Definition of Aeronautical Engineering
Definition of Aeronautical Engineering
The American Heritage Dictionary defines aeronautical engineering as the application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical construction of aircraft in regards to the science and art of ascending and sailing in the air (20; 433). The word aeronautical comes from the word aeronautics which, as defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is the science and art of ascending and sailing through the air and is the theory and practice of navigation through air and space (17). The word engineering comes from the prefix engineer who is a person who is skilled at or trained in a branch of engineering (394). Therefore, the topic at hand is that of the role the aeronautical engineer plays and how he performs his job as well as what, exactly, his job is.
Aeronautical engineers design, analyze, model, simulate, and test aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles, and rockets. Aerospace technology also extends to many other applications of objects moving within gases or liquids. Examples are golf balls, high-speed trains, hydrofoil ships, or tall buildings in the wind. Aerospace engineers are typically specialists in fields with fancy names such as aerodynamics, propulsion, navigation, flight testing, and more (www.discoverengineering.org ).
The aeronautical engineer is a man of great creative and mathematical genius. His job is to not only comprehend and design air and space traveling craft, but also to find the mathematical and scientific reasoning behind his concepts that would make them possible.