Aeronautical Engineering

In our Aeronautical Engineering course, you will be able to specialise in subjects that will be vital to the future of aviation, which go far beyond traditional passenger transport aircraft. There are many exciting challenges facing the sector, from finding environmentally sustainable methods of propulsion to increasing automation that allows unmanned aircraft to complete an ever-increasing range of tasks. This course will prepare you for a career tackling the challenges facing aviation today, and well into the future.

In this course, you can study topics such as Autonomous Vehicles, Sensor Fusion, Machine Learning, Noise Control, and Experimental and Computational Fluid Dynamics, among many others. These are underpinned by learning the fundamentals of engineering and analysis techniques, equipping you for a career not only in the aeronautical and automotive sectors but many others too.

As part of the course, you will gain experience in testing and flight procedures by undertaking a flight test course. This includes up to four flights in an aircraft equipped with a flying laboratory. Our course contains modules on Aircraft and Gas Turbine Design too. These allow you to put the theory you have learned into practice as you learn how to produce detailed engineering designs to fulfil specific design briefs. In your final year, you will work as part of a team to design an aircraft of the future and work on your own original research project, working to solve a real-world engineering challenge.

Our courses are taught within the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering. Our teaching staff are engaged in pioneering research into air and ground transport, which helps keep our course up to date. We bring together outstanding facilities, superb teaching, and strong links with industry to make sure you are completely ready for your future career.

What's the difference between MEng and BEng?

The first two years of the BEng and MEng courses share the same format and structure, with a high level of aeronautical-specific content from day one, underpinned with fundamental engineering topics.

The MEng courses differ from the BEng by offering the opportunity to study technical and management topics at a more advanced level, plus the option of studying a modern language. The individual project in the final year of the MEng is a more significant piece of work than for the BEng and may be carried out at an overseas university or in conjunction with an industrial sponsor.

All our courses can be studied with or without the industrial placement year. Courses which lead to MEng take four or five years (depending if an industrial placement year is included) whilst the BEng courses take three or four years. The placement is normally taken after the second year, but MEng students can opt to take it after the third year instead.

It is possible to transfer from a BEng to an MEng from the commencement of the course up to the end of the second year, providing that the transfer progression criteria have been met.