{"id":1216,"date":"2026-09-16T08:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T12:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/?post_type=cu_story&#038;p=1216"},"modified":"2026-09-16T08:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T12:09:19","slug":"building-a-career-in-aerospace-makaylas-story","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/story\/building-a-career-in-aerospace-makaylas-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Career in Aerospace: Makayla&#8217;s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-max  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n        \n                    \n                    \n            \n    <div class=\"cu-wideimage relative flex items-center justify-center mx-auto px-8 overflow-hidden md:px-16 rounded-xl not-prose  my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 bg-opacity-50 bg-cover bg-cu-black-50 pt-24 pb-32 md:pt-28 md:pb-44 lg:pt-36 lg:pb-60 xl:pt-48 xl:pb-72\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/cdn.carleton.ca\/rds\/assets\/banners\/campus-river-01.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\n                    <div class=\"absolute top-0 w-full h-screen\" style=\"background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.600);\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"relative z-[2] max-w-4xl w-full flex flex-col items-center gap-2 cu-wideimage-image cu-zero-first-last\">\n            <header class=\"mx-auto mb-6 text-center text-white cu-pageheader cu-component-updated cu-pageheader--center md:mb-12\">\n\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold mb-2 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] cu-pageheader--center text-center mx-auto after:left-px\">\n                        Building a Career in Aerospace: Makayla&#8217;s Story\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                            <\/header>\n        <\/div>\n\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"absolute bottom-0 w-full z-[1]\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 1280 312\">\n                <path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M26.412 315.608c-.602-.268-6.655-2.412-13.524-4.769a1943.84 1943.84 0 0 1-14.682-5.144l-2.276-.858v-5.358c0-4.876.086-5.358.773-5.09 1.674.643 21.38 5.84 34.646 9.109 14.682 3.59 28.935 6.858 45.936 10.449l9.874 2.089H57.322c-16.4 0-30.31-.16-30.91-.428ZM460.019 315.233c42.974-10.074 75.602-19.88 132.443-39.867 76.16-26.791 152.063-57.709 222.385-90.663 16.7-7.823 21.336-10.074 44.262-21.273 85.004-41.688 134.719-64.193 195.291-88.413 66.55-26.577 145.2-53.584 194.27-66.765C1258.5 5.626 1281.34 0 1282.24 0c.17 0 .34 27.596.34 61.3v61.299l-2.23.375c-84.7 13.718-165.93 35.955-310.736 84.931-46.494 15.753-65.427 22.076-96.166 32.15-9.102 3-24.814 8.198-34.989 11.574-107.543 35.954-153.008 50.422-196.626 62.639l-6.74 1.876-89.126-.054c-78.135-.054-88.782-.161-85.948-.857ZM729.628 312.875c33.229-10.985 69.248-23.523 127.506-44.207 118.705-42.223 164.596-57.709 217.446-73.302 2.62-.75 8.29-2.465 12.67-3.751 56.19-16.772 126.94-33.597 184.17-43.671 5.07-.91 9.66-1.768 10.22-1.875l.94-.161v170.236l-281.28-.054H719.968l9.66-3.215ZM246.864 313.411c-65.041-2.251-143.047-12.11-208.432-26.256-18.375-3.965-41.73-9.538-42.202-10.074-.171-.214-.257-21.38-.214-47.046l.129-46.618 6.654 3.697c57.313 32.043 118.491 56.531 197.699 79.143 40.313 11.521 83.459 18.058 138.669 21.059 15.584.857 65.685.857 81.14 0 33.744-1.876 61.306-4.93 88.396-9.806 6.396-1.126 11.634-1.983 11.722-1.929.255.375-20.48 7.769-30.999 11.038-28.592 8.948-59.288 15.646-91.873 20.147-26.36 3.59-50.015 5.627-78.35 6.698-15.584.59-55.209.59-72.339-.053Z\"><\/path>\n                <path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M-3.066 295.067 32.06 304.1v9.033H-3.066v-18.066Z\"><\/path>\n            <\/svg>\n            <\/div>\n\n    \n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Makayla Windross is entering her fourth year in Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng): Aerospace Structures, Systems, and Vehicle Design.\u00a0Here, she reflects on her co-op work term experiences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"547\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2026\/09\/IMG_3504-512x547.jpeg\" alt=\"Makayla stands in a Transport Canada building. There are TV screens with aviation images next to her.\" class=\"wp-image-1217\" style=\"width:350px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2026\/09\/IMG_3504-512x547.jpeg 512w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2026\/09\/IMG_3504-1024x1093.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2026\/09\/IMG_3504-320x342.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2026\/09\/IMG_3504-768x820.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2026\/09\/IMG_3504.jpeg 1179w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;These past 16 months have taught me lessons that I&#8217;ll carry with me throughout my entire career and the final eight months of my undergrad.<br><br>I had the opportunity to complete 3\/4 of my work terms at Transport Canada Civil Aviation: National Aircraft Certification (NAC) &#8211; 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&#8217;s perspective is something I&#8217;ll carry with me throughout my career.<br><br>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\u2019ve also learned a lot through all of the opportunities I\u2019ve had to observe, including sitting in on Continuing Airworthiness activities, and technical briefings for major design changes. I&#8217;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.<br><br>I&#8217;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As she enters her fourth year in the program of Aerospace Structures, Systems, and Vehicle Design, Makayla reflects on her work term experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":1217,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-1216","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/1216\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/co-op\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}