Aeronautical Engineering is a branch of Engineering concerned with the Design, Manufacture, Operation and Maintenance of air vehicles such as aircraft, helicopters and missiles.
 
Aerospace Engineering can be identified as the design and manufacture of very high technology systems, aircraft and spacecraft. The knowledge and expertise involved in developing such systems is generally applicable to other high technology industries such as Energy, Automotive, Rail, Ship Building, IT and Software.?

Aerospace engineers are responsible for developing extraordinary machines, from airplanes that weigh over a half a million pounds to spacecraft that travel over 17,000 miles an hour. They design, develop,and test aircraft, spacecraft, and missiles and supervise manufacturing of these products. Aerospace engineers who work with aircraft are considered aeronautical engineers, and those working specifically with spacecraft are considered astronautical engineers.

Aerospace engineers develop new technologies for use in aviation, defense systems, and space exploration, often specializing in areas like structural design, guidance, navigation and control, instrumentation and communication, or production methods. They also may specialize in a particular type of aerospace product, such as commercial transports, military fighter jets, helicopters, spacecraft, or missiles and rockets.
Aerospace engineers may be experts in aerodynamics, thermodynamics, celestial mechanics, propulsion, acoustics, or guidance and control systems.

Aeronautical Engineering/Design Engineering involves the study of the practical application of physical science and mathematics in the research, design, development, testing , launching and production of aircraft, spacecraft, and navigational systems. It involves the design and production of power units, vehicle structure, aerodynamics and missile guidance control as well as airplane, rocket, missile and satellite launching.

Institutes offering Aeronautical courses:-

1. Indian Institute of Technology,Powai,Mumbai -- 400076 (Maharashtra)
2. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur -- 721302 (West Bengal)
3. Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai -- 600036 (Tamil Nadu)
4. Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai -- 600044 (Tamil Nadu)
5. Hindustan Institute of Engineering Technology, 40 GST Road, P.O.Box No.1306, St. Thomas Mount, Chennai -- 600016 (Tamil Nadu)
6. Nehru College of Aeronautical and Applied Sciences, Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu)
7. School of Aviation Science and Technology, Delhi Flying Club, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi
8. Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh - 160011
9. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016
10. Indian Institute of Aeronautics, Patna Airport, Patna - 800014 (Bihar)
11. Institute of Aviation Technology, 1265, Sector 6, Bahadurgarh- 124507, (Haryana)
12. VSM Aerospace, Chelekere Village (Near Kammanahalli), Bangalore -- 560008 (Karnataka)
13. Hindustan Electronics Academy, 61, Cambridge Road, P.B.No.806, Ulsoor, Bangalore - 560008 (Karnataka)
14. Indian Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, 179, Kalidas Road, Dehradun - 248001 (Uttaranchal)

N.B. : The premiere institutions of India, listed above, offer graduate courses in aeronautical engineering.