We offer a variety of aircraft maintenance courses at Marshall Centre. Isaac Stares and Daniel King are two of our Marshall apprentices, who completed a six-week Hercules L100 (H) type course, which has given them the knowledge and skill to help find faults that may occur while working on those aircraft.
They have both worked as Aerospace Apprentices since 2018 and are due to complete their four-year apprenticeship to become qualified Aircraft Fitters next year. They were offered additional training to learn more about the technical aspects of the Hercules L100 (H).
“I am so glad that I was offered to take on the L100 course as I’ve been able to learn all the specific systems on that aircraft, find faults and have a better understanding of the technical knowledge, which will ultimately make it easier to work on the aircraft in future.” – Isaac Stares
The syllabus includes an explanation of all airframe systems, pressurisation, air conditioning, under carriage, flight control and air frame structure. There are exams at the end of each weekly module, where there is a 75% pass mark with 32 questions of multiple choice. Our apprentices did us proud as they both passed all six modules in their first attempt.
Daniel said that it gave him a much greater appreciation for the technology on the aircraft; as an apprentice, he has done a lot of work on the aircraft without understanding the deeper technical reasons why they do it that way. Completing the course has broadened his knowledge and understanding of the ins and outs of the systems. Daniel has only ever worked on the newer Hercules aircraft and the course was for a legacy model, so there was a steep learning curve for Daniel as he was not as knowledgeable about the systems on that aircraft as the other learners.
“The course was really good, well organised and the instructors were so knowledgeable around every aspect of the course and aircraft. The course is for legacy aircraft, so it was really interesting to be out of my comfort-zone to gain a better understanding and the importance of the maintenance of these aircraft so that they can continue to fly safely.” – Daniel King
Both apprentices highly recommend the course to others as completing the course has fuelled their passion even more for the aviation industry. They said that the trainers who were involved in delivering the different modules were extremely knowledgeable and are enthusiastic about teaching others about these magnificent aircraft.
We asked Daniel to describe the kind of person who would be most suitable for a career as an aircraft fitter and he said that firstly, they must have a passion for the aviation industry, they must love working with their hands, they must enjoy working as part of a team and they must be resilient because they will make mistakes.
Daniel’s team leader is Neil McCombie (Pup) who also started his career as an apprentice, and so, he is very supportive of Daniel and the other apprentices working in his team. He understands the importance of releasing them for training days and other learning opportunities because he has been through the process himself. This supportive attitude towards life-long learning is vital to the way that Marshall develop of some of the best aircraft maintenance professionals in the world.