djfingerscrossed,
Just to clarfiy, this is my second time back in engineering. Anyway PM me if you want some pointers on getting to back to engineering.
As said first time after CPL/IR, then contracted for a couple of years, then became a full time instructor and gained a turbo prop job; laid off from tp job in 08 and returned to engineering contracting again.
Just shows you can jump between engineering and flying and I expect I will for the remainder of my career.
Raven777, make the most of your design project because this is probably the last and only time you will design a whole aircraft. The majority of jobs in industry will only involve working on a a small part or a sub system of an aircraft and you will rarely see a whole airframe. There are exceptions, but many of the DEGs at Airbus these days rarely do anything technical they just manage and liases with sub contract houses. After a while you realise that mechanical engineering is pretty much the same irrespective of what vehicle the part or system is from.
Any of the companies where you could work on a whole airframe rarely got the thing certified and even rarer made any money (examples Farnborough F1, Centaur Seaplane , CMC Leopard).
I don't mean to sound negative, but the good thing about aero engineering is contract rates for mid-experienced engineers are in the region of 28-35 pounds per hour.