Aeronautical Engineering

Aero787

Anyone here doing Aeronautical Engineering? What's the course like? Where do graduates get jobs/go for further study?

How hard would it be to get work experience with Airbus for the cooperative education part of the course? If you've done it, what was it like?

Are you able to transfer between MechEng and AeroEng in first year?


Cheers!

spideog7

haven't done it meself but supposedly :

it's good course, prob have to go abroad to work on design and stuff (?), lots of oppurtunity for that in europe (Germany,France, England ...)
Think its not too hard get co-op with Airbus but they pay pittance sometimes doesn't even cover rent (so i've heard)
To my knowledge Mech and Aero are the same for the first year..so you should be able to change after 1st year.

Open to correction on any of that stuff... but i'm quietly confident

Nukem

Lved with an Aero head last year. Gteting a job is hard but you will be one of the few in the country with the qualification so kudoos to you if ya get through it. Heard of Aero's working for NASA,Pratt&Whitney,Airbus and Boeing but they are all abroad! Think SR tech,Shannon Aerospace,Lufstansa and the Aircore are the main hirees for Aero's in Ireland.

Claasman

Aero787 wrote:

Anyone here doing Aeronautical Engineering? What's the course like? Where do graduates get jobs/go for further study?

How hard would it be to get work experience with Airbus for the cooperative education part of the course? If you've done it, what was it like?

Are you able to transfer between MechEng and AeroEng in first year?


Cheers!

OK, im a mech,but i know a few "Aerosexuals". Basically all the degree courses are the same in first year( manu, mech, bio, aero). Check out the UL website for adverage earnings, Ul.ie>colleges>Enguineering>...

I am on co-op at the moment, and its like nothing i ever thought i would be doing. There is so much scope for diversification in your disipline of engineering, you will have loads of options open to you. I work in a medical company, and there are a good few aeros here aswell.

My understanding is, To get Co-op with airbus, obviously, you have to be able to manage some french. You also have to be in the top of your class, as that is how airbus pick the students. The pay with airbus is **** as a co-op but the experience will be invaluable. You deffo will not make money there though.

As for switching courses, you can switch between all the engineering disiplines there up untill the end of second year, but you will know fairly quickly if you are in the wrong course.

Hope this answers some of your questions, best of luck

Claasman

Aero787

"Aerosexuals" - very true!

So Airbus are looking for guys going for 1st class honours? Fair enough I suppose. To be honest, the pay wouldn't really bother me. It's all about the experience.

Any aeroheads want to share their experiences of the course or co-op?


Cheers :cool:

ScabbyLeg

Since you asked!

I'm a 4th year Aero now. I started the course because I always had a bit of exposure to aviation, and figured crossing that with mechanical engineering would be the perfect combination!

Engineering is engineering, basically. Whichever discipline you pick... a lot are very interchangeable. At least, looking at Aero or Mech, then they're both very similar, and an aero engineer shouldn't have much difficulty getting into a more general mechanical career, and likewise a mechanical engineer really shouldn't have too much trouble getting into the aero industry.

Coop was a good experience alright, and a good few of us were abroad working for some biggish names. A few of the lads were working for Airbus in different parts of France alright, I was working in Germany myself. To be honest, there are loads of ways to get into a big company like Airbus but it's not the only one out there! And for the coop, I wouldn't say you really have to be top of the class to get a placement.

I've gone off on all sorts of tangents! Basically, if you're a pilot and love the flying / aviation side of things... then it might not satisfy you, in that I don't really see it as a way to get into that. If you'd like to do Mech Eng but figure the Aero side of things looks a bit more interesting, then fire away! But you won't really be limiting yourself by doing mechanical engineering. You have 1st year to change your mind too!

Hope that helps ya out a little bit, and sorry if it just confuses you more!

Aero787

Cheers ScabbyLeg, yeah I've narrowed it down to Aero at UL, Mech at UCD or CIT, but I'd probably prefer to specialise more in Aero. We'll see........

5uspect

Hi, I did Aero in UL a few years ago, I'm now doing a PhD there. TBH there isn't much difference between Aero and Mech in UL. You do different modules but the same maths! The only reason I can see for doing one over the other is where you go in co-op, I went to the air Corps which was great (I'm a recovering aerosexual) and the wording on your degree which may help you on your future career path. But most companies know there are subtle if not little difference between degrees.

So if I were to start engineering again I would pick my degree by the University not by the minor differences between mech and aero. I'd imagine I wouldn't have changed a thing either...

Aero787

What is the department like? How does it compare to other universities (UCD)? Facilities, faculty, all that sort of stuff. I can't decide whether UCD or UL is better so I need your opinions!

ScabbyLeg

To see for yourself, you really should be here in UL today for the open day. Talking to outsiders, they all seem pretty impressed with our campus and facilities. It's really hard to say, though, because I think that everyone will tell you that their college is better for some particular reason. At UL, the campus is pleasant to work in, we do have relatively modern facilities, which is great for engineering, and we have good access to labs and stuff like that.

If you are here on the open day today, and they show you all the windtunnels, the jet engine, flight sim and other stuff that they have lying around in the labs- it certainly has the 'wow' factor, but just keep in mind that you probably won't see that stuff till 4th year!

Edit: Unfortunately I don't really know too much about engineering in UCD. I was up there for the open day back when I did was doing the LC, and thought the Bellfield campus wasn't that great, and the facilities were older. Maybe things are different now? Still though, both UCD and UL's engineering degrees are accredited by Engineers Ireland, so they have to be up to the same standard.

