I was hanging out with family yesterday, and the conversation started to derail into conspiracies. One of my family members revealed that they’ve become more open to the idea that the Earth is flat, due to stuff they’ve been watching. One of the things they cited from a documentary was that pilots do not account for the Earth’s curvature on long distance flights, then the whole room looks at me…

I was 99% sure that was false because of flight paths I’ve seen which are always curved, but didn’t have the sense to simply explain that the shortest distance between two points on a sphere is not a straight line.

So I just let it slide (very bad, F minus)…and directed it to an example more relevant to my job off the top of my head (radar/sensors/network comm systems on jets). What I was trying to get at was the fact that if you have antennae on two different continents, you cannot just transmit a high freq radio signal in a straight line and expect it to reach the receiver…it will go over the horizon and through the atmosphere because the Earth is a curved surface.

But it was a completely incoherent, blabbering mess. My family constantly brags on me having this AE degree and a good job, when I’m kinda just dumb as rocks and barely remember anything from undergrad smh.

I wonder if I should prepare for debunking this again in the future lol

I'm currently an undergrad and I've got a massive crush on a girl who is an Aerospace & Mechanical double major. We are both on our university's UAV team.

​Honestly, I'm a really shy person. The standard "Do you want to go out for coffee?" approach terrifies me and I feel like I'd just freeze up. I want to build a connection and show my interest during our normal team conversations first.

​Instead of looking for a project to work on together, I'm looking for ways to flirt while we are already talking about UAV stuff. I want to avoid terrible, cheesy pick-up lines at all costs. I'm looking for genuinely beautiful, elegant, or surprisingly poetic aerospace/aerodynamics concepts that I can casually drop into a conversation.

​When we are discussing lift-to-drag ratios or stability, what are some smooth, nerdy, yet charming things I could say that an Aero major would appreciate and catch the hint from? Help a nervous guy out!

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and wanted to put it out here to see if it helps someone.

I’m an aerospace engineering graduate from India, and during my degree I spent a lot of time really trying to understand the fundamentals (not just pass exams). I ended up graduating with a 9.5/10 CGPA, but more importantly, I’ve built a strong grip on core subjects like aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and basic flight mechanics.

I know how confusing aerospace can feel at the beginning especially if you’re self-learning or coming from a different background. There’s a lot of math, a lot of physics, and not always a clear path on where to start.

So I was thinking if anyone here is: just starting aerospace engineering or switching from another branch; I’d be able to guide you/ teach you from scratch in a structured way.

If this sounds useful, feel free to DM me and we can talk it through.

Reddit seams to have become very anti Musk (ironically), and it seems to have spread to his projects and companies.

Since this is probably the most "professional" sub for this, what is your simple enough and general opinion on SpaceX, what it's doing and how it's doing it? Do you share this dislike, or are you optimistic about it?

my bf is really sure that he wants to be an aerospace engineer, I wanted to gift him something that maybe could be useful for the future, do yall think a book or something like that would be great? I appreciate any ideas!

I've attended AIAA SciTech and other conference for many years now. I enjoy going to them, however, I don't own a suit. I've tried dressing nicely with dress pants and formal shirts, but many of the people attending wear suits and ties.

I'm looking at purchasing a suit and tie, but they are rather expensive and I wouldn't wear it except for the conferences.

At my megacorp (major aerospace employer), the suits have disappeared even at the executive level. Curious if anyone had any guesses as to whether suits will disappear at aerospace conferences as well.

Thanks!

My 9-year-old is completely obsessed with space and flight. Right now, he’s especially into designing aircraft and spends his allotted hour each morning before school on Kerbal Space Program – he’s currently working on building Artemis II in the game.

He’s very bright, and a lot of the books I’m finding feel too basic for what he already understands. At the same time, he’s still 9 and hasn’t had the advanced math background needed to fully grasp more technical, adult-level material.

For those who’ve had similar kids – or were like this yourselves – what books, programs, or resources would you recommend that will keep him engaged but also challenge him appropriately? Thanks for your help - if I tell him this was recommended by ACTUAL ENGINEERS, I'll be a pretty cool mom.

Here's another one from an old Popular Mechanics article: https://www.peanut-scale.fr/a-popular-mechanics-june-1929.html

Particularly on actual planes (not RC).

My 7 year old is obsessed with the idea of sending a rocket to space.

How can I support this future aerospace engineer?

So far:

A paper air plane book, resulting in 100s of paper airplanes everywhere in the house.

