Oh phooey. Expertise like that is very transferable. I didn't have any trouble transitioning from being an aerospace gearbox expert to writing software and then compilers.
My experience agrees with the OP. Aerospace is sometimes considered a subset of mechanical engineering which is a very broad field that can be applied across many domains.
Now if you've spent your career in a very narrow subset of that field and not developed transferrable skills along the way, I'm not sure the fault is entirely the employer's.
Right. I have a skill set from a previous job that I don't use anymore. I could get hired tomorrow to do that job again but I have no interest in it. I guess if we are saying highly skilled people can find another job then I agree but that wasnt the argument.
Not everyone wants to make a career change, especially not folks in the space business.