Over the years, I‘ve produced many stories about the aviation industry but the ones that stand out in my mind are when students get excited about aerospace. So many times growing up, children want to be astronauts. But as time goes by, they seem to lose interest in aviation. Oh sure, a few will go on to become airline pilots and an even greater few will become astronauts but most will forget that particular dream.

I think it was a much more popular idea back in the 1960s and 1970s, when the space race was in full force. Recently, we’ve “been there, done that” and there really isn’t a push towards space…which has resulted in an aging workforce. For many aviation companies, finding someone to work on an airplane or help design one isn’t easy. Students just don’t think about going into that field, instead, they are looking at gaming software engineering or auto mechanics versus becoming an engineer or aviation mechanic. But that is slowly changing.

In this week’s video blog, meet a couple of students who may be the next generation of engineers and mechanics to work on airplanes or even go the distance right into space.
~Alisa Hines