Great Communicating at RAF Valley

Our Blue Skies Level 1 students had a fantastic time at RAF Valley developing their communication and teamwork skills. They visited 202 (R) Sqn in the morning, learning about the challenges the helicopter crews are faced with when trying to rescue an injured person. Firstly, the students visited the Virtual Reality Training room, where they had the chance to be the pilot and the winch operator. They were surprised that the pilot cannot see the casualty and that they have to rely on the winch operator to direct them: this requires excellent communication skills between the crew. Following this, the students learnt about a different form of communication needed when winching the casualty. The students were put in a scenario, with one being the winch operator, another the winch man and another the casualty. The winch operator could only communicate with the winch man via hand signals. The students also put their First Aid skills to the test, which they learnt the session before. Thank you to 202(R) Sqn who delivered a super session demonstrating the importance of communication, especially to Seaweed, Matt and Coops.

The afternoon session built upon what the students had learnt with 202 (R) Sqn, with different activities testing their teamwork and communication skills. One of the activities was to build a tower of blocks using a hook on a series of strings. Each student had a string to hold, so they had to work together to co-ordinate their movements. This was a challenging task at first, until they reviewed their efforts and came up with a plan. Once they started communicating and listening to each other, they did amazingly well, building a tower of 4 blocks, an amazing achievement!

Thank you to Helena, Craig and Gaz from Ops Wing for delivering a great session to develop the students’ teamwork skills.