Building a Career in Aerospace: Makayla’s Story
Makayla Windross is entering her fourth year in Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng): Aerospace Structures, Systems, and Vehicle Design. Here, she reflects on her co-op work term experiences:
“These past 16 months have taught me lessons that I’ll carry with me throughout my entire career and the final eight months of my undergrad.
I had the opportunity to complete 3/4 of my work terms at Transport Canada Civil Aviation: National Aircraft Certification (NAC) – Projects, and it was such an incredible and diverse experience. I learned so much about the aerospace industry, the government, Airworthiness engineering, project management, and the list goes on and on. Understanding airworthiness from the regulator’s perspective is something I’ll carry with me throughout my career.
Over the past year, I had the opportunity to see Airworthiness from many perspectives, from supporting domestic certification activities for propulsion products and appliances to supporting transport category aircraft validations. I’ve also learned a lot through all of the opportunities I’ve had to observe, including sitting in on Continuing Airworthiness activities, and technical briefings for major design changes. I’m incredibly grateful for such a well-rounded experience and for the opportunity to work alongside some of the best engineering specialists in the country.
I’m also incredibly grateful for the four months I spent at Environment and Climate Change Canada, where I worked on assessing the environmental performance of the Canadian fleet under CEPA 1999. That experience strengthened my understanding of combustion, engines, regulations, and it set me up perfectly for my time at TCCA.”