Sky’s the limit for William Alvey pupils

As part of the Education Business Partnership, Affinity Flying Services, which supports the aircrew training programme at the college, chose to sponsor the school and Year 6 children came up with their own Imp design which features a silhouette of Lincoln’s famous cathedral and images of Affinity’s aircraft.

Continuing the partnership, the pupils visited the Affinity hangar at RAF Cranwell last Tuesday with headteacher, Stephen Tapley, to meet the team and experience some of the aircraft up close.

Affinity’s chief engineer, Paul Adu, accompanied pupils onto the flight line to watch the Prefect and Phenom aircraft landing from training sorties. The aircrew stopped to chat with the students and answer their questions about flying and what had inspired them to become a pilot.

The students were able to get up close to the internal workings of an engine and had the chance to sit inside a Phenom cockpit. AEA (Aircrew Equipment Assemblies) supervisor, Chris Wade, introduced the students to the various safety equipment that the aircrew are required to wear while flying. This included helmets, life jackets and headsets which all the children got to try on and Mr Tapley got fitted into a parachute.

Mr Tapley said of their visit: “The children had a super afternoon and clearly learnt a lot, thank you. Lucas Frost is determined to return in another ten years, but this time as a trainee pilot. We started off painting an imp, but our relationship with Affinity has already burgeoned to the point that we are thinking about our next project together.”

Anna Lyon, head of engineering operations and fleet management at Affinity, said: “Affinity were delighted to show them the inner workings of our busy maintenance and flight line. We hope we’ve inspired an interest in aviation and engineering and that we’ll see them back again as future pilots and engineers.”