Apprentice Aircraft Fitter Review

My role is Apprentice Aircraft Fitter. My current placement is on Eurofighter Typhoon major assembly production line. Tasks include fuselage and wing marry up, fitting of hydraulics and components. Throughout the apprenticeship I will have spent time in 8 different areas on the Typhoon, JSF and Tornado jets.

I have learnt many new skills throughout my apprenticeship. The first year I spent at BAE training school where I learnt a broad range of craft skills including conventional machining, electrical wiring, welding and the use of hand tools. Second and third years are spent on varies placements on site. Here the basic skills in the training centre were built upon for your desired career. For me this was to become an aircraft fitter so I was put on fitting placements.

I have worked in a number of teams; some are better than other however in general I have enjoyed the program. Company culture is very good and you are well looked after. Many opportunities are given to you throughout the apprenticeship including German work exchange, work skills, work with the princess trust, charity challenges and outward bound. My current team are a great laugh and enjoyable to work with. The program has met my expectations.

I feel valued by BAE Systems as a company and from fellow colleagues and support staff. BAE heavily invest in apprentices, everything is on hand to help you I feel. I only feel less valued by some supervisors as they as focused on production times and I believe can see you as ‘free labour’.

I feel the program is very well structure. I do one day a week theory based work in the classroom, three days a week in various placements around the business. Each placement is 3 months look and give you a great insight and the ability to build a range of skills. The support is excellent; I have my own assessor who is a great point of contact.

I believe the training provider could be better, sometimes its seems disorganised however help is always given and targets always met.

I have my own personal assessor who is great. They are in constant contact and we have regular meetings. I have never encountered any problems.

My salary as a third year apprentice is £15,000 per annum. For an apprentice I believe this is great however due to my high social costs and high savings targets I do struggle. As I do my 37 hours over 4 days this does allow me to also have a part time job though which gives me enough money. In 6 months I will come out of my time and my wage will pretty much double so I think it is very good salary overall.

There are some company events and many voluntary initiatives. These include charity work, work exchanges and experience days

Yes

Overall great work and final salary.

Prepare! The first stage is the application form; take your time with this! Sell yourself and check your spelling & punctuation. The second stage is timed tests, if maths or engineering problems are your strongest points maybe try some online tests. The third stage is interview, for this research the company; find out what role you want to do in the company, be prepared for general questions such as ‘why do you want to work for BAE’. Remember if you don’t get in first time you can always re-apply for next year (as I did), don’t give up