Careers › Engineering

How to become a Aeronautical Engineer

Designs aircraft and the systems that keep them flying.

This needs more than the degree

An engineering degree alone doesn’t make you a Professional Engineer. You register with ECSA as a Candidate Engineer after graduating, then need several years of supervised experience and a professional review before you can register as a Pr Eng and sign off your own work.

What does a Aeronautical Engineer actually do?

More about this career

Covers the design, testing and maintenance of aircraft and their systems – aerodynamics, structures, propulsion – for a small but specialised local industry (Denel, the SAAF, aerospace suppliers) plus opportunities abroad. It’s a narrower field than most engineering degrees, so research the actual employers before committing.

Where this degree can take you

  • Aerospace Systems Engineer
  • Avionics Engineer
  • Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
  • Flight Test Engineer

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • Mathematics
  • Physical Sciences

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the programmes we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 1 of 1 programmes
  • Physical Sciences – asked for by 1 of 1 programmes

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each programme links to the page it came from.

Programmes that lead here

1 programme at 1 university. More are added as we verify them.

University of the Witwatersrand

BSc (Eng) Aeronautical Engineering

Engineering & the Built Environment · 4 years

Wits APS 42 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 5 (60% or more)

Wits notes that level 5 across the board means you are likely to be wait-listed; level 6 is advised. Confirmed unchanged by a direct fetch of the 2027 course-finder page (2026-10-01 spot-check).

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every programme above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?