Careers in Aircraft Engineering

1. How to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and an Aircraft Fitter

As a licensed aircraft engineer you will need to be in possession of a basic aircraft engineer's licence, at least one type rating for an aircraft, many hours/months/years spent gaining your practical experience, and a company approval to issue a Certificate of Release to Service for an aircraft. It is a highly skilled job and one which can take some years to achieve. View all of our Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer jobs.

Aircraft are signed off by licensed engineers, but their unlicensed and highly skilled colleagues perform a crucial role. Aircraft Mechanics (or Aircraft Fitters) are not certified and will work under the supervision of a certified engineer, but they are highly trained and experienced in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of aircraft (MRO jobs).

2. Aircraft Maintenance Engineering careers

Aircraft Engineers and Aircraft Mechanics work on a permanent basis as an employee of an airline or MRO organisation. Many more are employed on a contract basis, working for themselves via recruitment businesses that provide staffing services for airlines or MROs.

Aircraft Engineer Contractors tend to earn more money, but do not get the various company benefits or security offered by a permanent job.

Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers will need to prove their skills. As one, you will need a basic licence (for instance a B1 EASA Part 66 licensed aircraft engineer's licence). This will require many months of study (either about aircraft avionics for a B2 licence or airframe & engine for a B1 licence).

This will then need to be followed by further study on a type rating course taken at an approved centre (for instance B747-400 type rating), and then practical experience on type to gain company approvals.

Only once you have all of this can you then become a certified aircraft engineer. Even then, you will need to maintain 'recency' on type in order to continue working on any particular type of aircraft. If you lose recency (ie, you stop working on a type of aircraft for over 2 years), you may be required to take a familiarisation course before you can again be licensed on type. This can vary from one airline to another and the civil aviation authority (country / region) you wish to work within. (See the note at the end with more information about *Aircraft Licence Types.)

3. Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Jobs / Fitter Jobs

Aircraft Fitter Jobs
If you are a fitter you will need to search for Aircraft technicians jobs, aircraft mechanics jobs or aircraft fitters jobs (various terms are used interchangeably). View our Aircraft Technician and Fitter jobs.

Line Maintenance Engineer Jobs
Line Maintenance Engineer jobs will require a certified aircraft engineer to sign aircraft off 'on line'. The checks a line maintenance engineer carries out are light checks and are done during turn-around or overnight. You must have a license and approvals in order to sign a 'Certificate of Release to Service'. See our Licensed Line Maintenance Engineer Jobs.

Base Maintenance Engineer Jobs
Base Maintenance Engineer jobs require a certified aircraft engineer to sign aircraft off. The nature of the work focusses on bigger aircraft maintenance projects (or heavy checks). It usually takes longer than a Line Check. Checks are categorised and a base maintenance engineer's job is typically carrying out C Checks in the hangar over a number of days or weeks. Modifications and installations will also be included as part of a Licensed Base Maintenance Engineer's job.

NOTES

*Aircraft Licence Types
Basic licences are issued by the competent authority. Licence types are, for instance, an EASA Part 66 licence or ICAO licence. Licensed Engineers tend to specialise either in mechanics or avionics. Avionics Engineers (or EASA Part 66 B2 engineers) are able to issue CRS on avionics systems, while Airframe and Engine engineers (or A&C or B1 Licence Engineers) generally sign for all mechanical parts and the engines (they need to be trained on specific engine types too).
Variety is huge but the following are probably the most common aircraft types offering jobs: B777 jobs, B737 jobs, B747 jobs, A330 jobs, A340 jobs, A320 jobs.

4. Aerospace Jobs

Aerospace Design Engineer Jobs and Aircraft Manufacturing Jobs are filled by aerospace engineers skilled in aircraft design using software like DOORS and NASTRAN. Specialisms include Aerospace Design and Stress Engineer jobs, Aerodynamics jobs, Avionics Systems Design Engineer jobs, CATIA Jobs and IT jobs. Aerospace defence jobs, especially, require software specialists.

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

GPS (Global Positioning System) is the only system today able to show you where your exactly position on the earth at anytime and any weather condition. 24 satellites are all orbit around the earth at 11,000 nautical miles or approximately 20,200 kms. above the earth. The satellites are placed into six different orbital planes and 55 degree inclination. They are continuously monitored by ground stations located worldwide.

GPS ELEMENTS We can divide GPS system into three segments. SPACE SEGMENT USER SEGMENT CONTROL SEGMENT

SPACE SEGMENT The space segment comprises a network of satellites . The complete GPS space system includes 24 satellites, 11,000 nautical miles above the earth, take 12 hours each to go around the earth once or one orbit. They are orbit in six different planes and 55 degrees inclination. These positions of satellites, we can receive signals from six of them nearly of the time at any point on earth. Satellites are equipped with very precise clocks that keep accurate time to within three nanoseconds ( 0.000000003 of a second or 3e-9) This precision timing is important because the receiver must determine exactly how long it takes for signals to travel from each GPS satellite to receiver. Each satellite contains a supply of fuel and small servo engines so that it can be moved in orbit to correct for positioning errors. Each satellite contains four atomic clocks. These clocks are accurate to a nanosecond . Each satellite emits two seperate signals , one for military purposes and one for civilian use. SOME SPECIFICATION OF SATELLITE Weight     930 kg.(in orbit) Size     5.1 m. Travel Velocity      4 km/sec Transmit Signals      1575.42 MHz and 1227.60 MHz Receive at      1783.74 MHz Clocks      2 Cesium and 2 Rubidium Design life      7.5 year (later model BlockIIR 10 years)

USER SEGMENT As the pilot fly , the GPS receiver continuously caculates the current position and display the correct position / heading.The GPS unit listen to the satellite’s signal and measure the time between the satellites transmission and receipt of the signal. By the process of triangulation among the several satellites being received, the unit computes the location of the GPS receiver. GPS receiver has to see at least four satellites to compute a three dimensional position (it can compute position with only three satellites if know altitude). Not only latitude and Longitude , but altitude as well. There are numerous forms of display among the various manufacturer. No frequency tuning is required , as the frequency of the satellite transmissions are already known by the receiver.

CONTROL SEGMENT The control Segment of GPS consist of: Master Control Station ( one station ): The master control station is responsible for overall managment of the remote monitoring and transmission sites. As the center for support operations , It calculates any position or clock errors for each individual satellite from monitor stations and then order the appropriate corrective information back to that satellite. Monitor Stations ( four stations ): Each of monitor stations checks the exact altitude , position , speed , and overall of the orbiting of satellites. A station can track up to 11 satellites at a time. This check-up is performed twice a day by each station as the satellites go around the earth.

OPERATION The principle of GPS is the measurement of distance between the receiver and the satellites. The satellites also tell us exactly where they are in their orbit above the earth . The receiver knows our exact distance from satellite , knows the distance between satellites. GPS receivers have mathematical method by computer to compute exactly where the GPS receiver could be located.