Many years ago, while on duty and having lunch with a pilot, he told me:

"You should reconsider your career. Aircrafts are becoming more and more advanced and reliable. Soon they will no longer need technicians to look after them!"

My answer was brief and devastating: "¿Have you heard about something called AUTOPILOT? Perhaps I'm not the one to be worried at all!"

And after a short, nervous laugh from us both, the topic was archived.

I still look back to those days and carefully analyse how much we have advanced in terms of technology.

It is obvious that aircraft systems are becoming more autonomous, capable, and even user friendly, reducing workload and increasing efficiency not only for the pilots, but also for the engineers.

In my case, comparing the old BK117 helicopters with analog instruments and mechanical gyros, with the H145 Helionix systems, is like jumping into the future.

It all has seen trends just like anything else. Black, steryle cockpits with essential data versus the thousand analog clocks is a good example.

From the technical side, the new technologies require more of IT skills rather than the classic hand skills. It has become more of a data uploading/downloading/analysing matter.

But aircrafts don't just fly on computers.

They still use what I would define as "old school" mechanical parts and components.

Control rods, bellcranks, gears, bolts, self-locking nuts and split pins... are still there.

Although having seen a slight improvement in terms of materials and fatigue resistance, the basics remain pretty much the same.

We still rely on a good trained (human) eye, capable of identifying cracks, signs of corrosion, plays out of limits, etc.

But human criteria is yet subject to human factors, thus bound to be subjective, and exposed to errors. Of course we try to minimize these by means of duplicate inspections and redundant steps in the maintenance process, but the visual inspection itself still keeps its essence.

¿How do new technologies fit into this?

I still use my trained eye to look for cracks and judge wear and tear. But I often ask myself: "¿Will we ever see the day when robots, or high technology scanners, or maybe nanobots, will be able to perform these inspections with a 100% rate of accuracy?"

We've all seen Tony Stark using Jarvis to design, develop and manufacture his suits, and wondered if we will ever reach to see a similar technology working in real life.

It would be indeed a huge step in the aviation industry, which would enormously increase safety, and drastically reduce maintenance downtimes.

There would be no longer a need to dismantle half an aircraft just to inspect a component difficult to access.

But then, ¿how is this going to affect our profession?

My feelings about this thought are divided: of course I feel excited about the idea of using these new, extremely accurate technologies. But at the same time it creates uncertainty about the future of my profession.

¿Is my generation ever going to see this transition? And if so, ¿how are we going to adapt to it?

¿How do you think the aircraft engineer's profession will look like in about 50 years?