Expert: Paul Soderman - 3/2/2008

Question
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I am a Junior in High School and am considering pursuing a career in Aeronautical Engineering but I have some...reserves? I love airplanes and studying them but is engineering right for me? I am a 4.0 student, strong in all my science and amth classes but Ive found myself wanting to fly planes more than design them...but would going to an Aviation school be kind of a waste of money? Is it smarter for me to get a degree in Aeronautical Engineering THEN pursue Aviation? What do you recommend?

Answer
Anthony
In my opinion, the best pilot is an aeronautical engineer because he has the best knowledge of the aircraft and aerodynamics.  It would be fairly easy for an aeronautical engineer to get a pilots license - that would take a few weeks of flight training.  It would be quite hard for a pilot to get an aeronautical engineering degree - that takes at least four years of serious study.  In either case, an engineering degree gives you a profession that you can use all your life even after your flying career is over.

Best of luck.
Paul