5uspect

Faculty wise the staff in UL are okay. There are one or two clowns but nothing that you won't know to aviod after first year. But I suspect that this is a general thing and nothing particular to UL. Have you posted on the UCD forum to get opinions? There's also an Engineering forum where there should be plenty of graduates.

Facilities in UL are very good. You won't really get to use any of them in your undergraduate tho. Undergraduate Engineering is essentially applied maths with a few labs. You do get the oppertunity to play with some of the cool toys for your final year project but this is still limited as some equipment is too expensive and delicate to let undergrads near.

Aero787

What type of flight sim is it? A Merlin?

What responsibilities in companies do guys on co-op take up? I know it's a bit vague, but the guy in the prospectus was in customer services?

What do the "Introduction to Engineering" 1&2 modules in first year involve?

5uspect

phew! a good few questions there!
Well the flight sim is an ongoing final year project that''s worked on every year (not a great one I might add). Basically involves a group of students getting various parts of it working, rushing to get their part finished and then the next crowd come along rip all their rushed work out and rush to replace it. You'll really want to be into the whole simulator thing for that as its not really a proper engineering project. Sorry if that sounds harsh.

Anyway if you are interested, the sim is the cockpit section of a real Boeing 707 (Nigerian origins I believe, the tail section is on a roundabout out in shannon). Its being converted into a trainer for a 737-NG running on MS flight Sim and a shoe string budget.

The stereotypical co-op job is making tea but the worst job i had was sweeping the hanger floor a few times. I was in the Air Corps for mine and it was really good. I spend most (95%) of my time working on the aircraft doing maintenance work and inspections. I also got to go flying in most of their aircraft. One of the other lads (there were 3 of us) helped re-build a cessna practically from scratch. So it was a very hands on experience. Others got stuck with crappy paper shuffling jobs or CAD work in places like Pratt and Whitney, Shannon Aerospace etc. One of my current students (I'm tutoring 4th years at the moment) while in Airbus was working on the A380 a few times in Toulouse (but remember the pay there is rubbish). Generally anyone working in lreland got paid quite well (for a student at least!).

Other guys were out in Dublin airport, one guy was working for FLS (can't think of they're latest name at the moment) and he really got on well there. He was designing repairs for damage to skin panels (usually baggage handlers). He wanted to go back there but now he's working in the aircraft leasing sector raking in the big bucks (yes I'm a jealous poor postgrad). There are a few others working in FLS now and one or two more in Ryanair. I'd say the co-op companies are some of the main employers so make sure you get a good placement if you do decide to join us.

As regards first year, don't worry about it. Its common to all the engineering degrees (Mech, Aero, Bio etc) The idea is that they need to get everyone on the same level for the following years because people arrive into first year without physics which is not a good start. So basically you do a lot of applied maths (Statics and dynamics modules, nice and easy) and some electronics and maths. The engineering science or intro to Engineering or whatever they deceided to call them are to try and improve things like report writing, additional physics, measurement techniques, understanding of science and engineering in general. It more easy stuff.

Hope this helps

Aero787

Ok, the flight sim sounds kind of disappointing.

For the guys who get work experience in Airbus, approximately how many will be involved in engineering and how many will work in unrelated areas?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but was there a UL team entered in Formula Student last year? Is it Aeros or Mechs or both who get to take part?

5uspect, you have a PPL? Where did you do it?

5uspect

Sorry to rain on the flight sim idea for you. From my perspective its a load of rubbish but my perspective involves big powerful lasers high speed cameras and a wind tunnel which is far more interesting.

I'm not sure about the airbus thing, but if you are on a placement and you are not doing engineering related work you should complain. I didn't hear too many horror stories about co-op. And to be honest the better students got the better jobs (sounds like a terrible thing to say but its true). So if you're a fairly smart and hard working type you'll more than likely get a good co-op.

Not sure about the FS thing, but I'm sure that if there was a team you'd have as good a chance as any of getting on it.

I don't have the money or the eyesight for a PPL. And I'm not really bothered with getting one. (I think I mentioned earlier that I'm a recovering aerosexual, I've discovered this thing called science that far more interesting).

Lots of people go out to Coonagh to fly, one of the Aero lecturers, Trevor Young, flies out there in a Piper of some description. He often has final year projects based on inflight measurements with it. One of ther lads is big into his gliding up in Dublin too. There are lots of people around with an interest or a contact in flying that you'll meet here.

Claasman

Aero787 wrote:

Ok, the flight sim sounds kind of disappointing.

For the guys who get work experience in Airbus, approximately how many will be involved in engineering and how many will work in unrelated areas?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but was there a UL team entered in Formula Student last year? Is it Aeros or Mechs or both who get to take part?

5uspect, you have a PPL? Where did you do it?

OK, two guys went over this semester, one is in statistics and the other works in acoustics. The work is fairly difficult, and they had to do a load of reading before they went over...

As for the formula student, they entered it this yar, dont know how they got on though, any disipline of engineering can enter...

5uspect

Claasman wrote:

The work is fairly difficult, and they had to do a load of reading before they went over...

Well thats engineering for you, it baffles me how many students (not just engineering) don't appreciate that an undergraduate degree is all about reading a subject and understanding it yourself and not being spoon fed. At least they still refer to it as reading in the UK.