The Daily Routine of an Aircraft- The Pilots View

Well in our previous blog we read how an aircraft would be treated by an engineer on a daily basis. We saw that the aircraft has to undergo a lot of checks by the engineer at the beginning of the day, followed by a lot more checks after its flight. We also learnt how vital an engineer could be for a pilot to complete his mission in a very placid manner. Now it is time for us to understand how a pilot treats these metallic birds on a daily basis.

Well the day for an aircraft with a pilot begins with the maintenance engineer handing over the aircraft to the pilot after his pre-flight check-up. Once the pilot takes over the aircraft from the engineer, the pilot does another check on the aircraft. The pilot goes around the whole aircraft and inspects the aircraft fitness manually. The process involves checking if the control surfaces are moving freely, inspection for physical damages to the aircraft (if any), clearing any debris that would have settled over the aircraft and also checking for any sort of liquid leakages and so on. Once the pilot has completed the inspection, he will continue for the flight. If he finds any snag in the aircraft he immediately reports it to the engineer and aborts the sortie, if not he will continue with the flight by accepting the aircraft responsibility from the engineer.

 Once the aircrafts responsibility is taken up by the pilot, he is first supposed to ask the air traffic controller (ATC) for permission to start the engine. Once the permission is given, the pilot starts the engine using the starters and increases throttle till the engine reaches a self-sustained idling RPM. After this the starter is disengaged from the main engine, and the engine idles while the pilot again asks for permission from ATC to move towards the runway. After approval from the ATC, the pilot taxis the aircraft till the end of the run way and aligns himself with the runway and stops with full brakes on.

After this the pilot waits for a clearance from the ATC for take-off, and once the clearance is given the pilot accelerates the engines by opening throttle and keeping the brakes on. Once the engine reaches sufficient speed, the brakes are opened the aircraft starts moving forward. During this period while the aircraft has just started rolling over the runway, the pilot first checks for effectiveness of the control surfaces (remember that for this, the aircraft should have attained at least the stall velocity or else the control surfaces don’t work effectively). If they are working fine, the pilot accelerates further to decision velocity. This the velocity at which the pilot decides to continue with the flight or abort it is called the decision velocity. The aborting of the flight could be due to various reasons which could include and not limit itself to; fire on board, failure of control surfaces; inappropriate acceleration of the engine and so on. Once the pilot has continued flight beyond this velocity, he shall not abort the flight under any condition. In case of any emergency beyond the decision velocity, the aircraft shall take off and come back for emergency landing if it is a multiple engine aircraft or the pilot will initiate emergency ejection in case of engine failure in a single engine aircraft. In any normal condition the pilot will continue with normal flight and accelerate to lift off velocity at which the aircraft will actually lift-off from the ground.

 Once the aircraft takes off, the pilot will start climbing till he reaches the flight altitude which is dependent on the mission of the aircraft (for civil aircrafts it is the cruise flight altitude). The aircraft after serving its mission purpose shall start descending and come down near the airfield where it is scheduled to land. Once it comes in range with the ATC of the airfield, the pilot asks the ATC for landing permission.

Once this permission is obtained and the run way is cleared for landing, the pilot shall again align the aircraft with the runway and start the approach. The pilot throttles down to idling RPM and continues for touch down with the flaps down and airbrakes on. Once the landing gears hit the runway, the brakes are actuated and the aircraft starts retarding drastically and comes slows down. After this the pilot again takes permission for the ATC for moving out to the taxi way from where the pilot shall taxi the aircraft till the hangar. At the hangar, the engines are turned off and the flight is completed. The pilot will then hand over the aircraft to the engineer with reports of the flight. The flight report would be the pilot’s experience of the flight and reporting any snags experienced during the flight.  

So that’s how an aircraft’s daily life would look like if you were a pilot living with the aircraft on a daily basis. Well technically it is also called as the flight profile of the aircraft. Stay tuned for more on these wonderful flying machines called aircrafts.

The Daily life of an Aircraft- an Engineers view

Hello everyone,

In this blog, I will be writing about the daily life an aircraft that is born could expect to live. The life cycle applies to both military as well as the civil class of aircrafts. So let’s get to the story and see how an aircraft’s daily life is.

