Apprentice Aircraft Engineer Review

Assisting licensed engineers with their daily tasks and maintenance on aircraft. This includes base maintenance and occasional line base visits to see the different aircraft we work on. Studying and revising for part 66 modules and taking the exams where modules are required. Assisting with general hangar maintenance and working on the aircraft. Normal day starts at 7am and finishes at 18:30 with good breaks spread throughout. Friendly environment and overall good place to work.

Whilst being on the apprenticeship program I have learned plenty of skills I otherwise would never have come across, such as sheet metal working and general tool use. I believe my use of tools has developed just through being exposed more in the workplace to the tools and using them daily. As well as resource Group teaching these skills, plenty have been passed on to me by other engineers I work alongside.

The programme is hard work but overall very enjoyable. There is a lot of pressure I feel, and at times it definitely feels as though it may be too much however the right people to talk to are almost always available to assist where I may be confused and help to guide in the right direction. Overall, the apprenticeship has been a positive experience and prepares for the future

As a result of covid-19 the structure of the course was poorly managed, but potentially made the best of a poor situation. I feel as though a lot of the NVQ side of the apprenticeship might be poorly managed, and once we had left Resource Group full time the support for NVQ aspects of the apprenticeship were very poorly managed. Some time spent in classrooms with a dedicated couple of weeks for the NVQ UPK questions and other similar aspects of the course would be a great benefit. Instead it feels like we are told the title of the task we're doing, it appears in our inbox and then told to complete it. No deadline, no guidance unless you ask outright and no clear instructions .

In terms of support from the employer I feel as though it has been given in abundance. I feel as though we are properly looked after I know where to look for support if and when needed. We receive great mentorship from other engineers and people with significant levels of experience, including past apprentices who know very in detail the situation we are in and can offer their advice and help where needed. Thankfully, I have had few interactions with the HR team other than initial orientation. Generally, the company do a lot to support us apprentices and they do a lot to ensure we don't feel as though we are left on our own. Regularly our boss is in the hangar and checks up on us when walking past. On top of this, it's made clear that we can go directly to them if we are ever in need of support at work.

Going back to the previous questions with regards resource group, the staff are very helpful especially when we were working towards the A license modules and I believe they did and excellent job in teaching us, especially Jason Gooch. However since starting full time at Babcock, I feel the support for the work to be completed at home is poor. Often work is given to us without explaining what it is for or what it counts towards. This leaves me in a situation of trying to figure out the work on my own, completing it once only to have it given back to me with small amounts of feedback. Generally, the support when at Resource Group I believe was second to none, but since leaving the support is poor.

I believe that the relevant aircraft training is incredibly useful for the workplace. The hands on hangar experience at Resource Group helped greatly for experiencing working on an aircraft. As well as the hands skill phase in the workshop, giving proper tools experience. Also, the actual modules we sit for the A license greatly help as they give a better understanding of the aircraft we work on and allow us to understand why it is that we carry out certain tasks, or do them in certain ways. I feel as though a lot of the NVQ questions and tasks aren't particularly useful in the workplace as they don't seem relevant at all. It feels as though all of the individual useful parts of the research we do for the NVQ qualifications are covered much more concisely in other areas, such as training in the workshop for PPE to name one example.

Within work there are some social events. Mainly, the Christmas party which is a large event where everyone is invited. Location was easily accessible and allowed people to attend regardless of where they lived as it wasn't too far. Other than this, I am unaware of any other social events or teams that happen at Babcock.

Yes

I would, if they were interested in aviation. I think it is a great place to work and incredibly supportive workplace. Plenty of people who are open to help with issues work or non work related. I believe that it is a positive place to work in general and there is no blame culture which promotes proper learning from mistakes, and more importantly honesty.

As someone who came into this knowing very little about aviation, be prepared to learn. There is lot of time spent listening and taking on information and there is never a bad time to ask questions, or for that matter bad questions to ask. As long as they are aviation related, then it will be explained properly and people will take the time to explain it until you understand fully.