Planecrazy, don't threat Brunel has a good reputation.
When I did my aeronautical degree alot of the modules were common with the automotive group. First years of most aeronautical degrees will concentrate on core engineering subjects (materials, engineering mathemathics, stress, fluid dynamics,drawing) you may not actually study anything in hte first year that is aircraft specific, even the second year was still 70/30 split between generic mechanical engineeering and aircraft specific subjects. In the final year alot of the modules will be optional, hence I seleceted subjects that were aircraft specific (eg; Flight Dynamics), however it would still have been possible to select the majority of modules that were common with automotive. My point is an aeronautical engineering degree is essentially a mechanical engineering degree, so why you may be interested in aircraft you also need as much interest in core mechanical engineering to match in order to suceed in aero.
On the subject of pay, contracting is normally the only way to make decent money in engineering, but you will need a few years experience to be able to contract. So we all had to put up with "permy" salaries for a while.
While I am generally optimistic about the industry, the latest threat to the UK is the advent of low cost design / stress contract organisations based in India.
One bit of advice is make sure your aero degree includes the flight test week in the Cranfield NFLC, that is the highlight of any aero degree.
Last edited by portsharbourflyer; 1st Sep 2006 at 21:44.