What is Aeronautical Science?

N918KT

N918KT

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Okay, so we all know aeronautical science refers to flight training in which a student pilot plans to become a professional pilot. But is it only the study of flight training to become a professional pilot or is it the study of all things aviation, even in non-piloting subjects like the study of aviation safety, human factors, or research in aviation? Would this term even apply to the study of airlines and airports?

I guess what I am trying to ask is how broad does the term "aeronautical science" covers in relation to the study of aviation?
 
It's basically everything aviation related. Flying, weather, aerodynamics, mechanics, CRM, human factors, crashing, dispatching, ect... So it's rather broad. Also it has a lot of emphasis on airline ops.
 
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Its a degree you can do to turn 7 months of training into 4 years of school and runs around a half million dollars. I use it to identify pilots with poor aeronautical decision making.
 
This is a 4 year plan from an aviation program at our local college.
http://www.farmingdale.edu/academics/pdf/pdf-bachelors/aeronauticalscience.pdf
My dad got the "degree" from Riddle. He says its a waste and encouraged me to pursue another degree. I'm currently studying Economics and plan to graduate with most, if not all of the ratings an Aeronautical Science major would receive but without any debt and only a couple thousand dollars worth of student loans
 
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jordane93 said:
This is a 4 year plan from an aviation program at our local college.
http://www.farmingdale.edu/academics/pdf/pdf-bachelors/aeronauticalscience.pdf
My dad got the "degree" from Riddle. He says its a waste and encouraged me to pursue another degree. I'm currently studying Ecnomics and plan to graduate will most, if not all of the ratings an Aeronautical Science major would receive but without any debt and only a couple thousand dollars worth of student loans
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Thanks for the replies so far everyone. I guess some could say that aeronautical science is more broader than we think.

Hey Jordan, I just graduated from SUNY Farmingdale State College last May! I know some of the aeronautical science students at my college. My degree was not aeronautical science-professional pilot, but it was aviation administration: I wonder if my degree is still considered part of aeronautical science anyways?
 
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N918KT said:
I guess what I am trying to ask is how broad does the term "aeronautical science" covers in relation to the study of aviation?
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In revewing curricula from several schools offering this degree I reached the conclusion that it has far more to do with 'aeronautical' (in terms of flight training) than it does with 'science'. If you want an idea of the applicability of term'science' to the degree, search for job openings for aeronautical scientists.

Nauga,
and his marketing department
 
Captain said:
Its a degree you can do to turn 7 months of training into 4 years of school and runs around a half million dollars. I use it to identify pilots with poor aeronautical decision making.
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:rofl:
The sad thing is that it's mostly true.
 
Captain said:
Its a degree you can do to turn 7 months of training into 4 years of school and runs around a half million dollars. I use it to identify pilots with poor aeronautical decision making.
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This is pretty accurate.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
This is pretty accurate.
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What "stupid pilot tricks" have you seen these guys do? Just curious....

Do they think their degrees makes them superhuman pilots when they actually lack experience?
 
Instead of Aeronautical Science they should call it Aeronautical Stuff. Like Political Science, it's not a field of natural science, so it shouldn't take on airs and call itself a science.

edit: Military Science is another example of a badly named college major. It would be better called Military Stuff.
 
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A really fancy way to say "I FLY AIRPLANEZ". A few years down the road, you realize, it's a degree that has left you no options for career, other than going back to school.
 
NoHeat said:
Instead of Aeronautical Science they should call it Aeronautical Stuff. Like Political Science, it's not a field of natural science, so it shouldn't take on airs and call itself a science.

edit: Military Science is another example of a badly named college major. It would be better called Military Stuff.
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Except here you actually learn aerodynamics and engine mechanics so science seems appropriate.
 
