Engineers

Engineers are responsible for the airworthiness of an aircraft. And it’s not only the engineers that you see working around the aircraft when you board. There are countless engineers in design offices, hangars test facilities and more… all working to perfect the workings of your plane. 

Of all the enthusiasts in aviation, the engineers are probably the most devoted to their jobs. Who else would want to work and enjoy working, in the cold or rain? And yet in all my years in aviation, I never met one engineer who ever complained about working on a plane. And often you’ll find them giving their expertise to private pilots or the restoration of old aircraft on their days off.
That is to say that their routine inspections before and after flights are an integral part of the design and operational philosophy of an aircraft.
But if you see an engineer working on your aircraft just before your flight, rather than say to yourself  “What’s wrong?”  say to yourself  “‘I’m glad they’re keeping my aircraft in perfect condition“. When a component has to be checked or replaced at least two engineers are involved.

There’s absolutely no reason that your fear of flying worries should be made worse by worrying about the ‘state’ of the plane you’re flying in. At airlines, the engineering is divided into the operational day-to-day maintenance, and the sort of work that is done in a hangar when overhauling an aircraft. This second group is further divided into those who work on the plane itself and the technicians who repair, test and certify individual components. Engineers are licensed to an aircraft type and limited to working on those aircraft according to further qualifications. Electronics experts would be limited to working on the electrical systems, and could not work on the control systems or on the engines.
It is a very highly regulated part of the industry as you would expect. From a personal point of view, I  have the highest regard for airline engineers and I hope you find it reassuring that almost every pilot on finishing his or her career will make a final entry in the aircraft’s technical log thanking the engineering staff for their dedication and work in keeping them safe. There can be no better recommendation about the quality of aircraft engineers.

Best wishes,

Captain Keith