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Highlights of the
week:
For
more career opportunities from various industries,
please access CareerAxis.
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New Horizons in Aerospace:
Opportunities in Emerging Sectors
By Sia Kheng Yok, Chief
Executive, Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore)
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Dear Students,
Exciting
new technologies have emerged in the past decade which are set to alter how
we make use of our airspace for transport. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) or
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has quickly grown into an emerging industry,
sparking the imagination within the sector and
attracting billions of dollars in investment.
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At one end of the UAM spectrum
are “drones”, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned
Aircraft (UA), or Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs). These unmanned aircraft
are already being used in a range of industries, from logistics to
surveillance and emergency response. The use of drones in Singapore has
continued to expand over the years, with about 18,000 drones registered in
Singapore and about 3,000 certified pilots as at end of 2022. Drones are
now being deployed daily to check mosquito breeding sites, the health of
trees, water safety at reservoirs, monitor construction worksites, inspect
infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels, and transport packages to ships
at our busy anchorage.
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PUB’s drone
deployment (Source: PUB,
May 2021)
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And then, there are
“air taxis.” These are typically electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL)
aircraft designed to transport 1 to 5 passengers quickly and efficiently
between urban destinations. AAM professionals are exploring the integration
of air taxi “vertiports” into existing transportation infrastructure,
providing an alternative to ground transportation, reducing traffic
congestion and environmental pollution. Singapore saw the test flight of
the Volocopter air taxi around Marina Bay in
2019, and we can expect to see air taxi operations as soon as 2024, when
the first air taxis are expected to be certified airworthy for commercial
operations.
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Volocopter demo flight
around Marina Bay, Singapore (Source: Volocopter,
October 2019)
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The
promising potential of the AAM/UAM industry offers exciting opportunities for
innovators, entrepreneurs and creatives. There is a
myriad of career prospects not only for future engineers, but also data and
computer scientists, programmers and software developers, designers, urban planners
and policy makers, marketeers and PR specialists, and others.
 Find out more about the UAS
industry in this feature by Aerospace
Singapore. Sign up to be the first to access Aerospace Singapore Digital
(Launching in August 2023!), an initiative by AAIS to help you keep in touch
with the latest happenings in the AAM/UAM, aerospace and aviation industries!
You can also follow our LinkedIn
page or visit us at aais.org.sg for
more information.
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