Aeronautical Engineering Semester highlights

From award-winning final year projects to factory floor visits at Airbus, our Aeronautical Engineering students are getting hands-on with the science of flight in ways that go well beyond the lecture theatre.

A proud moment: Callum Baker takes second place at GradEx

Some final year projects don't just demonstrate strong engineering, they hold up under real scrutiny. That's exactly what final year student Callum Baker achieved with his project investigating how vortex generators can delay flow separation over wings, a technique with real implications for aircraft efficiency and control.

Callum showcased his work at GradEx, the University's degree show, where he took part in interactive sessions with industry judges, fielding questions and defending his findings in real time. His work earned him second place overall, a genuine achievement, and a strong signal of the calibre of engineering thinking coming out of our aeronautical programme.  Congratulations Callum!  Watch Callum discuss his project that devised a way to use vortex generators to prevent flow separation to avoid planes from stalling mid-air below.

Designing from scratch: the Aircraft Design Project

In the Aircraft Design Project module, students don't just study aircraft - they design them. Working in teams, students have taken on the full challenge of designing aircraft from the ground up, including business jets, fighters, bombers, and cargo aircraft, each built entirely from scratch by the group.

It's a project that demands exactly what the industry demands: close collaboration, rigorous technical decision-making, and the ability to balance competing design requirements across a full aircraft concept, not just a single component. For students, it's often the first time they see how individual engineering disciplines come together to shape a complete, functioning design.

Learning from industry: inside Airbus Broughton

There's no substitute for seeing world-class manufacturing in person. Our second-year aeronautical students visited the Airbus wing manufacturing site at Broughton, Wales which is one of the most significant wing production facilities in the world.

The visit gave students direct exposure to the realities of wing aerodynamics, structural engineering, and large-scale manufacturing, connecting what they've learned in the classroom to how it's actually built at industrial scale.  For students still in the midst of their degree, experiences like this sharpen their sense of where their studies are heading, and what working at the leading edge of aerospace manufacturing really looks like.

Mastering computational aerodynamics

Understanding how air moves over a wing is one thing; being able to model and analyse it computationally is another skill entirely. Our second-year students also had the opportunity to attend an ANSYS-funded aerodynamic tutorial on campus, focused on a new wing analysis workflow.

The session gave students practical, hands-on experience with industry-standard computational aerodynamics tools, deepening their understanding of aerodynamic behaviour while building genuine technical capability with software used across the aerospace sector. It's exactly the kind of specialist skill that sets graduates apart when they move into professional roles.

Congratulations to our graduates and looking ahead

Congratulations to all of our undergraduate aeronautical graduates as they move on to the next stage of their careers — we wish them every success. We're especially pleased to be welcoming back Callum and Kai , who will be staying on to join our MSc Aeronautical Engineering course in September 2026, and we look forward to supporting their continued progression.

We couldn't celebrate this year's graduates without catching up with first-class degree recipient Daina at graduation.  Watch Daina discuss how her development over three years has given her the confidence to start her new chapter.

Alumnus spotlight: catching up with Joseph Pinto

We recently caught up with Joseph Pinto, who graduated from our Aeronautical Engineering programme with a First-Class Honours BEng, before returning to complete an MSc in Aeronautical Engineering with Distinction. Originally from Goa, India, Joseph now works as a CAD Engineer in Greater Manchester for The Alternative Steel Company, part of the Amari Metals Engineering Group.  Last year, he had the opportunity to present research from his MSc dissertation at an international aerospace conference in Turin.

We spoke to him about his journey through the course, how it shaped his career, and what he's most proud of since graduating.

Read Joseph's full story: Graduate Profile: Joseph Pinto, Aeronautical Engineering