Level 1 students pilot A400M simulator to work on communication skills

On the 12^th December, Blue skies Students from Carterton Community College returned to RAF Brize Norton for their seventh session of the Blue Skies programme. The session was hosted by CT David Bennett, Sgt Chris Lowry, Cpl Mike Wright and Cpl Shane Huller.

This this week’s session was a continuation of teamwork and communication skills with a focus on the importance of giving clear instruction to inform team members about important information and to be able to confirm their understanding of this information and act accordingly.

The morning’s session was based around different activities to demonstrate how easy it is for information to be misinterpreted and how important it is to give clear and accurate information and check that the information has been understood.

The afternoon’s session took place in the A400M flight simulator. The students each got the opportunity to demonstrate the skills they’d learnt in the morning session by taking it in turns to become an honorary A400M pilot. The students were challenged to give direction from the control room that the honorary pilots had to follow in order to complete their flying mission. With the guidance of Flt Mark Parker (70sqn) and Flt Chris Gerrett (24Sqn) they each got to fly the A400M and complete their mission.

By the end of the session each of the students were able to demonstrate what they had learnt by confidently requesting instruction from the control room and they were able to interpret these instructions and act accordingly, achieving the objectives of the session.

Josh, 13 said “Before I did this, I wouldn’t have been able to stand up in front of my class and give instructions to a task” and Will, also 13 said “This has been the best day so far.”

CT David Bennett said “It’s been great to see their confidence grow.”