An exploratory study investigated technical communications in aeronautics by surveying aeronautical engineers and scientists. The study had five specific objectives: to solicit the opinions of aeronautical engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communications to their profession; to determine their use and production of technical communications; to seek their views in light of their technical communications experience on the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications; to determine their use of libraries, technical information centers, and online databases; and to determine the use and importance of computer through a randomly sampled self-administered mail questionnaire to the members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (606 responded out of 2,000). Results indicated that (1) the ability to communicate technical information effectively is important to aeronautical engineers and scientists; (2) memos, letters, and audio/visual materials are the technical information products most frequently produced by the aeronautical engineers and scientists; (3) about 70% of the respondents had taken a technical communications or technical writing course either at the undergraduate level, after graduation, or both; (4) 94% use a library or technical information center; and (5) 91% use computer technology for preparing technical communications. (Forty tables of data are included, and 43 references and four appendixes containing the survey instrument, additional data, and subjects' open-ended comments comprise Part 2.) (MS)