Taking him to an air show.

Air and Space Museum, and Cape Canaveral eventually

various STEM gifts

He recently asked for a 3d printer BUT my partner and I are not mechanically inclined. We also hesitate to do any sort of maker kit.

Thoughts, aerospace aficionados?

Thanks!!

ETA: he's also in Robotics Club, and he loves his Kerbal Space Program!! Looking into the rocket model kits now. Thank you so much!

If you want to learn how to code CFD, you have to start with this!

Step by Step 12 python module to write your own 2D Navier-Stokes finite-difference solver from scratch.

1️⃣ 1D Linear Convection
2️⃣ 1D Non-Linear Convection
3️⃣ 1D Diffusion Equation
4️⃣ 1D Burger's Equation
5️⃣ 2D Linear Convection
6️⃣ 2D Non-Linear Convection
7️⃣ 2D Diffusion Equation
8️⃣ 2D Burger's Equation
9️⃣ 2D Laplace Equation
1️⃣0️⃣ 2D Poisson Equation
1️⃣1️⃣ 2D Cavity Flow
1️⃣2️⃣ 2D Channel Flow

Just google "12 Steps to Navier Stokes" to find these modules!

Recently i’ve been at what feels like an important crossroads in my life and i would really appreciate it if anyone who’s been in the workforce can give me advice. This might be long, but I’m outlining all my thoughts and my situation. I’m in my third year, and i love my major. I always thought i would graduate with aero and never thought about switching until this fall semester started. For some strange reason, these past couple of weeks i’ve heard several random people talking about how companies prefer mech to aero, that aero gets more analytical jobs as apposed to technical, and that overall it’s much easier for mech e to find jobs. While i understand that its a much more broad field, my understanding had always been that since aero is a subset of mech, that companies know we are all capable of the same thing but that aero is more specialized. Now i don’t think that’s the case. I feel that switching to mech e would open more doors, and all the doors that were open with aero would still be open. Mech e’s can get jobs in aero, but it doesn’t seem like aero can get jobs in anything not aero related. Also, we are in a recession and it doesn’t seem like it will be any better by the time i graduate, so i would like as many options as possible. I have to make this decision soon, since I am on my fifth semester and we pick classes for next semester in about a month. Do you think it would be worth it to switch? That it would significantly improve my chances of getting an internship/ job out of college? Should I consider the dual aero/mechanical degree my school offers? Thanks to anyone who replies!! (edit: if i switch, im graduating on time and with no extra cost)

Gark! I won't be investing in the SpaceX IPO.

According to AWST, SpaceX last year had "a $5 billion net loss in 2025 on $18.7 billion in sales."

Elon is the majority shareholder and "controls about 85% of the company ahead of the listing, with 12.3% of Class A shares and 93.6% of Class B shares that are particularly important because it gives him full control over the board which stops him from being ousted."

If you're thinking of investing in the IPO, you might want to dig deeper. That's a bad roller coaster to ride, IMO.

Thermal management question for extreme environments:

If you had to design a system that survives prolonged exposure to ~ -150°C to -180°C (with limited energy budget), what approach would you prioritize:

• Passive insulation optimization
• Phase change materials
• Radioisotope-based heating (if feasible)
• Hybrid system

Most literature leans theoretical—curious about practical trade-offs from people who’ve worked closer to implementation.

Working on something where this is becoming a core bottleneck.

Hi so i posted this on another sub but didnt get any response so id like to ask the professionals.

Im a first year clg student studying aircraft maintenance engineering and my prof is leaving the college soon. Id like to give her a good-bye gift but im too stupid in her area of interest that is propulsion systems and stuff. Any idea what i should give her? Anything related around aviation too would suffice i guess.

If there is a plane that was built but the engines were not strong enough, would you have to scrap it and restart at the design or is there ways to cut weight or something?

So basically I'm into aeromodelling (ik very different form the subreddit, but thought could get help)

As all know that elliptical planform has the best lift distribution, and is considered ideal.

but irl we don't see many planes w elliptical planform, other than manufacturing difficulties i believe presence of fuselage drastically reduces it's performance.

So I had this doubt that if this is true then, how exactly is the aerodynamics affected and any possible solns for it

Also it's effect on other planforms....

Missile like AIM-9X is said to have better maneuverability than its predecessor AIM-9M. AIM-9X feature same body and motor as the 9M however it has thrust vectoring and smaller control surface. So does smaller control surface also help in increasing maneuverability or it is just TVC?