Statewide occupation search

Sort your search results or select and compare details of two occupations. Find out if an occupation is in demand or not in demand in your local area, at Learn about an occupation.

Statewide occupation search

Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Operate, install, adjust, and maintain integrated computer/communications systems, consoles, simulators, and other data acquisition, test, and measurement instruments and equipment, which are used to launch, track, position, and evaluate air and space vehicles. May record and interpret test data.

Related: Avionics Technicians Calibration Technologists & Technicians Electro-Mechanical & Mechatronics Technologists & Technicians Mechanical Engineering Technologists & Technicians Robotics Technicians

Industries: Manufacturing Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Fabricate and install parts and systems to be tested in test equipment, using hand tools, power tools, and test instruments.
Identify required data, data acquisition plans, and test parameters, setting up equipment to conform to these specifications.
Construct and maintain test facilities for aircraft parts and systems, according to specifications.
Adjust, repair, or replace faulty components of test setups and equipment.
Confer with engineering personnel regarding details and implications of test procedures and results.
Operate and calibrate computer systems and devices to comply with test requirements and to perform data acquisition and analysis.
Record and interpret test data on parts, assemblies, and mechanisms.
Inspect, diagnose, maintain, and operate test setups and equipment to detect malfunctions.
Fabricate and install parts and systems to be tested in test equipment, using hand tools, power tools, and test instruments.
Test aircraft systems under simulated operational conditions, performing systems readiness tests and pre- and post-operational checkouts, to establish design or fabrication parameters.
Design electrical and mechanical systems for avionic instrumentation applications.
Finish vehicle instrumentation and deinstrumentation.
Design electrical and mechanical systems for avionic instrumentation applications.
Adjust, repair, or replace faulty components of test setups and equipment.
Construct and maintain test facilities for aircraft parts and systems, according to specifications.
Record and interpret test data on parts, assemblies, and mechanisms.

Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.

Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

Education

Associate's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

105910/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

50.92/hr

Currently Employed

420

Yearly Projected Openings

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Analytical Thinking
Integrity
Adaptability/Flexibility
Initiative

Accelerometers
Adjustable wrenches
Ball peen hammer
Bench vises
Borescope inspection equipment
Box end wrenches
Calipers
Cold chisels
Combination wrenches
Compasses
Compression testers
Coordinate measuring machines CMM
Countersinks
Depth gauges
Drill press or radial drill
Eddy current examination equipment
Explosive initiators
Fall protection lanyard
Farmers own file
Fire extinguishers
Flat hand file
Flat taper file
Flowmeters
Force or torque sensors
Forklifts
Form tools or toolbits
Gage block set
Gantry milling machine
Gas welding or brazing or cutting apparatus
Go or no go gauge
Goggles
Gyroscopic instruments
Hacksaw
Half round file
Hammers
Height gauges
Hex keys
Hole gauge
Horizontal turning center
IR 192 radiography examination equipment
Impact hammers
Infrared imagers
Lasers
Leak testing equipment
Liquid penetrant examination equipment
Magnetic particle examination equipment
Mainframe console or dumb terminals
Mallets
Manipulators
Mass spectrometers
Metal cutters
Micrometers
Mill saw file
Offset screw driver
Open end wrenches
Paint application system
Personal computers
Pneumatic drill
Power screwguns
Precision file
Pressure indicators
Profiling and duplicating milling machine
Protractors
Punches or nail sets or drifts
Respirators
Rivet tools
Round file
Rulers
Safety harnesses or belts
Scaffolding
Screwdrivers
Scribers
Shielded metal arc welding or stick welding machine
Shot peen machine
Sockets
Soldering iron
Spanner wrenches
Specialty wrenches
Speed sensors
Squares
Straight edges
Strain gauges
Taps
Telescopes
Telescoping gauge
Theodolites
Thermocouples
Thickness measuring devices
Thread counters or gauges
Thread repair kits
Tinners snips
Torque wrenches
Torx keys
Track cranes
Traveling column milling machine
Turret lathe
Ultrasonic examination equipment
Vacuum ovens
Vibration testers
Voltage or current meters
Welder torch
Wire lug crimping tool
Wire twister
X ray radiography examination equipment

Analytical or scientific software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software
Computer aided design CAD software
Data base management system software
Data base user interface and query software
Development environment software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise application integration software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Graphical user interface development software
Industrial control software
Inventory management software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Process mapping and design software
Program testing software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Transaction server software
Web platform development software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Find Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians jobs Education and Training for Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians

Statewide occupation search

Statewide occupation search

Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians

Work Activities

Skills

Abilities

Knowledge

Education

Pay

Washington Employment Trends

Personality

Tools

Technology

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES