Fast jet apprentices flying high after Red Arrows visit

RAF Red Arrows paid a visit to the next generation of aircraft maintenance technicians training to be the protectors of UK skies.

BAE Systems’ apprentices at the training company’s Aircraft Maintenance Academy at Humberside Airport (aka Fast Jet School) showed the reds technology that was being put to use in futuristic classrooms.

The Red Arrows team were using Humberside Airport as part of their preparations for the busy summer display season, and spent the day learning about the work Bat the school.

| Photo: BAE Systems

Next generation training tools at the academy enable trainees to use the latest technologies to deliver effective and efficient training. From learning maintenance skills, conducting digital aircraft inspections to familiarisation with a platform through augmented reality.

The Red Arrows were able to try some of the technology on and see how it would benefit individuals training on aircraft.

Stuart Taylor, BAE Systems Training, said: “The younger generation we are educating through apprenticeships and graduate schemes are digitally native which means augmented and virtual reality, haptics and such technologies are more familiar to them than printed textbooks or presentations.

| Photo: BAE Systems

“The classroom of the future and its associated technologies enable us to get the best out of people, by training them the way they will learn the best using digital technologies.

“The apprentices who come through the academy are essential to the growth of key skills to help maintain the defence of our nation and our allies, and we are proud to be generating the skills and experience here in Lincolnshire. At the end of the programme, apprentices will have had a mix of real world and academic training and have the skills to support fast-jet fleets here in the UK or overseas, in the Middle East or even the Falkland Islands.”