Getting it Wright
February 15, 2018
Aviation and aerospace have been a signature Ohio industry since the early 1900s.
Aerospace is hardly an emerging industry in Ohio, but it wasn’t always the state’s fifth-largest. The Wright brothers designed and built their “Flying Machine” in Dayton nearly 120 years ago, when the aerospace sector didn’t yet have a proper name. Today, the private aerospace and defense sector supports 41,200 jobs at nearly 600 establishments, with notable clusters in Dayton and Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Akron, and an economic impact north of $8 billion.
From motion control and hydraulics to propellers and landing systems to specialized materials (aluminums, castings and composites), high-end commercial aircraft engines and components, if it’s part of a flying machine today, it was likely made in Ohio. UTC Aerospace, GE Aviation, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Eaton and Northrop Grumman all have sizable operations in Ohio, as do their many Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers.
These and other aerospace employers don’t need to look far for the engineering talent they require. Five universities in Ohio offer aerospace engineering degree programs:
- The Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton
- Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland
- The Ohio State University, Columbus
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Dayton
Each year, Ohio’s colleges and universities graduate more than 10,000 engineers and engineering technicians into the workforce. Equipped with extensive, state-of-the-art aerospace and aviation knowledge, these graduates are prepared to perform.