Aerospace From the Ground Up: Why It ' s Time to Tell New Stories
When people think of careers in aerospace, the same images tend to come to mind: test pilots in flight suits, engineers poring over blueprints, or astronauts strapped into rockets. While those roles are important, they barely scratch the surface of the industry. The truth is, aerospace is a vast, interconnected ecosystem full of opportunity, and it’ s time we start telling the whole story.
We have a storytelling problem in aerospace. The narrative we promote is outdated and incomplete. It often excludes the machinists, CNC programmers, supply chain analysts, composites technicians, marketing professionals, and quality inspectors who make flight possible. These are the careers that build the future of flight every day, and they’ re accessible in ways many students and career-changers don’ t realize.
Nikki Malcom Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance http:// pnaa. net
PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE
At PNAA, we’ ve spent the last few years talking to industry leaders, educators, and emerging professionals about the widening talent gap. The recurring theme? People don’ t know what we do. Worse, they don’ t see a place for themselves in it.
It’ s no surprise. If you walk into a high school career day and ask students what jobs exist in aerospace, most can name only two: pilot and engineer. That’ s not a failure of imagination. It’ s a failure of communication.
We can change that— and we must.
The next generation of the aerospace workforce isn’ t looking for jobs; they’ re looking for purpose. They want to build cool things. They want to solve real problems. They want to make a difference. Aerospace offers all of that, but only if they know it exists. Our stories need to be more human, more diverse, and more reflective of the people who actually power this industry.
36 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS