Okay, fair enough - I think I can make a reasonable stab at answering Quango's question, if not Airs'.
An aero-eng degree is a very high standard general engineering degree which concentrates upon aircraft and spacecraft design. The standard degree is now 4 years and called an MEng (Master of Engineering), although a few people are still doing the older BEng (Bachelor of Engineering) course which takes 3 years. This is for England and Wales, add a year in Scotland where they leave school a year earlier.
At the end of this course you graduate as somebody who has developed a lot of analytical ability and a lot of knowledge about engineering analysis and design, and a fair amount of knowledge of how aeroplanes work. Unless you've managed to grab practical experience during a year out, summers, etc. what you don't have is any real working experience, so you will still need a fair bit of "on the job" training, so primarily what you have developed is a huge amount of potential.
Graduate jobs in aero eng (if you go into aeronautics, a large proportion go into other fields) pay typically a starting salary of £17-£21k, but are essentially trainee posts - you'll go into a (typically) 2 year training programme by the end of which you'll be in a position to slot into a job as a junior professional.
What job you might then end up doing is one of a massive range and will depend upon your talents and preferences, your employer's business, and their particular needs at the time. But, it could for example include....
- Stress analysing structures
- Analysing and testing aerodynamic flows
- "Far future" aircraft design
- Pure technical man-management
- Checking and certifying other people's design work
- Planning and analysing flight tests.
- Controlling the technical documentation and procedures around the organisation. (commonly called "Quality Assurance").
- Technical support of sales or front-line operators.
- Developing and testing simulators.
- Designing (parts of) aircraft and spacecraft.
- Operational management of spaceflights (usually unmanned sadly).
The list of what aero-eng graduates do (or can do) is pretty much limitless, the main thing is to have the initial degree, pick the right "electives" during the latter part of that, and manage to get yourself into a graduate training scheme in the right place.
Incidentally, there isn't really a standard salary for qualified and working aeronautical engineers, but I'd guess that the majority are pulling in somewhere in the region of £25-£40k in Britain.
G