Also called: Helicopter Engineer, Rotor Dynamics Engineer
Designs helicopters, tiltrotors and their spinning rotor blades.
You analyze vibration from a rotor in a whirl test, adjust blade shapes to make it quieter, and fly along on a test helicopter. Helicopters are full of moving parts, so vibration is your constant enemy.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in aerospace engineering; master's common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Aerospace Engineering.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Aerospace engineers overall.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps design blades and controls; flight testing and solving vibration problems stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, CAD class, Computer science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.