Many thanks for all the info.
The current state of play:
- she's chatted to the RAF at the careers office (and not been put off!),
- she has an interview with a local college for a Level 3 Diploma in Aerospace Eng
- she's been pinging off CVs, letters and phone calls to the likes of Britten-Norman, Bristows etc
- she's blogging, photographing and documenting a couple of projects (inc building an electric bike (entirely from scratch).
A Level results day tomorrow - and she'll need to make a decision as to whether to take up her place at university or not. I suspect she won't. A pity she hadn't had this change of direction 6 months ago (and got an apprenticeship lined up) - or, better, two years ago (and done something more relevant than RE at A Level)!
Once again, thanks for help. I'll update where this goes (or whether it peters out) - I dislike forum questions that are left unresolved).