Aerospace Dynamics MSc

Why this course?

The aerospace industry in the UK is the largest in the world, outside of the USA. Aerodynamics and flight dynamics will remain a key element in the development of future aircraft and in reducing civil transport environmental issues, making significant contributions to the next generation of aircraft configurations. 

In the military arena, aerodynamic modelling and flight dynamics play an important role in the design and development of combat aircraft and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). The continuing search for aerodynamic refinement and performance optimisation for the next generation of aircraft and surface vehicles creates the need for specialist knowledge of fluid flow behaviour.

Cranfield University has been at the forefront of postgraduate education in aerospace engineering since 1946. The MSc in Aerospace Dynamics stems from the programme in Aerodynamics which was one of the first master's courses offered by Cranfield and is an important part of our heritage. The integration of aerodynamics with flight dynamics reflects the long-term link with the aircraft flight test activity established by Cranfield.

You will have the opportunity to fly during a Student Experience Flight in our National Flying Laboratory Centre’s (NFLC) light aircraft. This flight experience will complement your MSc studies, focussing on the effects of controls, aircraft stability and angle of attack. During the flight you will have the opportunity to take control of the aircraft. Each experience is 2 to 3 hours in duration and includes a pre-flight safety briefing outlining the details of the manoeuvres to be flown, a flight of approximately 1 hour, and a post-flight debrief. Read Dominic's blog detailing his flight experience.

Graduates of this course are eligible to join the Cranfield College of Aeronautics Alumni Association (CCAAA), an active community which holds a number of networking and social events throughout the year.

To study for a formal award at Cranfield you will need to demonstrate that you can communicate effectively in English in an academic environment. You can meet this requirement in the following ways:

• If you have previously obtained a higher education level qualification from a UK university and have been taught and assessed in English (note that international applicants applying for Master’s courses in Cranfield’s School of Management are required to have studied in the UK for the full duration of the course).
• If you are a national of or have a obtained a higher education level qualification from a country on the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) list of majority English speaking countries:
  
  

  Antigua and Barbuda	Ireland
  Australia	Jamaica
  The Bahamas	Malta
  Barbados	New Zealand
  Belize	St Kitts and Nevis
  Canada*	St Lucia
  Dominica	St Vincent and the Grenadines
  Grenada	Trinidad and Tobago
  Guyana	United States of America

  
  
  *You will usually be required take an English test if your studies were not taught and assessed in English.
• If you have been continuously employed in the UK for a minimum of five years immediately prior to the start of the course, providing you are able to supply a reference from your current employer which explicitly confirms you are able to communicate effectively in English.
• By providing a satisfactory English test certificate that meets the requirement of the course you have applied for.

Your career

Industry-driven research makes our graduates some of the most desirable in the world for recruitment in a wide range of career paths within the aerospace and military sector. A successful graduate should be able to integrate immediately into an industrial or research environment and make an immediate contribution to the group without further training. Increasingly, these skills are in demand in other areas including automotive, environmental, energy and medicine. Recent graduates have found positions in the aerospace, automotive and related sectors. 

Employers include:

• Airbus,
• BAE Systems,
• Onera,
• Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR),
• Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl),
• QinetiQ,
• Rolls-Royce plc,
• Snecma,
• Thales,
• Selex ES,
• MBDA,
• Jaguar Land Rover,
• Tata,
• Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC),
• Triumph Motorcycles.

A significant number of graduates go on to do research and higher degrees.