Enjoy the ride!

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200120212

Ian Risk, chief technology officer at the Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS), reflects on 40 years in aerospace and encourages anyone thinking of a career in the aerospace industry to go for it and enjoy the ride!

Ian Risk, chief technology officer at the Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS), reflects on 40 years in aerospace and encourages anyone thinking of a career in the aerospace industry to go for it and enjoy the ride!

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I was lucky enough to see Neil Armstrong’s moon landing and Concorde take to the skies for the first time, which was pretty inspiring stuff. My father worked as an engineer in the toy industry, he was my big inspiration. I could see how his designs became reality and this really opened my eyes as to how much fun a career in manufacturing and engineering could be. So, really, it’s no surprise that a job in aerospace manufacturing appealed to me, even back then.

Forty years later, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with many inspiring industry professionals, from scientists to engineers and everything in between. One of these people is Professor Iain Gray, who I’ve worked with since the early 1990s when I began at Airbus. Iain was leading the Future Projects team and later became the Managing Director. I’ve always admired Iain as not only is he a great engineer with an unbelievable knowledge of the aerospace industry, but he’s a real people-person who really knew how to bring out the best in a team. Naturally, I was delighted when Iain accepted our offer to become our Chairman. He has seen the importance of the work CFMS does from the outset, so there couldn’t be a better man for the job.

Since I began working in the aerospace industry all those years ago, a lot has changed; beyond recognition to some degree. Some readers I’m sure will remember the days when we had huge rooms full of drawing boards! To think of some of the technologies and processes we’re working with now is almost mind-boggling. The industry is a lot more efficient now too. We’ve increased production from eight aircraft a year to 600. We’ve also seen new markets open, like in China, and demand for air travel has risen dramatically. The manufacturing industry has had to move with the times.

In aerospace manufacturing, we are always pushing the boundaries, which makes it such an exciting industry to work in. Something that’s really helped get me up in the mornings is the idea that I can contribute to making the world a better place in terms of mobility, opening opportunities for commerce and of course, our supporting net zero targets. Tackling sustainability in the industry ‘head on’ is our next big frontier and this is something CFMS is very heavily focusing on in 2021.

We all know Covid-19 has been a huge challenge for everyone, but for the aerospace industry it has really cleared the decks in terms of cultural and communication barriers. For one, we’ve quickly adapted to working more collaboratively; something we saw clearly with the UK-wide ventilator challenge earlier last year. Hopefully, these barriers have been broken down for good.

In terms of the future, we may not see such widespread change in the aerospace industry as we now need time for appropriate technologies to evolve. Currently, for long range travel we have no immediate alternative to carbon-based fuel and we need to first make the production of this energy source more sustainable. Where we might see radical change is in regional aircraft, where we could use other energy sources such as electricity, ammonia or hydrogen for short distance travel. This will be a giant step in the right direction for the entire industry, especially as short haul flights make up around 85% of all flights around the world.

It’s fair to say I’ve enjoyed every minute of my 40 years in the industry. If anyone’s reading this who’s considering a career in the aerospace industry, I’d say 100% do it and enjoy the ride! With new technologies and the rise of digital engineering, there are always new doors opening for people with different mindsets and skills. If you are inspired by science and want to apply scientific findings to something state-of-the-art, this is the career for you.

https://cfms.org.uk

Company

CFMS

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