In the aerospace domain, manufacturers and operators constantly seek to improve their products and processes. Increasingly, knowledge-based applications are developed to support or automate knowledge-intensive engineering tasks, saving time and money. However, engineering knowledge changes over time, which has implications for the usability and maintainability of knowledge-based applications. The research presented in this thesis contributes to the development of theory regarding knowledge change in engineering tasks. A conceptual knowledge lifecycle model to characterise and quantify knowledge change is presented. Additionally, this thesis proposes a methodology and an ontology-based approach to support the development of robust knowledge-based applications that can cope with knowledge change. These research contributions are validated in three case studies that consider engineering tasks in the aircraft design, manufacturing and maintenance lifecycle phases. The case studies demonstrate the utility of knowledge lifeycle management as usability and maintainability of knowledge-based applications are improved.