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- Make sure helicopters are maintained, repaired and ready to fly
- Combine mechanical and engineering skills with a love for aviation
- Progress into management or other fields within engineering
As a helicopter engineer, your role will involve the repairing and maintaining of helicopters so that they are ready for use.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Carrying out scheduled inspection and maintenance checks
- Finding and fixing faults
- Reporting defects to the maintenance manager
- Making sure aircraft meet flight safety regulations
- Working on aircraft and instrument modifications
- Refitting aircraft
- Responding to repair call outs
- Recording completed work
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
You could work at an airport building or on an aircraft. Your work environment may involve travelling often and be physically demanding.
You'll need
To be a helicopter engineer, you'll need the ability to use, repair and maintain machines, systems and tools, thoroughness and attention to detail, practical skills, patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations, excellent verbal communication skills, and to work well with your hands.
You'll need an engineering qualification and maintenance experience to apply for a helicopter engineer licence.
You'll usually need a foundation degree, higher national diploma or degree in aerospace engineering, avionics, or a related subject like aeronautical engineering, electrical or electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, manufacturing or product engineering, physics or applied physics, or software engineering or mathematics.
You could do a college course, such as aerospace and aviation engineering.
You could also become a helicopter engineer through an aircraft maintenance certifying engineering higher apprenticeship.
Some aircraft engineering companies offer graduate training schemes which can be a way into this job.
Flight engineering experience gained in the armed forces may also count towards your licence application.
CAREER PROSPECTS
With experience you could become a maintenance engineering manager or senior design engineer, working on modifications and enhancements to aircraft.