An aircraft, as we all know, is a very sensitive yet powerful machine which has the capabilities to either fly with hundreds of passengers on board or fly really fast taking on the sound for a speed test or even do both( in very rare and exceptional cases). Whilst having such extraordinary capabilities, the aircrafts need to be maintained and their fitness for performing such tasks needs to be assessed and evaluated on a very regular basis. Since the aircraft carries human life on board, safety of life takes the highest priority in any aircraft mission. A typical day for an aircraft starts with a pre-fight

Inspection performed by the maintenance engineer and his team. During this inspection, every single aspect of the aircraft is very carefully examined by the engineer using all his senses and special equipment’s. He inspects for defects by using his ear to hear abnormalities, nose to smell any leakage of fuel or burns, his sense of touch to ensure everything is normal and finally sees and verifies everything is fit. Once the aircraft has completed this test by the flight maintenance engineer, it is handed over to the pilot. The pilot before taking charge of the aircraft, goes around the aircraft and completes his own pre- flight inspection of the aircraft which will include checks similar to that of the engineer but at a more relaxed scale. Once the pilot has completed his checks and ensured the aircraft is flight ready, he then takes charge of the aircraft. If in case the pilot finds any problem with the aircraft during his inspection, it is immediately reported to the maintenance engineer and asked to be fixed.

As a result the flight could get delayed or even cancelled depending upon the criticality and severity of the damage/snag detected by the pilot. Once the pilot takes over, the aircraft goes for a flight and performs the pre-planned mission, which would be flying from point A to point B in case of a civil aircraft or performing the mission tasks for a military class of aircraft. Once the aircraft has successfully completed its flight and comes and lands, the pilot hands over the aircraft to the engineer. While handing over, the pilot will mention to the engineer his flying experience. The pilot will report if he experienced any snag (major or minor) and his level of satisfaction with the flight. The engineer then takes over the aircraft and performs a routine check on the aircraft if the pilot was satisfied with the flight and did not have any snags to report. If the pilot has reported a snag, a regular check on the aircraft along with a special check with regard to the snag recorded by the pilot will be done on the aircraft. Once this is done an aircraft can be closed for the day, if it does not have any more flights. The next day, the cycle repeats with a pre-flight check beginning the day of an aircraft and the post flight checks closing.

A very important and key aspect to be noted here is that an aircraft always goes for a check before taking off irrespective of whether it had a post flight check or not. But a post flight check is always performed if the aircraft has another flight to perform soon after its landing. Between a landing and a take-off, there is always a minimum of one check performed on the aircraft to certify its fitness.

This is how the typical day of an aircraft looks from an engineer’s point of view. On my next blog I will try and explain the same from a pilot’s point of view. Because it is very evident from my writing above that an aircraft is under a pilots control for very less time. I will try and explain the various tasks an aircraft performs while under the control and commands of a pilot.

Cheers

T R 

AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE- A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

In our previous post we have discussed about what is aerodynamics and how its study with respect to air crafts is divided into two main categories; the subsonic and supersonic. In this post we will discuss about what is aerodynamic flight and how it affects the performance of an aircraft flying. But before going so deep into aerodynamics lets first understand how actually aerodynamic forces act on a body and how it affects an aircraft performance characters. There are two primary aerodynamic forces the lift and the drag, the lift is the component of the resultant aerodynamic force in the direction perpendicular to the air flow while the drag is the component of aerodynamic force parallel to the direction of flow. The lift is induced by the flow happening over an aerofoil inclined at an angle( angle of attack) to the flow direction. For flow to happen a forward pusher force is required which is the thrust provided by the engines of an aircraft. When an aircraft is flying steady level and straight then the aerodynamics forces hold the the following relations with the thrust and weight of the aircraft.
Thrust = Drag    

Weight = Lift
These would be the primary fundamental parameters that would help us analyse the performance of an aircraft. All our discussions on aircraft performance in future will deal with these conditions i.e. straight, steady and level flight. Now that we know the elemental conditions for analysing the performance characteristics of an aircraft let us start to understanding how various aerodynamic parameters such as lift, drag, velocity, thrust required, etc. vary under various conditions. Before doing that we need to know how the lift and drag coefficients are related. They are given by the drag polar which is
Cd = Cdo + K(CL)^2
where Cdo is the drag at zero lift,
          K is a constant given by 1/(3.141*Oswald efficiency*aspect ratio),
          CL is coefficient of lift and
          Cd is drag coefficient.

