Friday, April 25, 2008

Featured Job - DESIGN / ENGINEERING MANAGER


Due to expansion, our client has instructed AircraftEngineers.co.uk to seek a Design/Engineering Manager to join their growing company on a permanent basis.


In this role you will lead a small, highly motivated team of engineers to produce and interpret engineering concepts that meet the needs of our customers on time and within budget.
You will require a good understanding of the manufacturing process and be able to conceptualise ideas using design philosophies that are based on quality, ease of produceablility, material costs, commonality and minimum number of parts.
Good knowledge of AutoCAD and solid modelling experience would be an advantage.


To Apply for this Job please click here - Design/Engineering Manager

Friday, April 18, 2008

EasyJet Attempt to Guard Passengers Against Price Increase

EasyJet have taken a stand against the new 21% passenger charges increase for 2008-2009. In a letter to the new BAA chief executive Colin Matthews, which has just been made public, EasyJet CEO Andy Harrison wrote:

“Now that the new charging system is in force, some decisions have to be made about how you as airport operator and we as one of your biggest customers handle the situation until the court has ruled, which is likely to be some months away.

“We would prefer to do this in collaboration with you. With that in mind I would propose an interim arrangement. We will hold back a proportion – the amount is to be agreed – of the £6.97 ($11.04) you have been permitted to charge for each passenger at Gatwick. We will keep the money in a separate account.

“To the extent that our challenge fails, we will hand over the money withheld to you along with any interest accrued. If our challenge succeeds, and a lower charge is then set, we will implement a mechanism to return what we have saved to our customers.”

Here’s hoping that the outcome of a judicial review against Gatwick’s price regulator, conducted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, will go in their favour and the favour of passengers.

UK Engineers Deserve More Recognition

Specialist recruiters in the UK Aerospace industry are concerned about the exposure of the industry to young engineers. With the term engineer being “diluted” to include all levels of expertise, from the man who services your washing machine to the man who, working along side scientists provides the practical knowhow to pioneers rocket propulsion; Industry specialists fear that they are loosing out on potential young recruits in the aerospace industry because there is not enough exposure to the career prospects.

Ian Bryson, managing consultant with West Midlands-based Jonathan Lee Recruitment commented that it was difficult to find qualified and exceptional people for the industry because they don’t often come in contact with the product: “How does someone such as an aircraft or parts manufacturer demonstrate their product to people who don’t come in contact with it, who maybe jump on an aircraft once a year to go on holiday?”

And the question is a valid one, engineers working in the aerospace industry find that the career is challenging, fulfilling, varied and innovative. But if people are not exposed to it, then they are unlikely to choose to pursue a career in it. What can companies do to entice people to the industry? Ian Bryson believes that greater respect should be given to engineers and that we should start to differentiate between a true engineer and those who, in other countries like France and Germany, would be given the title of Technician.

Would it therefore be beneficial both to the industry and the individual to instate a formal title for engineers, to give them the prestige they deserve? Bryson, and other specialist in the industry, believe it wouldn’t do any harm.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

IFE players for BA's OpenSkies

British Airways has decided to offer customers the latest in in-flight entertainment (IFE) by equipping each one of its 82 seat configuration Boeing 757, across all three classes, with handheld IFE players.

Each of the PAV-705 units, made by IMS, will contain somewhere in the region of 50 hours of audio and visual programming. The two premier classes will have in-seat power, while all three classes will benefit from the handheld IFE players providing content management and ground services including content loading, battery charging and headsets.

As the first route planned by OpenSkies, Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK, will be opened this summer these sets will be put to the test.

A Triple Success for Rocket Propulsion

It looks like Rocket propulsion has achieved a triple success as three new propulsion systems have been successfully tested in in Europe and the USA. There’s also a big first for the UK rocket testing with the use of STERN motors at the University of Bristol held during late March this year.

The Bristol University
engineers conducted four successful 1 second firings of the Static Test Expansion/Deflection Rocket Nozzle between 19th and 31st of March. These tests make a series of firsts for UK rocketry as this is the first time Expansion/Deflection (ED) nozzle motors have been tested and also the first use of hydrogen and air as propellants for STERNs.

Italy and America are also experiencing great successes with rocket propulsion. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of the USA, successfully conducted its first simultaneous firing of three of its Merlin 1C kerosene, liquid oxygen engines, on 8th March this years. The test lasted for 18 seconds, and things look good to for the second test at SpaceX’s testing facilities in Texas which will use fives engines and then the final tests which will involve SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket’s nine-Merlin 1C configuration.

Italian propulsion company Avio’s second stage 26,000kg Zefiro 23 solid rocket motor was responsible for the third success of rocket propulsion. The test lasted for 80 seconds and was held at a test site in Sardinia. The Zefiro 23 solid rocket motor will power the European Space Agency Vega launcher, so these tests are great news.

All in all rocket propulsion has seen three excellent successes so far this year and we can look forward to more of the same as 2008 continues.

If you're looking to make a career change to a test engineer or perhaps position in the space industry then maybe 2008 is a good year to make your move.