Some of the UK’s top young apprentices visited HMS Sultan recently for an engineering master class.
The apprentices from across industry spent several days developing their technical and personal skills, through working on aircraft maintenance projects, within the Defence College of Technical Training’s Royal Naval Air Engineering and Survival Equipment School.
Aged between 18 and 25, the apprentices had already showcased their talent in competition at The Skills Show, at the NEC Birmingham in November last year and were all bidding for the chance to go on and represent the UK in the WorldSkills finals in Abu Dhabi 2017.
Airbus Systems Fitter Phillip Broodbank, was among the apprentices taking part.
He said: ”I have actually done a dual apprenticeship so it was mechanical in the first year and electrical and system based in the second and third, so I was really pleased to get selected.
“It’s great to be involved as the training is second to none and it’s very exciting.”
“We’re currently going through some ‘back to basics’ training across 3 different tasks, with only 3 out of the 5 of us from the group potentially going through to be selected for the next stage of training.”
“Fingers crossed I will get through as I will be guaranteed an extra 30 days of training with the WorldSkills Training Manager.
“Abu Dhabi next year is the ultimate goal and my bag is already all packed up and ready.”
RAF Senior Aircraftman Shayne Hadland won a Bronze medal at the Skills Show in 2013 and went on to take a Silver Medal in the 2015 WorldSkills finals in Sao Paulo.
He is now part of the team of mentors, coaching the apprentices and passing on their valuable knowledge and experience.
He said: “Getting the Silver medal in Sao Paulo meant an awful lot. There had been a lot of work that had gone into getting to that stage, so to come away with the Silver medal was fantastic.”
“We’re assessing the squad at the moment to see where their skills lie, with the goal of selection for Abu Dhabi in 2017.
“I think the biggest thing that I can pass through to the apprentices is the importance of time management, making sure that if something goes wrong that it gets rectified and that everything else stays on track.”
“I think the guys in the squad have a good chance of going on and winning a medal. We have an excellent Training Manager and the support of Air Engineers within HMS Sultan. It worked in helping to get me silver, so let’s hope it can bring us gold in Abu Dhabi.”
