apprentice avionic engineer Review

My day to day involves conducting maintenance activities on different types of airbus aircraft like the h135 and h145 helicopters, I service commercial and VIP aircraft under the supervision of a licensed part 66 avionic engineer. Here I practice practical skills that help contribute to my personal continuous development, and eventually will build up into a portfolio of experience that I will use to apply for my license.

Yes I have learned lots of practical skills like soldering, stripping and terminating cables, using multimeters to trouble shoot cabling faults and solve modern problems. I am learning to read technical drawings like wiring diagrams that assist me in building my knowledge of the aircraft we work on to make day to day maintenance more streamlined.

I absolutely love my job, it a dream to be working with my hands and solving issues rather than being stuck behind a desk and a computer. I chose this programme due to the practical nature of the job, although there are a lot of exams to do with my course the practical jobs make up for it.

My programme was well laid out to begin with, however due to issues with the training provider our apprenticeship was extended an extra year. However the company has tried to support and compensate us for this issue, at the end of the day despite the set back it gives us more time to train for the job at the end.

We receive adequate support from our employer as they aim to assist us in finding time to progress our level 3 and 4 diploma, as occasionally it can be though leaving the shop floor to do coursework, but our employer assists us in finding rooms to conduct the coursework activities.

Our training provider assists us most weeks with answering and marking our coursework so that proceed on schedule with our apprenticeship. We often have face to face meetings discussing the next phase as well as teams meetings for remote help. However other than our assessor we don't have any other help from the training provider

It prepares you for the world of aviation well as it gives you the practical and theoretical skills to take on the tasks as soon as you leave the course. However it lacked certain aspects of aircraft maintenance and didn't really provide us with knowledge of the standard aircraft practices.

As of yet I have yet to be involved in any extra curricular activities I have only been invited to group curry evenings which only occur when an employee leaves. However I have been involved in a house of commons visit, at which I gave a speech on my take of the apprenticeship.

Yes

I think airbus is an amazing company with lots of room for growth, shown by the new oxford hangar being opened in 2024, I have had positive experiences on the course meeting lots of new friends whilst at training. The best part about the job is the varied weeks, I'm constantly partaking in new tasks each day.

When applying to airbus I think that it would be best to show a engineering hobby, which could be anything as long as you can prove involvement and knowledge of a mechanical / electrical system it will stand you in good stead, also a passion for aviation will also show you are interested in the job.