The AAU Committee meeting (follow link for agenda) will take place in the morning followed by the free annual Universities Seminar (follow link for details) in room C1 in Geroge Begg Building at the University of Manchester, M13 9PL (follow link for map).



The aim of the seminar is to foster flight simulation in universities by bringing together all institutions with an interest in flight simulation to exchange information, encourage cooperation & collaboration between all interested parties.



All colleagues and students are strongly encouraged to participate and to consider offering to give a short presentation about some aspect of flight simulation in your department. If you would like to present, please email Barry Tomlinson: b.tomlinson110@btinternet.com

The 14th Annual AAU Conference will be held in December in Dubai.
More details including the exact date and venue will be available shortly.

As in recent years, the AAU will be running the John Barnes Conference for students who have just completed an Individual Project on their degree; this year we are pleased to be holding it in the  IDEAS Suite, 1st Floor, Aerospace Integration Research Centre, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire on Friday 19th  October 2018.


We will continue with the very successful format whereby entrants have the opportunity to present at a full day’s conference. The winner will receive a certificate and a prize of £500. The two runners up will each receive a prize of £300. Over and above this, it will be an excellent experience to include on their CVs for all students involved as it provides an ideal opportunity to present their achievements to a technically broad audience drawn from a number of Universities and the aerospace sector more generally. It is this that provides the challenge of presenting work in a specialist area to non-specialists – a very important skill to develop.


The process for entry will be as follows:




Step1: The AAU representative at each member institution, together with colleagues, will select one individual student project. This may be at final year BEng/BSc, MEng (whether penultimate or final year) or taught MSc level.




Step2: The representative will submit a one page abstract, which must give a good outline of what the project is about, to myself at my e-mail address below.




Step3: If the number of entries is large, a Panel made up of AAU representatives will be convened to shortlist from these submissions. All AAU members will be receive an invitation to join this panel.


Step4: The authors will be invited to present at the conference where each presenter will be given 25 minutes, including questions, to present their project. The Panel will then award the certificates and prizes to the winning student and runners up.




The extended deadline for receipt of entries is now Wednesday 18th July. If shortlisting is required, a Panel will then be convened and the outcome will be made known on Friday 27th July.

For a Committee meeting agenda and more details for this event, please follow the link AAU 28th March 2018
For the flight simulations agenda, please follow the link flight simulations

This AAU day of activities will start with a Committee meeting in the morning followed by the free annual Flight Simulation and Universities Seminar in the afternoon in partnership with L3 Commercial Training Solutions as last year. Please follow the links for a provisional agenda, details of the Seminar and a location map.



If you wish to attend, it is absolutely essential to register with Barry Tomlinson (RAeS Flight Simulation Group) and, if you need a car parking space, please contact our Chief Host Neil Sears. Last year’s seminar proved to be breathtakingly successful with superb presentations by students and this year’s should be equally exciting.

This event will be held at The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) in Tromsø on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th June 2017.

The campus lies about 2 km east of the airport (code TOS) and 4 km north of Tromsø city centre where the recommended hotel (Comfort Hotel Xpress Tromsø) is located.

The island itself where all three sites are located has a lot to offer with its breathtaking scenery and is linked via bridges on both sides to neighbouring land masses.

A Partners Programme will be discussed later depending on the numbers and local events taking place. Since we’ll be a long way north of the Arctic circle, be prepared for the midnight sun.

Please follow the link for contact details and a provisional timetable for the two days. A light lunch will be provided on both days for the delegates. A self-financed dinner is planned for the evening of the 15th.

If you are intending to attend, please book as early as possible to keep the costs down.

As in recent years, the AAU will be running the John Barnes Conference for students who have just completed an Individual Project on their degree; however, this year we are pleased to be holding it at the University of West London on Friday 21st October 2016.

We will continue with the very successful format whereby entrants have the opportunity to present at a full day’s conference. The winner will receive a certificate and a prize of £500. The two runners up will each receive a prize of £300. Over and above this, it will be an excellent experience to include on their CVs for all students involved as it provides an ideal opportunity to present their achievements to a technically broad audience drawn from a number of Universities and the aerospace sector more generally. It is this that provides the challenge of presenting work in a specialist area to non-specialists – a very important skill to develop.

The process for entry will be as follows:
Step1: The AAU representative at each member institution, together with colleagues, will select up to two individual student projects. These may be at final year BEng/BSc, MEng (whether penultimate or final year) or taught MSc level.
Step2: The representative will submit a one page abstract, which must give a good outline of what the project is about, to myself at my e-mail address below.
Step3: If the number of entries is large, a Panel made up of AAU representatives will be convened to shortlist from these submissions. All AAU members will be receive an invitation to join this panel.
Step4: The authors will be invited to present at the conference where each presenter will be given 25 minutes, including questions, to present their project. The Panel will then award the certificates and prizes to the winning student and runners up.

The deadline for receipt of entries is Friday 15th July. If shortlisting is required, a Panel will then be convened and the outcome will be made known on Friday 22nd July.

For more information, please contact Andrew Lewis at a.lewis@herts.ac.uk

The next AAU Committee meeting will be held during the afternoon of Tuesday 5th July at the University of Hertfordshire starting at 1pm.

The main item in the Committee meeting will be to discuss the arrangements for the annual student conference to be held this autumn at the University of West London.

The meeting will be followed by a technical discussion on aerospace materials starting with a short presentation. If there is time, it is hoped that there will be a tour of the laboratory facilities.

Please follow link for the agenda.

The AAU Committee meeting will take place in the morning followed by the Seminar after lunch at 1215.

Follow the links for a provisional agenda, directions and more details.

The Chief Host will be Neil Sears at Thales UK. Please do let him know if you intend to attend and if so, whether you will need a car parking space.

The AAU Student Conference and AGM will be the grand finale event for the season.



The Programme consists of the agendas for the Committee meeting & the AGM, and, the Student Conference which has always proved to be most enjoyable.



Dr Mike Bromfield (ab2603@coventry.ac.uk) at Coventry University will be the host this year. Please inform him your dietary requirements if you intend to attend. Please also inform him (with name, affiliation and car registration) if you will need a car parking space (available on a first come first served basis).

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