Aircraft fitter Review

I work a 4 day week Monday to Thursday with one of those being a day release with a college the college tutors would usually come on site to teach us but with covid this has moved to online tutor calls. The other 3 days we are on placements getting hands on experience and needing to write job packs detailing jobs that we have done at each placement every 16 weeks we move placements, this is only after the first year which is spent at the academy learning our fitting skills first.

I have learnt and developed many fitting skills from drilling, countersinking, riveting assembling minor and major aircraft components and working on aircraft final assemblies, learned how to cut and file metal such as aluminium, titanium and also worked with some carbon fibre, I have also taken part in testing aircraft hydraulic systems.

Overall I am happy to have been given the opportunity to work for BAE Systems the apprenticeship does have a good structure to enable you to learn and develop the skills you will need. although there are some issues. The first year at the academy, the atmosphere and environment is very different to what it is like working in the business on placements not necessarily in a bad way, there are many communications issues it can be difficult to get answers to your queries and there seems to be poor communication between assessors, apprentice management and the college which leads to confusion amongst apprentices. I also feel like the wage increase is too slow, going from 12.5k in the first year then to 14k in the second and 17k in the third for the scheme I'm on and then jumping to over 30k when you complete the apprenticeship would prefer to see more even increments once you are on placements and contributing to the business. The amount of enjoyment you get on placements really depends on who you are working with that day and your supervisor some people are happy to help and show you the job and engaging but some aren't.

The structure is much better than my previous experience with an apprenticeship there is a set plan which which is tried and tested and there is continuous flow of apprentices every year, you do feel much more supported in the first year as you are in the same building as the assessors and apprentice management team so its easier for you to be kept in the loop, however after the first year you can seem a bit forgot about and unheard, however can seem disorganised due to miscommunications.

First year you get plenty of support, after that it isn't as easy to get contact with managers don't seem to check in with us enough, don't seem to get any support from the union unless it's to do with a disciplinary. Don't feel listened to or prioritised kind of feel in the middle as your placement manager isn't really responsible for you and you never see your actually apprentice management once you leave the academy.

The first year we have Longridge Teaching Centre taking us for our level 2 and they came to the academy and I felt like the teaching was good most of the time and engaging, however for the second year BAE Systems changed contracts to Burnley college where we have been working from home and having online learning which is very difficult to focus on a laptop for a full day especially for maths subjects, first years are back being taught at the academy which again shows they are the priority it seems, and we have now been told that BAE systems are hiring tutors to teach us internally instead of outsourcing the teaching which has disrupted our learning due to miscommunication between BAE Systems and Burnley college

I understand we need this qualifications in order to complete this apprenticeship and I am greatly to gain more qualifications, however doesn't all feel relevant to the job feels more like a requirement than a need. Even BAE Systems don't seem too bothered about the college side of things as long as you're not causing problems and you pass

We were all taken to outwards bound in the lakes for 5 days to take part in rafting, hiking, camping and gyhll scrambling lots of team building activities and there were a couple of other of events in the first year which was amazing, however again after the first year you seem completely forgot about calls have been arranged were business and technician apprentices talk about the experiences they have had through BAE usually involving travelling, however for craft apprentices we don't seem to have anything.

Yes

Also there are plenty of issues and frustrations through the apprenticeship, overall it is a good company with good benefits such as the pension and share scheme are very good, strong union support for pay rises and conditions and the money you end up on is good and there is a good work life balance for a fitter

Don't get your hopes up too much building aircraft isn't as exciting as it sounds, I thought i would see more aircraft in action, however you tend to just be repeating similar steps to build parts of the aircraft and there is little opportunity to work on live aircraft when working in manufacturing if thats what you want you would probably be better off looking to work for a customer such as the RAF, however the pay and work life balance is very good here.