Our Aviation Education Programme is now in it's Third Term and is proving to be a great success. This pilot project is funded by BBC Children in Need and gives six young people the chance to learn all about the aviation industry, building up a range of transferable skills that they can take into further education or the workplace.
This term, the group visited Farnborough Airfield to see some of the areas of aviation that they have learned about in the classroom for real. It was a fantastic day and below is a report from Aerobility's Andrea, who we'd like to thank for her enthusiasm in organising this brilliant day...
Farnborough Airport Visit: Saturday 10th May
Everyone
arrived at Farnborough Airport Security gate at 10.00hrs on Saturday. All
9 cars including all the boys and their families, our volunteers Sally, Tony,
Andrea and Bookajet Aviation pilot Capt. Iain Franks drove in convoy around the
long airport perimeter road enabling us to see the vast area of Farnborough
airport and one or two aircraft taxiing to the runway.
Watch
manager Fireman Peter Powell and his colleagues gave us a lovely welcome and
then a brief by Peter telling us all about their Fire Station and their duties
and responsibilities regarding the airport, and our safety during our visit. Peter
also highlighted that Fireman are not
just a team but a family who looked after each other at all times and we could
tell by their banter that they were all a close team.
We
were then all briefed on the equipment used by Firemen and specifically their
breathing apparatus which everyone was invited to try on and all the boys did
this. We
were then treated to a look around the garage housing 3 huge Rosenbauer Panther
CA5 fire engines and the fireman allowed everyone to climb into the
vehicles and sit in the driving seats which the boys loved. What
we hadn’t realised was that the Fireman had planned to get the boys and one or
two of the parents all dressed up as Firemen for the day too. How cool was
that!
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| A demonstration from the professional |
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| Trying it on for size |
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| An exciting opportunity to learn all about the life of a fire fighter! |
Then
it was time to do some hose work and get a feel for the strength of water under
pressure, the boys soon realised why you need someone helping you to brace or
it would knock you over.
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| Working in pairs to stay upright! |
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| Getting stuck in with the full kit |
The
boys’ next challenge was to climb on to the platform on the roof of the Fire
Engine outside to use the big hose connected to the Fire engine itself, it was
great fun with the water pumping out at full pelt!
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| On top of the world! |
Next
was a teamwork exercise in the outside training area connecting hoses and
turning the water on from a Fire Hydrant in the ground and then everyone working
together to hold the hose, bracing each other and firing at a target (a traffic
cone) to knock it over.
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| Bullseye! |
We
then had a break for refreshments but before long we were back outside for more
fun, this time in the Fireman’s ‘Confined space training area’ with light
vegetable smoke to get a feel for the type of conditions Fireman have to experience whilst fighting
fires.
Everyone taking part went through the mesh tunnels in pairs and in no
time at all they had completed their task and looking for the next challenge. This
was in the form of the team, one behind the other, hands on shoulders going
into a lightly smoked mock up of a house to rescue 2 casualties (life size
dummies). The boys were encouraged to tell each other what they were doing at
all times.
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| Not for the feint hearted.. |
We
finished our visit at just after 2pm and Peter and his team presented our young,
brave Firemen with ‘Firefighter for a day’ certificates.
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| Firefighter For A Day |
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| Cheers from the whole group! |
Our thanks to Fire
Chief Ian Fisher and Watch manager Peter Powell and all the team at Farnborough Airport Fire Station for an awesome
visit.
After
lunch Captain Iain Franks of Bookajet aviation who had come with us to the Fire
Station to get to know the boys took us to one of the massive hangars next to
the Airport terminal to visit his aircraft, the Premier 1.
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| A pristine hangar |
On
the way we walked through the iconic Farnborough Airport terminal building
which had a wonderful view out to the Ramp area where all the aircraft park. Then
into the huge hangar which houses Dassault Falcons and Gulfstream aircraft and
also Ians Premier 1 business jet. The massive hangar is pristine, so clean you
could eat off the floor!
Within
seconds of arriving at the aircraft one of Aerobilitys students was doing a
walk around the aircraft, like the professional he is. Iain plugged in the ground power unit and
switched on the power to the aircraft allowing the boys to see all the cockpit
systems lit up. Everyone had a turn sitting in the cockpit and moving the flaps
up and down from the cockpit as well as doing PA’s to their parents who for a
time were sat in the passenger seats.
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| Learning lots from Capt Iain |
Then
Ian got all the boys together to do a proper walk around the aircraft doing all
the external aircraft checks. After
lots of chatting and questions we all conveyed our thanks and said goodbye to
Iain.
Iain said afterwards "It was lovely to show
the aeroplane to people who are genuinely interested in how it all works." What
a lovely visit it was too!
Our thanks to Bookajet
Aviation CEO Jonathan Clements, Roger Hargreaves and Captain Iain Franks
Parents,
grandparents and volunteers were so proud of the boys’ achievements during the
trip and the boys themselves declared ‘that
it was the best trip they had done’ and ‘it was fantastic’ one of the boys also said that he would be looking after another as he was
his friend, which was lovely to hear.
Our
Aviation Education Programme students were challenged in so many ways on
Saturday but they all rose to the challenge and excelled, as individuals, in
pairs and as a team. Well
done to all of them!
Many
Thanks to our volunteers Sally & Tony who gave up their
Saturday to assist on the day.
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| The gang had a great day! |