flaps

Now that we are done with some basics  let us now try to understand what happens to the lift and drag when HIGH LIFT DEVICES(HLD)are used. The HLD's include the flaps and slats which changes the camber of

slats

the wing aerofoil of an aircraft and hence generates a greater lift coefficient. but as we understand from the relation between the lift coefficient and drag coefficient, the drag coefficient increases with an increased lift coefficient. An increased drag would mean that the maximum distance the aircraft can fly under steady straight level conditions is now reduced because of greater fuel consumption to generate thrust which supports the increased drag. a natural question in any body's mind would be why do we need a device that will cause us  a disadvantage??? Well don't think too much the answer is quite simple, the devices as their name suggests are high lift devices which means they generate a greater lift at a given velocity when deployed compared to when not deployed. This in turn means that we can generate the lift required for the aircraft to be airborne at a lower speed, which on ground means the length of the runway required for the aircraft to attain that minimum velocity to be airborne is reduced, because velocity is proportional to distance. Now you must be having a clear idea as to when and why these HLD's are used. YES!!! They are used only when an aircraft wants to take off and also wants to land. Wait a second!!! Why did I mention the landing distance???? Well the answer is again simple, in fact you have already read the cause for the usage of HLD's in landing. Still guessing???? remember that the drag increases when lift is increased...???? Yes the relation between the lift and drag coefficients is what causes the drag to be increased and hence reduce the landing distance.

the flaps deployed for landing

Now that we have discussed about the performance of an aircraft when high lift devices are used we believe we have served our purpose of giving a small introduction to aircraft performance.Hope you enjoyed reading our blog for updates on our blogs please add us on +1 or follow the author on google plus. Do share it if you found the blog informative.

AERODYNAMICS: SUBSONIC Vs SUPERSONIC

Aerodynamics is the core of aeronautical engineering which deals with the study of air flow over a body and the behaviour of flow characteristics over the body. This has been a very interesting subject for many people from various fields proving to be one of the most important for their respective profession.

aerodynamics used in cars

The god of cricket Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar had attended crash courses on aerodynamics and flow over a ball just to understand how a cricket ball spins and learn to use it to his advantage. there have been similar other sportsmen who have learnt aerodynamics in sports such as golf, football and hockey and a wide variety of engineers who have been trying to make the most out of this wonderful subject. since our blogs are related to aeronautical engineering lets try understanding how well aerodynamics is applicable in the flying of of the huge beautiful metallic birds.

The aerodynamics or flow of air over an aircraft is generally divided into two main fields of study. Namely; subsonic aerodynamics and supersonic aerodynamics. The subsonic aerodynamics as the name suggests deals with the study of flow of air over an aircraft when the aircraft is flying at speeds lesser than mach 1 or less than the speed of sound. In this type of flow the air is considered to be inviscid, i.e. non viscous, and incompressible. Though air is practically a compressible fluid its compressibility effects do not show up much

in the subsonic regime only when the speed of flow reaches a value close to mach 1, i.e. around mach 0.8, the compressibility effects of air becomes significant and is taken into considerations for studies. On the other hand supersonic aircraft deals with flights involving speeds greater than mach 1 which also includes hypersonic flights (speed greater than mach 5).Supersonic aerodynamics aircraft takes into the consideration the compressibility effects as well as the viscous effects of the flow and the affects of these effects at such high velocities is what makes the base for supersonic aerodynamics. As soon as a flow gets changed into a supersonic from a subsonic flow it gives rise to what is known as shock waves

which generate a sudden and steep change in the drag induced. This is caused due to travelling of the aircraft at the speed of sound. Since the source of the sound generation travels at the speed of sound, sound waves ( which is nothing but a pressure disturbance itself) accumulate together with the aircraft giving rise to a very high and unnecessary drag. Due to this the aircraft's generally prefer travelling at speeds which are far from the speed of sound (either high supersonic or high subsonic). This region where the drag increases drastically is called as the transonic region in aerodynamics. We will deal with supersonic and subsonic flow phenomenons in our future posts.

