Post job

Flight test engineer vs airframe design engineer

The differences between flight test engineers and airframe design engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a flight test engineer and an airframe design engineer. Additionally, a flight test engineer has an average salary of $90,538, which is higher than the $77,583 average annual salary of an airframe design engineer.

The top three skills for a flight test engineer include control room, data analysis and test procedures. The most important skills for an airframe design engineer are CAD, GD, and structural design.

Flight test engineer vs airframe design engineer overview

Flight Test EngineerAirframe Design Engineer
Yearly salary$90,538$77,583
Hourly rate$43.53$37.30
Growth rate6%6%
Number of jobs26,38440,330
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 82%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Flight test engineer vs airframe design engineer salary

Flight test engineers and airframe design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Flight Test EngineerAirframe Design Engineer
Average salary$90,538$77,583
Salary rangeBetween $66,000 And $123,000Between $55,000 And $108,000
Highest paying CityPalo Alto, CA-
Highest paying stateIllinois-
Best paying companyAmazon-
Best paying industryTransportation-

Differences between flight test engineer and airframe design engineer education

There are a few differences between a flight test engineer and an airframe design engineer in terms of educational background:

Flight Test EngineerAirframe Design Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 82%
Most common majorAerospace EngineeringAerospace Engineering
Most common collegeGeorgia Institute of TechnologyGeorgia Institute of Technology

Flight test engineer vs airframe design engineer demographics

Here are the differences between flight test engineers' and airframe design engineers' demographics:

Flight Test EngineerAirframe Design Engineer
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 89.6% Female, 10.4%Male, 94.8% Female, 5.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 10.9% White, 68.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 12.1% White, 68.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between flight test engineer and airframe design engineer duties and responsibilities

Flight test engineer example responsibilities.

  • Track and manage team budget, schedule, risks, change information, BOMs, labor and materials costs.
  • Manage Terraform and refactore from monolithic to application specific components.
  • Create complex flight test plans to meet DoD and FAA requirements.
  • Test facility engineer (TFE) responsible for design and development of test rigs, test stands, and fixtures.
  • Maintain a DOD secret security clearance.
  • Support both STC approval and design qualification.
  • Show more

Airframe design engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage automation projects including purchasing, scheduling fabrication and assembly, debugging, and delivery to customer.
  • Design new S76D lightning strike protection to meet FAA certification requirements.
  • Develop layouts for fuselage doors and skin reinforcements around the doors, door seals, and door mechanism structures using CATIA.
  • Design fuselage composite core details utilizing FIBERSIM.
  • Evaluate existing documents and execute engineering computations for rehabilitation projects.
  • Perform structural calculations, evaluations and retrofit alternatives for assign projects.
  • Show more

Flight test engineer vs airframe design engineer skills

Common flight test engineer skills
  • Control Room, 7%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Test Procedures, 6%
  • Avionics, 6%
  • DOD, 5%
  • Test Execution, 4%
Common airframe design engineer skills
  • CAD, 16%
  • GD, 14%
  • Structural Design, 12%
  • Enovia, 10%
  • Catia V5, 9%
  • New Design, 8%

Browse architecture and engineering jobs