“The Next Generation” of Aerospace Engineering
In this interview, FAA aerospace engineer Kathleen Arrigotti tells us how Star Trek inspired her career in engineering, and how there are many paths to achieve a dream job in aerospace.
What initially interested you in the aerospace field?
Honestly, Star Trek. Both my dad and grandpa spent their careers in engineering, and I was told often as a kid that I was clearly turning out to be one, too. Where’s the coolest place to be an engineer? On the Enterprise, obviously. I wanted to be an engineer working for Captain Picard (Captain Kirk wasn’t quite as inspiring) and traveling the universe.
What are some fun things you’ve gotten to work on because of being an engineer at the FAA?
I’ve definitely enjoyed the variety of work I’ve gotten to do. I was part of the team that certified the first military surplus Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters for private use. I received an FAA national award for innovation for developing an Excel tool to help determine the FAA’s level of project involvement. I got to debate the meaning implied by a comma in a regulation once! I wrote a summary of the de Havilland Comet accidents in the ’50s for FAA’s Lessons Learned From Civil Aviation Accidents website. I’ve had the opportunity to go to a number of aviation conferences to build relationships with the companies I work with, and I’ve now travelled to Brazil, France, and Germany to meet with my counterparts at other civil aviation authorities.
What does your day-to-day look like as an aerospace engineer in the Aircraft Certification Service?
I work with the engineering design of aircraft and modifications to those aircraft. In my previous FAA position as an aerospace engineer in an airframe/structures role, a typical day might include reviewing the extra wing bending added by winglets on a given aircraft, evaluating material properties of composite firefighting tanks attached to the bellies of helicopters, checking a drawing for replacement brackets on float planes, and helping a new company with an idea navigate the FAA design approval process.
Now that I’m an aerospace engineer in a program manager role, my work is more about coordinating safety issues and broader designs among more engineering and non-engineering disciplines — electrical, avionics, cabin safety, aerodynamics, human factors, flight test, performance, propulsion, operations, maintenance — all while keeping the company and a foreign authority up to date on our progress.
What might a student considering engineering need to know about your path to your position in the FAA?
I wasn’t certain in high school which field of engineering to go into. I was aiming for the aerospace field, but an aerospace engineering degree might’ve limited my non-aerospace options, and I didn’t want to get pigeonholed.
You can get into the aerospace field from lots of different angles, and I first tried electrical engineering and computer science. Those degrees are needed in every field these days.
I joined a STEM-focused group that coordinated summer internships at local companies. None of the internships was in aerospace, but I got hired in to a programming role at a trucking company through it. I was sooooo bored. Programming was not for me.
I next decided that mechanical engineering was a really broad engineering field with a variety of opportunities, including aerospace, so I headed for a mechanical engineering degree. In college, I applied for more internships — defense companies, aerospace companies, government research labs, anything vaguely aerospace adjacent really — and managed to get one with Honeywell Aerospace. That was enough of a foot in the door that they hired me back after I graduated, which became enough of a foot in the door for me to move to the FAA with just a year of post-college experience.
FAA engineers seemed to come from a decade or more of industry experience, some with electrical engineering degrees, some with pilot licenses, some with military engineering roles. I think the variety of backgrounds is an asset and illustrates that there’s no single path to get where you’re going.
What would you say to young women considering a career or just starting their career in engineering?
I’ve struggled with speaking up enough, and more so the larger a group gets and the less I know the members. I’ve had to learn to interrupt, to sometimes just keep talking when someone else interrupts me, and to recognize that occasionally I am actually the most knowledgeable person in the room.
Do you want to get involved in the space industry? The FAA is hiring aerospace engineers to support our safety responsibilities for launches and reentries. Learn more about exciting career opportunities in FAA commercial space.
Additionally, tune in on March 8 for a virtual FAA panel where female FAA executives will give powerful, personal testimonies of how they achieved their career goals. Watch the livestream on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube on March. 8 from 2:00–3:00 PM ET.
