etc.). You may not be the happiest elsewhere, but at least it provides decent income and food on the table.

I will be honest though, some AEs in the industry look down on other engineering disciplines (such as EE or CSE) because it doesn't exactly line up with what they perceive their line of work to be. What you will find out however is that a degree like EE is actually ideally suited for flight test today. Simply put, the biggest problems we face regarding testing, evaluation, debugging, etc is avionics, and that is where the field is growing. A lot of the "black magic" in aerospace engineering has largely been unveiled. Not to say that AE is unmarketable, but it will be a while (probably when commercial spaceflight starts becoming more commonplace) before it truly becomes an "emerging" field again. What I tell a lot of people is to just look at a Cessna 182 from 1978 and one from 2012. Airfoil is the same, airframe is largely the same (bigger engine but that's pretty much it)....what's different is the cockpit.

I've probably repeated a lot that has been already said, but hope you can take something from this and best of luck.

pimashahs

Mozak, you didn't repeat anything, i need feedback from people in the industry so thank you. It's helping me on how I can plan on getting into the aircraft industry. I been looking for a lot of internships at companies like Cessna, Lockheed Martin, Cirrus, etc. I just dont know if I should focus more on companies like Cessna, Cirrus, piper or bigger manufacturers like Boeing or Lockheed?

Cubdriver

Your school will have a placement department that will know where the interns are going most often. I recall there being an intern or two at all of the flight test departments l worked for, but don't get hung up on flight test only, ask for any aircraft internship you can get for now and go do it. You really are joining a company in the larger sense, no straight out of school engineer knows anything very specialized in the beginning so it does not matter what you do. The real learning takes place on the job, college serves as our basic foundation on which to build a specialty. If you can get an internship at say, Lockheed doing stress analysis, go for it, and while you are there, ask about the flight test department. For that matter you could also intern at an airline like American, they have large flight sciences department. I actually interviewed for Delta at one point for a job with their performance group in Atlanta, and I have had pals who learned a lot about flight sciences working at places such as FlightSafety (the simulator firm), American Airlines, Spirit Aerosystems, and so forth. If you really get stuck PM me, and I will dig up the list of aerospace firms my college gave everyone in aerospace school to use for job hunting.

DILLA

Good advice so far. I've been in the aerospace/defense industry (structural design and flight test) for about 10 yrs. I have a BS and MS in Mech E, and have my PPL. While the big companies are hiring (LM, Boeing, etc.), be weary because many can lay off just as quick as they hire. I too have worked in both gov't (NASA) and private flight test sectors. I've recently left the military side of the house and gotten into civil aviation...it has been MUCH more lucrative for me due to our customer base.

Degrees like EE and ME are broad, and don't pigeonhole you into a single field...so you are definitely on the right track!

As has been said, it's not hard to get into FTE...I have found that university/technical career fairs are a good way to network and get face time with company reps. However, I did get my current job solely off my LinkedIn page.

If you have your heart set on being a test pilot, why not look at the military (as someone mentioned)...you are still young enough for all branches (depending on how long you have left to complete your 4 yr degree)...and cant beat the training.

Good luck!

DontPickIt

Thanks for all the chat on the subject, it's been a good read and I've been looking for info on the subject!

Engineer413

Silly question, I actually finished out my engineering degree as well (Mechanical), why electrical? You will miss out on a lot of really helpful classes such as Heat Transfer, fluid dynamics (related to flight), strength of materials, ect. I would personally look into becoming an AE, my buddy double majored at RPI for ME and AE, and just got an internship down in Dallas studying the corrosion on the skin for I believe for United or one of the companies. That gets his foot in the door, he can then continue training for his commercial ratings, ect.

Another route which would have been good as well is getting into a company such as General Dynamics, they pay for school, they also have links with Lockheed Martin...

Feel free to contact me with any questions with engineering! Im finishing up my last day of classes today in fact. Im in a similar situation with engineering, flight science degree, and ranking up hours. Currently going for my private license.

Yoda2

To the OP,

If you are still undecided, I would seriously consider submersibles. Much of the technology is similar to aviation. The defense contractors such as GD, Boeing and Lockheed are big into them, and will be for a long time. There are many problems to solve, issues to address and associated R&D. There would be plenty to keep you challenged. That would be my best recommendation at this point...

Cubdriver

If you are an engineer who flies I'll wager a half dozen Krispy Kremes that you end up in flight testing somewhere before very long. From the news it sounds as if single-engine personal jets, NASA hypersonics, UAV rotorcraft, and supersonic bizjets are the growth areas lately in atmospheric aeronautics. Good luck flying any of the new machines, but if you want an engineering job I would target companies getting new contracts. Your engineering college should have a list of placements to target. If not, let me know as I have an older list.