Now that we know there are two flow type studies in aerodynamics we should also understand that both these types of flows can be generated in a laboratory by the help of experimental setup.

fig. a subsonic wind tunnel schematic

Such setups used to study the flow of air over a given body is called as a WIND TUNNEL. There are both subsonic as well as supersonic types of wind tunnels which are being used actively to study the slow of air over aerofoils and air crafts.

fig. a schematic of blow down supersonic wind tunnel

While subsonic wind tunnels are all continuous and run for a long duration of time, their supersonic counter parts run for a significantly lesser time lasting only up to a few seconds to a few minutes. But supersonic wind tunnels are used only in large research centres and universities where research is being carried out on supersonic flight. Do get back in future to read more on wind tunnels and their working in our future posts.

          

a subsonic wind tunnel

a supersonic wind tunnel

This was our post on aerodynamics-an introduction, hope you liked it. Add us on +1 and follow us to keep getting updated on our posts and blogs in future.

COURSE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

after getting to know about what an aeronautical engineer is and how crucial he can be in designing and developing an aircraft let us now learn what the contents of any course of aeronautical engineering will contain in its scheme of syllabus. Aeronautical engineering is broadly divided into three different fields of study, and they are namely :

• Structures: deals with the basic structural design of an aircraft and the analysis of theses structures subjected to various tests
• Aircraft Instruments and Systems: this field deals with ll the mechanical and electrical & electronics instruments and systems used and their working and design aspects.
• Propulsion System: deals with the making and maintenance of the power plants of an aircraft.
• Aerodynamics: considered as the core of aeronautical engineering this field deals with the study of air and its flow properties.

So looking at the above broad classification of aeronautical engineering we can conclude that our branch aeronautics is a vast branch of engineering that consists of mechanical, electrical & electronics and power engineering along with its very own fluid engineering. let us now have a brief look at what these different branches of aeronautics deal with and learn their importance to an aeronautical engineer.

Structures:

talking about structures in aeronautical engineering we would deal with the construction and analysis of the structural frame and components as the name itself suggests. There are various software's and analysis tools that an aeronautical engineer can use to do all the structural assembly and analysis. There are also various software's that are used for performing the task of meshing or discretisation which helps in more better analysis of the structural member. 

Always remember my friends that just knowing a few software's and analysis tools doesn't make you a good structural aeronautical engineer, for being a quality structural engineer you need to be good with your basic subjects dealing with structural analysis which are: mechanics of materials 

                                                                           material science

                                                                           aircraft structural analysis

the above mentioned were a few subjects that help you in being a better structural engineer. Practising and performing tests based on your theoretical studies in the above mentioned subject you could expect yourself to become one good quality engineer in the field of aircraft structures and analysis.

Aircraft instruments and systems:

aircraft instruments and systems would be the field of aero engineering which would be dealing with design and development of more and more advanced instruments and systems which help the pilot make his journey more comfortable and easy. Being an instrument's and systems engineer one would have the pride of being the one who develops the most crucial devices which actually help the aircraft in flying. In fact in modern day aircraft's,be it a fighter or a passenger aircraft, a flight without such sophisticated instruments and systems will not be possible. So getting into this field of study would keep you satisfied and also equally responsible, if you fail to perform your duties well enough then a pilot would be flying blind in space without knowing where to go or what to do. so once you become an instruments and systems engineer be sure that you are not negligent with your work.

Aircraft Propulsion:

this is one field of study of aeronautics that is considered as the power house of aeronautics which in fact deals with the construction and the developments of better and more advanced engines which power the engine with more thrust and less fuel consumption for a longer time. So if you are that guy who wants to get your hands dirty and try out new things with power and engine stuff this is the field of study you should be focusing more on. But understand just like in the field of structures you need to be very clear with your basic subjects such as thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, computational fluid dynamics and fluid mechanics. Being an engineer in anything related to engine design and maintenance is considered as one of the toughest jobs in the field of aeronautics. It takes a lot of courage and passion to be an engine designer or maintenance engineer.

Aerodynamics:

considered as the core of aeronautical engineering this is a branch of aeronautics which deals with the flow of air and the effects of the flow under various conditions. you get to decide what the shape of every single part exposed to air is and how each one them responds under different speeds. This is that field of studies which makes you stand apart from other engineers as a separate and unique engineer of highest calibre. You study the affects of a supersonic flight (any speeds greater than the speed of sound) the effects of compressibility of air at high speeds and so on. So always remember that when you become an aeronautical engineer you would be the only engineer dealing with such high speeds and such weirdest of phenomenons which are very hard to find anywhere else in engineering.

the above were the main fields of aeronautical engineering and any other subject in aeronautics could be classified and placed under any one of the above fields of study.

