During November, to support their studies, Level 3 Aviation Operations students visited the British Airways pilot and cabin crew training centre at Hatton Cross and Brooklands Museum in Weybridge.
The first visit to British Airways gave students a unique insight into the health and safety role of flight crew and cabin crew. They had to react quickly to emergency situations, work together to put out different types of fires on board, evacuate an aircraft effectively (including descending from the emergency slide), and build a raft. The trip will also be useful once students start their next unit which looks at the roles and responsibilities of air crew, and how they are supervised on board. Finally, they were able to ask questions of the trainers who have years of experience training new entrants.
A few days later, the students visited the aviation museum at the former Brooklands motor-racing track. The trip allowed them to understand the way the UK Aviation industry has developed and changed over time. The saw examples of early aeroplanes as well as ‘experiencing’ a Concorde flight.
The students thoroughly enjoyed both trips with some great feedback:
Aryaraj Gohil, said: “The Concorde tour was an exceptional immersive tour as we managed to get hands on with arguably aviation’s most iconic aircraft. The experience was greatly enhanced by their guides who shared their many years of experience in the industry, explaining the flight deck controls and processes of various aircraft.”
Again, there was a focus on Health and Safety in line with their current unit. Moses Javin said: “We learnt about what the black box does such as recording flight data like speed and height. In the case of an aircraft incident the investigators can analyse the black box and see how the aircraft performed and what the pilots tried to do in the final stages of a crash.”
Ruth Hall said: “Not only was the visit very interactive, giving us the chance to look at historic aircrafts like Concorde or the private jet of Oman’s sultan, but it was highly informative with staff at almost any point able to provide, in digestible detail, the specifics of an aircraft's manufacturing process.”
Robert Hayter added: “I loved being able to sit inside the Sea Harrier and get a feel for the controls and what it might have been like to fly it.”
