Question: @chuen do you like aeronautical engineering because i am very fascinated in that type of engineering

anon answered on 20 Jun 2015:

Actually what makes aeroplanes work is very complicated. It’s actually one of the most challenging and interesting areas of engineering. With civil engineering the loads are generally static, but with aero the structures are dynamic ie when the plane takes off it has different forces working compared to when it’s cursing at 30000 feet. Did you known the plane is designed to have a different load for take off and landing. So if the plane lands with a full load of fuel it can break the undercarriage!

A lot of work will involve 3D design using a computer program call Solidworks and analysis of how it flat with computational fluid dynamics, formula 1 car designs uses all of these techniques instead of making the cars fly the same principals keep them on the ground, so a F1 car is an inverted wing.

After all this modelling you will make prototypes and test in windtunnels to see if the modelling is correct then modify your model to mimic the wind tunnel tests.

But most aero course will have common topics with people studying mechanical engineering so you may not specialise until the second or third year. There are options in universities to switch from aero to mechanical to automotive in case you have a change of heart half way through he course