WHAT IT IS TO BE AN AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER

After making up your mind to take up aeronautical engineering as your field of higher studies you must now be wondering what would i do as an aeronautical engineer? What does it take to be a quality aeronautical engineer who is recognised as a quality engineer by the industry? If you have got questions like that then you are at the right place to find the answers to your questions and learn what it means to be a true aeronautical engineer.

aeronautical engineers are always given with four main objectives:

• higher: aeronautics always deals with designing aircrafts that fly higher and higher and conquer more of the sky range as it has always been an amusement for every single human being to fly hiher and higher in the air.
• faster: the second most important aspect for an aeronautical engineer would be to design metallic birds that fly faster and faster witouh cuasing any damage to itself or anything else in its vicinity. the only aim of flying faster is to save more and more time because time is the costliest thing a man can ever loose.
• longer: flying longer without touching the grounds would be the most important of factors for an aeronautical engineer to consider to build an aircraft simply because the longer you fly with great speeds the more distance you cover which is the core intention of aerial transportation
• safer: Along with higher, faster and longer flights its of at most importance for an aeronautical engineer to have a safe flight for all those people dependent on him.

Going into aeronautical engineering lets first understand what is the job of an aeronautical engineer, as most of you people would have guessed by now it would be your job to build a good quality flying mechanical

people watching as an aircraft burns

bird. And your freedom to make errors as an aeronautical engineer will be very narrow, in fact its close to zero percent. Any smallest of errors caused by you could cost hundreds of lives of passengers and crew members on an aircraft. So the first and most important thing you get to become as an aeronautical engineer is becoming a person who is almost error free with his decisions and calculations.

result of a small error by the maintanence engineer 

Do not all that excited and happy that you will be an error free person by becoming an aeronautical engineer, it takes a lot of hard work and months & years of practise to become one such quality engineer. So all of you who have decided to become an aeronautical engineer think again before choosing this branch of engineering. Do choose it if you are willing to work hard and put in more than the best of your efforts to be a quality engineer because unlike other branches of engineering you have no room for making error in this field. You make too many errors you loose your job go home and sit back for the rest of your life because the chances of you getting a job after making minor and silly errors in this field is very thin. There have been instances in past where engineers have been jailed for their entire lifetime for very infinitesimally small errors which cost lives of passengers and flight crew.

After discussing about the punishments you get for small errors you do in this field of engineering let us now also talk about the rewards that you can get as an aeronautical engineer. Well the first and most common reward anybody would look for is good salary packages and that's what you get. Yes as a good qualified aeronautical engineer you can expect attractive salary packages and expect it to grow big very quickly within very small time. But it comes with additional work load. just getting an aeronautical engineers degree from a university wont get you good pay packages you need to learn to apply your knowledge on real time simulation software's in which you can simulate the flow conditions over various components of an aircraft and prove it practically with experimental results as well. Moreover the salary that you get as a fresher in aeronautical engineer is nothing great when compared to other branches of engineering, but as you start gaining experience the hike in salary you start getting is significantly high when compared to your peers in other fields of engineering. with addition to the salary packages offered to you the other respect you get is that you are the one responsible for the safe flight of so many millions of people on any airline.
 People are able to travel longer faster and higher and safer just because of you. And the joy and proud feeling you get because of this fact is really nit comparable with the money that you can earn as an engineer. though they say the air warriors rule the skies the fact remains that its not the air warriors that rule the skies but its the magnificent metallic birds that you built that rule the skies and without you the sky warriors are never really the warriors of sky.

Job aspiration and future scope

After studying the viewers of my previous blog on what is aeronautical engineering and how good it is for one

to take it up as a career making subject, I have decided to make this blog specially for a golbal set of readers who are interested in the field of aeronautics and are looking for job oppurtunities in this field.

What are the job oppurtunities for an aeronautical engineer?

Well as i have mentioned in my earlier post the job oppurtunities are very large and a good quality aeronautical engineer would be given preference over an outstanding peer from other streams of engineering like mechnaical or civil. As i have been telling the employee demend for this stream is quite high but with it the need for an aeronautical engineer to be a good  quality product is a must. because this field deals with risking of lots of lifes and any small error by an engineer could lead to catostrophic damages which could cost a lot of lifes. So just being an ordinary aeronautical engineer does not endeavour you to get a great job or great salary package,only being a quality engineer is what will make you get those big pay packages that any aeronautical engineer generally claims. 

