Expert: David A. NewMyer - 3/28/2011

Question
I will be graduating high school in a few years and though I have considered many careers I've narrowed it down to two fields, Aviation and Journalism. I love flying and I'm currently working on my pilots license, my question is what kind of professions are there in aviation? I realize there is engineering, management and just simply becoming a pilot. I'm not good with mechanics and have no desire to pursue anything of the sort, and as for flying I love flying smaller fixed winged craft more than anything. So beyond that would the aviation career world even interest me? I'm still learning a lot about the aviation world, but anything you could tell me to help narrow it down I would appreciate it.
                                                     Sincerely
                                                     -Rachel

Answer
Hi, Rachel:

I am sorry to have taken so long to get back to you.  I was out sick.

The bottom line is that there are a wide range of careers in aviation, ranging from working for aircraft manufacturers to airlines to airports to general aviation (small aircraft companies) to government agenices involved in aviation and many more.  Right now, there are approximately 2.0 million people working in aviation.  Personally, I am not an engineer or a mechanic or a pilot and I have worked in aviation since the late 1960s (counting part time work while I was an undergraduate student).   I first got involved as an airport planner, which I still do sometimes....today I am involved in higher education in aviation education.  It has been a very rewarding career for me all the way.  As an airport planner, I have worked in both large metropolitan areas (LA, Chicago, St. Louis and London, England) on airport planning problems, as well as in rural areas.  I was helped tremendously in this career field by pursuing both an undergraduate and a graduate degree that helped me focus more on the planning field, its various problems and issues.

You mentioned flying smaller fixed wing aircraft---this is the general aviation segment of aviation.  There are over 600,000 people that work in this field in the USA, from being pilots to mechanics to working as managers in aviation fueling and service companies to aircraft sales to pipeline patrol to flight training and including corporate and business aviation and many, many more career paths.  We have graduates from our program here at SIUC who end up flying in places like Alaska in general aviation.

As far as other career paths, you might want to work in the airport management and operations field, perhaps at a smaller airport.  There are over 5000 sizeable airports in the USA that are open to the public.  Of those, probably 1500 to 2000 of them are professionally managed.   Well over 100 of our aviation graduates have gone on to work in airport management and operations all over the USA from California to Texas to Florida to Illinois to Michigan to Wyoming and Washington State, to name a few.  For more information on airport management careers go to the website of the American Association of Airport Executives at www.aaae.org    

Overall, here is a list of the major aviation industry segments by the number of jobs, as of the best estimates available in January of this year:

Aviation and Aerospace Manufacturing:  624,200

Airlines:  602,606

General Aviation:  638,000

Government agenices involved in aviation:  175,048

Surely there is a job for you in one of these portions of the aviation industry!

Oh, and if you want to study aviation in college, the University Aviation Association at www.uaa.aero  has a nice listing of colleges and universities that offer aviation degrees at their website:  www.uaa.aero and then click on the "Colleges and Universities" link

Let me know if you have any additional questions via another question on AllExperts

Sincerely,

David A. NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.aviation.siu.edu