like clearair, I did a placement at AAIB earlier this year, and its just about the best work experience an aeronautical engineer could hope for.
as regards training, they take on people when there are vacancies (due to retirements, generally) and send them on training courses run at cranfield, but they only, as was mentioned above, take people (pilots and engineers) with a vast amount of experience.
as for motivation, i found (as have others i know who have been involved there) that AAIB is actually doing something important and worthwhile, which isn't always the case in aviation.
i'm quite sure one or two of the current compliment down there in darkest hampshire procrastinate in the afternoon by perusing this blat, so they'll probably be having a good old chortle that so many folk want to steal their jobs......
anyone who is studying aeronautics should apply for the placements, great experience, and doesn't look too bad on the old cv.
Regards,
BGPM.