So coming to the different jobs available to an aeronautical engineer, an aeronautical engineer could be any one of the following:

1) Design engineer:

The major job of a design engineer in aeronautical industry would be to make all sorts of paper design and skethings and later do the testing for the soft models prepared on different analysis softwares. This is one of the most basic work an aeronautical engineer can get. sounds very simple to sit in front of computers and do the basic design work sitting in an AC rooms. Well to make up to the ease of the job offered the salaries offered to a fresher in this field of aeronautics would be very less when compared to what an aeronautical engineer might be expecting. But as one progresses and advances in this field and with ones experience an average worker in this field can expect his salray to be attractive. The general payscale a fresher can expect would be in the range of 1800$-2000$ per month as one progresses it vary anywhere between 3000$-4500$. As you can see the pay scale is generally higher wen compared to peers in different fields of engineering.

2) Aircraft maintenence engineer:

The job of an aircraft maintenence engineer would be to do various checks on an aircraft before it takes off every time. Every time an aircraft goes for a flight and comes back an aircraft should be checked for any damages due to debris around around the flight path of the aircraft.this inspection would be done by an

aircraft maintenence engineer. The job would include looking sor damages over the body of the aircraft, and the blades of the engine,look for any blockage or leakage that would affect the normal functioning of the aircraft and the proper working of all the cockpit devices. The pay scale for a starter in this field would vary between 2000$ to 2200$ and as one starts gaining experince in this field one can expect the pay scale to go as high as 5000$ to 6500$.

3)Stress analysis engineer:

the job of a stress analysis would be similar to that of design engineer but a stress engineer would be doing only the analysis. a stress analysis engineer would be an expert in stress analysis and would perform stress analysis tests on various components designed on computer. though this sounds simple it is not such an easy job as it sounds. The salary one can expect in this field would be similar to that of a design engineer.

4)Thermal analysis engineer:

The job of a thermal analysis engineer would be to apply his knowledge on thermal engineering to the field of thermal engineering. It would be his responsibility to do an analysis on the thermodynamic properties in the engine and the expansion of materials when subjected to different thermal conditions. So the job of a thermal engineer would be of atmost importance for an aircraft,specially when it comes to manufacturing an engine.

other than the jobs mentioned above there are also a lot of oppurtunities in the electircal and electronics field about which i do not have adequate job links. so i have not mentioned them. keep waiting for my next post on different topics of aeronautical engineering specially students.

Aeronautical Engineering- the trending technology

  

Are you a student who is looking to get into the field of technical study and engineering ? Are you confused on which branch of study to choose ? Well then you are at one of the right places to understand one such particular field of studies - Aeronautical Engineering. Aeronautical engineering has been one of the largest emerging trends in the field of technical study as well as job opportunities. This article is aimed at making you understand aeronautical engineering in a better way and help you in deciding if it is the right course for you to opt for in your higher studies.

So what exactly is aeronautical engineering ?

Have you ever looked at a flying airbus A380 or Boeing 737 and wondered what makes such a huge machine fly in the air ? Well the major reason behind one single aircraft flying up in the air safely would be the hard work and efforts of hundreds and thousands of aeronautical engineers who worked day and night just to see the giant metallic bird fly. So in simple terms aeronautical engineering is nothing but building and making an aircraft fly safely in the air according to our wishes and desires.

OK now lets understand the term aeronautical engineering. The term aeronautical engineering is another term which refers to a technical branch of engineering which specialises in aircraft manufacture and maintenance. That's the simplest way to describe the branch or an aeronautical engineer. Going a little more deep into the meaning of the subject an aeronautical engineer is one who makes a machine that can swim in air and uses and maintains this machine for different applications. 

Why is aeronautical engineering growing so fast?

Aeronautical engineering is amongst the growing trends for two reasons, one is the large scope the branch of engineering has in the job market.The demand to supply ratio of aeronautical engineers in the global market is very high and still not met sufficiently.So to meet this demand engineers from various other branches are taken into the industry and given suitable training to work in this industry. There is a high demand for maintenance engineers for various companies across the globe including airbus Boeing and NASA.An aircraft maintenance engineer would basically test an aircraft for its airworthiness or ability to have next flight every time after an aircraft takes off and lands back.

