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“Enjoy your time at university and look forward to an exciting and wide-ranging course of study.”
Theresa Rinnhofer studied for her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aviation at FH JOANNEUM. She now works at APELEON (VOLARE GmbH).
What I studied:
How to reach me: My Friendship Book Entry
Me in three emojis: ☃️🌍👨🏻👩🏼👧🏼
In my free time:I enjoy being active and spending time outdoors in the fresh mountain air with my family.
The coolest internship was: Airbus Helicopters in Donauwörth, Germany
When I was little, I wanted to be a forensic pathologist; today I’m an aviation engineer.
If I hadn’t studied Aviation I would be: Sports presenter or maths teacher.
Here is where I spent my time after the lectures: in the information hall or in the city park
This is how I celebrated my graduation:We went to the ‘Propeller’ restaurant with some of our fellow students and a few teachers were there too, of course.
About my studies
What you definitely learn in my study programme: Why an aeroplane flies.
The best course was: Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering
This course was a challenge for me: Mechanics
Fun fact from my studies? Useless knowledge? In our day, the marks used to be put up on the noticeboard. When the professor came to put up the sheet with the marks, he turned back at first because he saw that we were about to sit another exam. He didn’t want to demotivate us with the poor results. Only one person had passed the exam.
My advice for you
The effort and hard work are well worth it. Enjoy your time at university and look forward to an exciting and wide-ranging course of study.
About my job
I work for a company that is developing a vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In the aviation sector, there are numerous regulations to comply with, not only in operations but also in development and construction. I ensure that our aircraft complies with all applicable regulations and that we obtain the necessary flight authorisation for our (test) flights. To this end, I work closely with the Austrian aviation authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
A fellow student drew my attention to the job. Her boyfriend founded the company in 2017 and offered me a position. He was aware that, when developing an aircraft, it is important from the very start to ensure future certifiability and compliance with all regulations. As I have been working in this field since graduating, I already had a great deal of knowledge and experience to draw on.
The degree programme was very time-consuming, and some exams seemed impossible to pass at first glance. But with the right determination, anything can be achieved. My five years at FH JOANNEUM not only prepared me professionally for my career, but also made me extremely resilient and able to cope with stress. For me, giving up and taking the easy way out is simply not an option. Thanks to the highly varied curriculum, I’ve gained a sound grounding in many specialist areas such as aerodynamics, control engineering and mechanics. This gives me a solid foundation for understanding the regulations across all these fields and identifying potential problems at an early stage.
What I particularly like about my job is its versatility – because it encompasses all specialist areas – the close involvement with the product, and the process of working out the best way for us to comply with all regulations. What I like less is the sheer amount of red tape. As the saying goes: ‘Only when the weight of the documentation equals the aircraft’s “maximum take-off weight” is an aircraft certified to take off.’
My job requires flexibility, independence and precision. Among my greatest successes are the maiden flights of the aircraft we have developed and built ourselves. And looking to the future, I intend to keep developing my skills – just as the technologies I work with continue to evolve.
Our Graduates
Would you like to get to know other FH JOANNEUM graduates and find out more about their studies and career paths? You can find all the portraits here.