MSc in Aircraft Engineering

Overview

With a projected demand for 27,000 new civil airliners by 2030, the industry faces a shortfall in postgraduate level engineers to meet future industry needs. Aircraft engineers need a combination of technical and business skills for today's aerospace engineering projects. This course will broaden your understanding of aircraft engineering and design subjects and provide you with a strong foundation for career development in technical, integration and leadership roles.

Who is it for?

We recognize the challenge of undertaking part-time study while you are working. This course is specifically designed for people working in engineering or technical management positions in the aerospace industry who wish to study for an accredited master's degree while they are in employment.

You are required to attend a total of nine weeks of lectures over three years on a modular basis. The first-year attendance pattern is two weeks in February, followed by one week in June and one week in November. Following a series of compulsory modules, you may choose three specialist optional modules in order to tailor the course to your particular interests and requirements.

Why this course?

This course provides accelerated development of engineering staff whilst delivering the right mix of technical and business skills for careers in the aerospace industry. The course will broaden your understanding of aircraft engineering and design subjects, and provide a strong foundation for career development in technical, integration, and leadership roles. This accredited master's course supports your career development by meeting the further learning requirements for Chartered Engineer status. The Group project allows you to gain hands-on experience of development and design lifecycle, and the Individual project allows you to investigate a topic that is of interest to your employer, with supervision from experienced staff.

Cranfield has been at the forefront of postgraduate education in aircraft engineering since 1946. We have a global reputation for our advanced postgraduate education and extensive applied research. You can be sure that your qualification will be valued and respected by employers.

Course details

The MSc in Aircraft Engineering consists of three elements: taught modules, a group design project and an individual research project.

Compulsory modules

All the modules in the following list need to be taken as part of this course

• Tools for Integrated Product Development
• Major Component Design and Manufacture
• Introduction and Initial Aerospace Vehicle Design
• Manufacturing
• Methodologies for Integrated Product Development

Elective modules

A selection of modules from the following list needs to be taken as part of this course

• Finite Element Analysis
• Fatigue, Fracture Mechanics and Damage Tolerance
• Aircraft Loading Actions and Aeroelasticity
• Detail Stressing
• Airframe Systems
• Introduction to Aircraft Structural Crashworthiness
• Design, Durability, and Integrity of Composite Aircraft Structures
• Aircraft Performance for Aircraft Engineering
• Flight Dynamics Principles for Aircraft Engineering
• Methodologies for Integrated Product Development
• Introduction to Avionics

Your career

This course will provide you with the tools and experience to help enhance your career opportunities in the aerospace industry, enabling you to progress further in your present discipline or move into other specialist or integration roles. Networking with students from different backgrounds is valuable to gain an appreciation of how other companies work.

This course can be used for Chartered Engineer status, which can result in new career opportunities for the future.