MachFly said:
Except here you actually learn aerodynamics and engine mechanics so science seems appropriate.
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You can take aviation ground school and auto shop as electives when getting your MFA too but those don't make you a scientist either. ;)

Nauga,
who wanted to be the sous chef at Denny's
 
dans2992 said:
What "stupid pilot tricks" have you seen these guys do? Just curious....

Do they think their degrees makes them superhuman pilots when they actually lack experience?
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I've flown with quite a few of them. They're the exact same thing as the ATP school guys - they can spit out a procedure word for word, but can't coordinate a turn to save their life. Ask them to put the airplane on the numbers and they'll still float 2,000 feet down the runway.

Ramble ramble ramble. Now, like in every case, there are the few who are naturally good pilots. I like them.
 
Captain said:
Its a degree you can do to turn 7 months of training into 4 years of school and runs around a half million dollars. I use it to identify pilots with poor aeronautical decision making.
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Yup

Though it apparently will give you the knowledge needed to take cell phone videos of low flying aircraft :lol:
 
jordane93 said:
This is a 4 year plan from an aviation program at our local college.
http://www.farmingdale.edu/academics/pdf/pdf-bachelors/aeronauticalscience.pdf
My dad got the "degree" from Riddle. He says its a waste and encouraged me to pursue another degree. I'm currently studying Economics and plan to graduate with most, if not all of the ratings an Aeronautical Science major would receive but without any debt and only a couple thousand dollars worth of student loans
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Btw, you're studying economics so please explain to me the difference between 'debt' and 'couple thousand dollars worth of student loans'.
 
Basically it's a crap degree. If you want to study things that fly and how they work get an Aeronautical Engineering degree.
 
Captain said:
Btw, you're studying economics so please explain to me the difference between 'debt' and 'couple thousand dollars worth of student loans'.
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Indeed a poorly worded sentence. I *think* he was saying that he could get the pilot ratings side of the equation in a manner that wouldn't accrue debt (which is true, I got my ratings through CFII that way, part 61 over the course of my college career, summers mostly) and thus minimizing the amount of student loan debt he would have to incur on the formal education side of the equation (the Bachelor's degree, box-checking aspect). At least that's what I took it to mean.

I know they throw around the whole restricted ATP as part of these part 141 favoritism pork barrel subversions of the marketplace, but I still think it's not worth it from a pure cost perspective. The ROI is simply not there for the first 10 years of a civilian pilot's expected income, when you incur that kind of (part 141) debt for what effectively is baseline vocational training.

I went to Purdue because the masters degree in aerospace engineering they printed for me wasn't something my competitor could whip out at the community college for 1/3rd of the price. I did my ratings NEXT to Purdue at the FBO for a 1/3rd of the price because I COULD indeed print my ratings on the cheap paper while the kids at pro pilot dept were paying 'purdue money' for the same qualification. People need to learn to assess the fair market value of their labor a lot better. It's self-imposed grief how some of these people choose in life.
 
As another riddle grad.. I second the assertion that it's about the biggest waste of money in aviation.
 
Henning said:
It's about $100k of debt.
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:yeahthat:

If I had it to do again, I would have gone to UofA and studied for an Anthropology Degree w/ focus in surveying/GIS. Then done of all of my flight training on the side. I'd still shoot for the airlines but I would have an actual fall back degree.

I may still do the above if K and I move to Fayetteville for her degrees.
 
Henning said:
It's about $100k of debt.
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I bet my half million is closer to the mark.

First, I said it runs around a half million. You said 'debt' and that's misleading as debt is just the part you owe. The school could charge a million bucks and you pay it all in cash except 100K you finance. Apple and oranges.

Second, factor in tuition, room and board, lab fees, books and flight traing too and half million may be light. You can argue room and board doesn't count as you'd pay that anyway, but plenty of students get loans to cover that too since they aren't working. So it goes right into the debt column to be paid after you leave school and start earning your $22K per year.

I heard the average loan for FlightSafety students was around $110K for zero to hero and that's just flight traing...no degree. That was 4 or 5 years ago.
 
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