Week of October 2nd

            This week was an exciting week in my aerospace educational journey. This week I was able to step into the cockpit of the DA40, albeit in a simulator, and feel what its like to fly for the first time and hear some stories from an ex-aerospace engineer.

            The “flight”, strangely enough, was the high point of my week and was done so for my theory of flight class. This class is generally centered around the physics around flight and not so much the act of flying like the “pro pilot” classes are. This class requires at least five hours of flight time in order to get above an “F” since not every concentration requires a flight lab to graduate and thus people are getting degrees in aerospace without ever setting foot in a plane. This being said, a lot of people aren’t terribly excited to have to fly and some people even actively protest it. This struck me as strange because I always thought that if you got into aerospace you had to have at least mild interest in flight and by extension flying but this have been proven false.

            The second big event this week was Charles Gross coming to talk to my “introduction to aerospace” class. Charles Gross had volumes of knowledge on Aerospace and proved to be an invaluable source on all things aerospace engineering related. Previously he had experience working on projects regarding things like some stealth aircraft and even the X-51. One thing that really stood out to me the most is how he stressed the importance of a strong educational background. He constantly mentioned cross-referencing some of his old books and even made an argument for pilots learning basic aerodynamics. Even though I’m not personally interested in his line of work exactly, it was interesting to get his perspective on the matter.

Week of September 25th

    This week I went to a seminar presented by Zachary Hutchinson, a recruiter for a regional air carrier. While his information was more intended for the pro pilot majors it was still pertinent information for any aerospace major. He talked about a lot of skills which I’ve never considered such as resume composition and what to discuss on a resume and an application. While he spent a majority of the time talking about ethics on board a flight or proper technique for documenting flight hours there was quite a bit of good information on how to come to a job interview and how a gentleman in the aerospace industry handles himself.
    One major thing that jumped out to me about this was the intimate relationship between simply performing well but also the ability to handle your mistakes. He mentioned that one guy gave him a resume at a job fair which didn’t include his college GPA yet this resume was still strong because he was able to play off and explain this incompetence in this area.
    The most important thing I walked away from is that it is of utmost importance to hold yourself well. While accomplishments and qualifications can go a long way, it can make a world of difference if you walk into an interview slouched over with a dyed shirt compared to a well-kept individual with a suit or something similar. It wouldn’t have mattered what the tie-dye shirt has accomplished, as soon as he presents himself as such he is regarded as a lesser candidate at least initially.

Week of September 18th

This week has been a bit chaotic. With several classes assigning various tests and papers it is safe to say that things are picking up in a dramatic way. This being said I find it nice that two of my aerospace classes are discussing fairly similar topics, this makes studying a bit easier. One thing I was able to experience this week was APA format. Now I’m not sure why there was such a significant campaign to push “college readiness” yet somehow this was left out of the mix but that is the situation.

            The only class which consistently stands out is my intro to UAS course. Every time we come into that class we look at what is happening in the world with UAS and everyone leaves really excited about a career in this new industry. I think my professor has done a very good job of getting us legitimately excited about this industry and the education we are pursuing by just showing us the news or just promotional videos from various companies invested in UAS.

            One thing that really jumps out at me is just how diverse this industry is. You have everything from acrobatics to 3D modeling and almost anything imaginable in-between. The rate at which this is moving forward is just astounding. A lot of people hear the word drone and immediately jump to the military applications, but this just isn’t true. It just really seems like there’s room for drones in every industry.

Week of September 11th

    This week didn’t stand out much as an interesting or otherwise not. The longer I hang around these aerospace people, the more I feel like an outlier. Everyone has devoted significant time and energy towards their major before they even started here. To say it is intimidating is an understatement but at least I know that all aerospace knowledge I acquire is from exclusively MTSU and I can accurately gauge the quality of my education here.

    On the topic of intimidation, the number of pro pilots here compared to any other major imaginable is astounding. In most of my aerospace classes, the pro pilots are the largest group by significant margins which really leads to difficulty in finding people to socialize with within my own major. I’ve really thought over this whole UAS club and I think that’s the only way I’ll be making any UAS friends outside of class. This club really seems to be a great tool to use to further my experience in the field and with some of the projects that they have in the works, it really strikes me as another robotics team kind of experience that I had in high school.

    I feel like it’s also kind of interesting that many people talk about aerospace in the sense that it is one giant team sport. All the different little sects work together for a common goal and that everyone more or less works together but this just isn’t the case for the UAS people. We have a set of objectives that are about as separate from the rest as it gets which I find interesting.