The second reason for this branch to be growing so fast is the appropriate mixture of different branches of engineering it has in it. Aeronautical engineering courses generally train their students in three different streams of engineering put together into one compact package. Aeronautical engineering is combination of the Mechanical engineering, Electrical engineering and Electronics engineering put together.The three different branches of engineering applied exclusively for the machines which fly i.e, aircraft , give rise to this beautiful branch of aeronautical engineering. This branch of engineering has an application of the above mentioned three subjects on aircraft's and study and maintenance of aircraft. 

Going a little more deeper into the three subjects of aeronautics 

Electrical engineering in aeronautics

Electrical engineering is the major contributor to the field of aeronautical engineering when it comes to the flight controls and power management. This portion of producing and managing electric current on an aircraft is amongst one of the major topics that one would study in electrical engineering in aeronautics as the power generated on an aircraft is very limited and effective utilisation of this power is a must.Apart from power production electrical part of aeronautical engineering would also contain the control system and wiring systems and lighting systems of the aircraft. The control system would include manufacture and maintenance of the various electrical control devices used in the cockpit of the aircraft.

                                                   analog cockpit of an aircraft

Mechanical engineering in aeronautics

mechanical engineering is another major contributor to the field of aeronautics,its such a huge contributor that at certain selection processes the selectors do not differentiate between mechanical and aeronautical engineers. But there is a lot of difference when it comes to the content and application of both the subjects. Aeronautics would deal majorly with aerodynamic flows and model preparation for that whereas mechanical engineering is more different an vast subject by itself. the other major contribution of mechanical engineering in aeronautics (other than structural design) would be in the propulsion technology used to run an aircraft. On the whole the part of mechanical engineering you study would be fun.

                 a Production line on the one of the leading aircraft manufacturers

Electronics engineering in aeronautics

This is a major aspect in modern aeronautics because of the advancement of technology.nobody wants to be left behind with a nokia1100 when you have all sorts of smart phones available in the market which can make a cell phone a more user friendly device. Similar to cell phones digitalising of cockpits and improving

the controls with digital safety features such as the autopilot and digital visualisations has made an aircraft a user friendly machine for a pilot to handle. Electronics also plays a major role in communication between aircraft's and the ground air traffic controls which help in maintaining safety. Thus electronics is the third major subject in aeronautics which is a part controls in aircraft.

Which college to choose?

Now after reading the whole article if you are wondering which college to choose and how to continue your journey in the field of aeronautics then don't worry. I have prepared a fine solution for that as well. I am providing a list of few major colleges offering aeronautical engineering as a course of study in their college. you can feel free to leave a comment for enquiring about the colleges mentioned or you can also log in to the college website from the link provided with their respective names.

