Work experience

I work for a handling agent at NCL and we have seen people do work Experience for BA and the airport itself, with BA they see both the station management side and the operational side e.g. airside same goes with work experience with the Airport.

Check PM

There are several engineering academies throughout the country all looking for work placements for their students. If they can’t get airline support, you won’t. Sorry.

I’d try the flying schools – best bet is to just turn up and ask. Letters and e-mails are too easily ignored…

I got offered a work placement with Gulf Air at Heathrow for a couple of weeks, which was frustratingly cancelled a few weeks before the start due to ‘restructuring’ of the management.

I sent many airlines at Heathrow letters asking as well as e-mails and only a handful replied. Just keep trying and I’m sure you’ll find a placement.

I dont know if the airlines take on people for work experience nowadays. I did my work experience with british midland but this was back in 1999!!! I guess all you can do is phone/email some airlines at EMA – BMIbaby, Ryanair etc and see if they take people on for work experience.

Additionally why not ask at a flying school like DonAir? The work may only be admin, but admin is a good job and also something to fall back on too if other career opportunities dont work out.

I he definatly got the placement now. Eastern Airways at Humberside Airport including a free flight to Aberdeen

Once again thanks everyone, i have managed to secure a placement at Eastern Airways At Humberside

Check your PMs pal

Ok thanks everyone, what did your work involve whilst you were at the ATC?

I’ve had a look around and I can’t find the website for Hull ATC. Humberside airport is part of Manchester Airport PLC, so perhaps ATC there is also NATS?

I did mine at Stansted… And I guess that just guessing the address is pretty easy…

Maybe just:

Air Traffic Control Tower
Humberside Airport
Kirmington
North Lincolnshire
DN39 6YH

Can’t hurt to try it!

Ok thanks everyone, im looking to find a placement myself though because i dont want to end up doing something completely different

I did a week at Newcastle ATC (Radar, Apron Control and Tower), driving up the runway at 80mph in a land rover birdvan was the highlight !, one of the best weeks i’ve had !. Very interesting indeed !. It was all done through school though, i didn’t write any letters etc.

Regards,
Andy

Cheers mate, do you know of any links to the atc website?

Thanks

Try ATC. They were very accomodating when I approached them about 7 years ago… and they offered me a week…

I suspect you might have to do 2 weeks, but perhaps you could do one week at ATC and one elsewhere.

A letter will probably be more fruitful than an email I’d expect!

Despite obviously hating the experience, I am sure that young Johnny had no regrets about his choice of company. After all, it’s not a career, it’s an “experience”. This experience has clearly taught him that this isn’t the industry for him after all.

I tried to do work exp at my local – BHX, no luck, tried a few airlines trying to get on ticket desks amoung other things but no one was willing to accept.

For a big airfield like that it’s going to be very difficult. If you try a little airfield then I can’t see much reason for not being accepted.

What are the differences in security issues between someone looking for work experience and someone looking for an actual job…?

Getting a pass for employment is a very lengthy process – references, disclosures etc etc – process can take several weeks to several months.

Temporary passes for work experience is another matter. Still some hoops to jump through, but they can be issued for kids on work experience.

For example when we get the work experience kids in, they do get to go airside, assuming we can get a temporary pass. We try and make sure they see most of the operation from check-in desk, engineering, operations, even a flight etc.

Unfortunately the youth of today don’t seem to be that interested. The last work experience week might have been the last time we offer it to the local school. We had a rude individual, who was ‘bored’ for the entire week. The fleet manager went out of his way – got the kid upto an aircraft to show them around the cockpit and let them use the FMS etc. Managed to get a couple of flights for him. Still wasn’t enough for little Johnny, despite him wanting to become a commercial pilot….. In the end we sent him home, before the week was up.

Considering the effort put into these things, not worth the hassle anymore.

As for family – aviation is a very small industy – friends and family assist big time in getting a foot in the door. Out of a family of nine, six of us work in aviation. Three of us have worked for the same airline – two of us still do.

When I was searching for work experience back in 1999, I approached British Airways at Heathrow. I live approximately 20 miles from Heathrow, so it’s not exactly close, and I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when the airline turned me down. They explained that work experience was only offered to those students living close to the airport.

What are the differences in security issues between someone looking for work experience and someone looking for an actual job…?

Are we saying future airport and airline employment will only come from the friends and relatives of established employees ?

Not at all i was offered this chance by a freind of the family who knew i wanted to work in industry and of course i took it.

I am pursueing employment the proper way at the moment infact yesterday i had an interview with Swissport.

I am only in my first year at college and studying Maths AS, Geography AS and Travel and Tourism AS. I am not sure what kind of aspect of the airline/airport industry that I want to work in but I thought having work experience with an airline or airport might help me make up my mind.