India

• Indian Institute Of Technology Madras (Chennai) - http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/
• Hindustan University, Chennai - http://www.hindustanuniv.ac.in/
• KCG College of Technology, Chennai - http://www.kcgcollege.ac.in/
• Kumaraguru College of Technology ( Coimbatore) - http://www.kct.ac.in//
• Jaya Engineering College, Chennai - http://www.jec.ac.in/
• Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur- http://www.becs.ac.in
• Mohamed Sathak Engineering college, Kilakarai - http://www.msec.org.in/
• Amity Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Amity University - http://www.amity.edu/
• Amity Institute of Space Science and Technology, Amity University - http://www.amity.edu/aisst/
• Anna University, Chennai - http://www.annauniv.edu/
• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - http://www.iisc.ernet.in/
• Er.Perumal Manimekalai College, Koneripalli, Hosur - http://www.pmctech.org/
• Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Thandalam, Chennai - http://www.rajalakshmi.org/
• Karunya University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu-http://karunya.edu/aero/
• LakiReddy Balireddy College of Engineering (Autonomous), Mylavaram, Andhra Pradesh - http://www.lbrce.ac.in/aerospace
• Babu Banarsi Das National Institute of Technology and Management, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh - //www.bbdnitm.ac.in/
• Nimra Institute of Science and Technology, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh (jntu kakinada) - http://www.nimra.in/nist/
• Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi - http://www.bitmesra.ac.in/departments/validated.asp?Department_ID=D0010
• Indian Institute of Aeronautical Engineering - http://www.iiaedehradun.org
• Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology - http://www.iist.ac.in/
• Indian Institute Of Technology Bombay (Mumbai) - http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/
• Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur - http://www.iitk.ac.in/aero/
• Instittute of Aero Engineering, Kanpur
• Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur - http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/departments/home.php?deptcode=AE
• Manav Rachna International University - http://www.mriu.edu.in/
• Madha Engineering College, Kundrathur, Chennai - http://madhaengineeringcollege.com/
• Malla Reddy College Of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad - http://www.mrcet.com/; http://www.mrcet.ac.in/
• Bandari Srinivas College of Engineering and Technology, Chevella, Ranga Reddy, Andhra Pradesh - http://www.bsit-hyderabad.com/
• Marri Laxman Reddy Institute of Technology, Dunigal, Hyderabad - www.mlrinstitutions.ac.in/
• Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad http://www.iare.ac.in/
• Madras Institute of Technology - http://www.annauniv.edu/Aerospace/index.html
• Manipal Institute of Technology - http://www.manipal.edu/Institutions/Engineering/MIT/Departments/AeronauticalandAutomobileEngg/Pages/Overview.aspx
• New Horizon College of Engineering - http://newhorizonindia.edu/html/NHEngineering/aeronautical.htm
• Jeppiaar Engineering College, Sozhiganallur, Chennai - http://www.jeppiaarcollege.org/
• karunya university coimbatore,tamilnadu - http://www.karunya.edu/
• Institute of Engineering Science and Management, IESM,Indore, M.P - http://www.iesmindore.com/
• Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh - http://www.pec.ac.in
• Park College of Engineering and Technology - http://www.pcet.ac.in
• SRM University, Chennai - http://www.srmuniv.com/engineering/mechanical/aerospace/default.php
• Sathyabama University, Chennai - http://www.sathyabamauniversity.ac.in/
• Tagore Engineering College, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India - http://www.tagore-engg.ac.in
• VSM Aerospace, Bangalore - http://www.avsmati.org
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology, Vasad, Gujarat - http://www.svitvasad.ac.in/
• Noorul Islam University, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu - http://www.niuniv.com/
• C.M. Engineering College
• Amrita University, Ettimadai, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
• Hindusthan college of engineering and technology,coimbatore,tamilnadu- http://www.hindusthan.net

• Hindusthan Institute Of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu - http://www.hindusthan.net

• Hindustan Aviation Academy, Karnataka, Bangalore
• Hindustan Institute Of Technology and Science, Chennai, Tamil Nadu - http://www.hindustanuniv.ac.in/
• Nehru college of aeronautics and applied sciences-coimbatore
• Indian Institute for Aeronautical Engineering & Information Technology, Pune - http://www.iiaeit.org/
• Maheshwara Institute Of Technology (MITP), Hyderabad -http://www.mith.ac.in/,
• University of Petroleum and Energy Studies Dehradun Upes - http://www.upes.ac.in
• Sri Bhagwan Mahavir Jain College of Engineering, Bangalore
• Guru Gram Institute of Aeronautical Engineering & Technology, Faridabad (HR) -www.gurugram.org.in
• IGNOU, Maidan Gadhi, Delhi
• Gurunanak Engineering College, Ibrahimpatnam, Hyderabad
• M.V.J College of Engineering, White Flied, Bangalore. - http://www.mvjce.edu.in/
• Vignan's Institute Of Technology and Aeronautical Engineering, Deshmukhi (Nalgonda District), Hyderabad
• Alliance University, Bangalore
• VSB Engineering college, Karur, Tamilnadu, India.
• Vardhaman college of engineering,Hyderabad, A.P - http://www.vardhaman.org/
• Dayananda sagar college of engineering, Bangalore.Karnataka. - http://www.dayanandasagar.edu/
• http://Priyadarshini_College_of_Engineering Priyadarshini_College_of_Engineering, Nagpur,Maharashtra,India -http://www.pce.ltjss.net/
• bandari srinivas technical campus, chevella, rangareddy dist, india

the above are the list of best colleges i could get for a few states which are very well known for their advancement in the field of aeronautics.

get back soon on this website to get reviews on few of the Indian colleges and also to Know about the job opportunities as an aeronautical engineer.