Traineeship!

[Hazard_DutchAD]

So i am pretty excited to say that i have started a training program with LJLA (Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LIV)) on a customer services training experience although we are getting inductions for ATC, Security, Health & Safety, Engineering and more! I’m on a 5 week course and tomorrow i get to go airside for an Airside Ops induction!

At the end of the training there is also an apprenticeship opportunity with a guaranteed interview. Gonne be a really cool experience and i cannot wait to see what the staff have got planned for us all!

FACT OF THE DAY: Liverpool Airport’s ATC tower is located by the main runway and the old one (by the car park) is no longer used as an ATC tower but is used as the IT department and Engineering department’s main building.

[Jas]

Congrats

[Hazard_DutchAD]

What an amazing day,

Airfield Operations Induction

Was such an awesome experience to be on the main airfield were all the planes taxi down to the runway! We had to start of by going through security checkpoint CP1 and then got into a vehicle with a member of the airside operations team. Luckily the mentor that we had today had all access (full range) to the entire airfield so we got to travel around seeing how things are managed (Airport CEO got the fuel names perfect :3)

Before we drove along the main taxiway (Alpha) we stopped by at the baggage handling area were all the bags are sorted onto their designated carts as well as the conveyor belt system seeing how it all operated. After a quick tour of the baggage handling area (P.S they don’t throw luggage around) we headed up to the control room which keeps an eye on everything in the airport from alarms, conveyor belts and more.

After we went around the apron we went along the taxiway and waited for clearance from ATC (Air Traffic Control) for permission to drive onto the runway. As we drove down the runway we were shown all the important buildings including the ILS, Weather system, Radar and Air Traffic Control Tower. At all times we had to keep in touch with ATC in case planes were coming into land or attempting to take off while we were still on the runway.

As we came off the runway at the far end of the airport we drove past the fire service training area where they were testing new environmentally friendly foam and seeing how strong it would be to put out fires. Before we had to end the tour we needed to go for a security check over at Tango 1 (Tango) as the runway is a restricted area and you need to be searched before returning to the apron. We got searched and finished off the induction at the main staff office back at CP1 over a cup of tea.

Health & Safety Tour

At 1PM after we all had a bite to eat we had to meet back in the main terminal building by the Starbucks to meet our next mentor for the health and safety tour around the airport terminal building. We introduced ourselves and started to walk up through security. As we were walking up we got told about the key importance of fire extinguishers and why they put alarms on all doors across the airport. (mainly for security).

After we gone through security we got shown the airports refuge points used for anyone who is disabled if they are unable to leave the building because of they use a wheelchair or motorised chair. The airport has three refuge points one in Security, one in the retail area of the departure lounge and one on level 2 were all the gates are located.

Along with the tour we all got shown all the airports fire and emergency exits and that the airport runs off a system if one alarm was set off in the West side of the terminal and one in the East that it would be a full evacuation procedure and the entire airport would be evacuated but if an alarm was going off in one area of the terminal the other half would still be safe for passengers and staff to stay in while the situation was controlled.

The airport has 4 evacuation points 2 on each side of the airport (Landside & Airside) for security reasons. We finished the tour going through the back side of the retail and shop storage areas which were also to be used for evacuation routes if an evacuation was to take place. (The shops use a LOT of beer, like i seen over 150 barrels today in the storage area there was another 50!)

Was another great day and i can’t wait for Air Traffic Control induction on Thursday. It’s pretty amazing to see what people have to go through and all the procedures that need to be taken (Somehow i think @Fredrik and @Olof work at an airport themselves to know all of this information.)

Will update this thread again on Thursday after the ATC induction!

[Olof]

@Hazard_DutchAD

Somehow i think @Fredrik and @Olof work at an airport themselves to know all of this information.

Haha, you’d think that but it’s actually the community that keeps feeding us with the right information.

Great read by the way, sounds like you’re having a blast!

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Am in Air Traffic Control tomorrow for an induction over there! It’s been a blast so far and been having an amazing time doing things any aviation enthusiast would ever have dreamed of doing.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Air Traffic Control Induction

today i was at the airport (Liverpool) once again to take part in another induction taking place over at the airport. I started off by meeting over in the admin buildings to get escorted over to the employee pass offices. We watched 3 short videos about Operation Fairway, F.I.R.E and a Customer Services staff video. After we watched the video we all got told to come back into the pass office to receive our passes.

The pass that we received was a 2 month (60 day) access pass to areas 1, 2 and 4 which is pretty much all we will need for the jobs that we all chose.

After we collected our passes we headed back over to the admin building were a member of staff drove us over to the ATS (Air Traffic Services) building which was pretty far from the main area of the airport. We had to wait in the reception for someone from the tower to come and collect us to take us up. We had to take a lift up to the tower. (there was stairs but because of how long it would have taken just to walk up to the top it saved our legs )

Once we made it to the top of the tower i was shocked by the view, a 360° clear view across the entire tower you could see the city centre and even the Ellesmere Port power plant and a clear view of the entire airport from the runway to the terminal building it was a stunning view!
While we were up in the tower we got permission to ask the controllers who were on shift any questions we had since there wasn’t many flights today arriving at the airport. There was a trainer aircraft doing circuit training touch and go’s but that wasn’t an issue unless they wanted to request permission to land the aircraft or request another touch and go on the runway.

While we were in the tower we got shown all the systems they use from the creation of the flight strips to the radar and runway lighting controls. While i was in the tower looking around i noticed on the radar an Airbus Beluga and managed to get a better view of the aircraft by borrowing a pair of binoculars. After we asked all our questions we headed down back into the main building and walked into the main radar room where 3 staff members where communicating with aircraft pilots who were wanting to cross through the Liverpool airspace or request permissions to be transferred over to Liverpool Approach. Liverpool Airport’s ATS building also manages the airspace across Doncaster.

We looked about and watched the staff do their thing directing planes and giving pilots clearance to enter the airspace. There was a student in guiding planes but they seemed to be doing a better job than anyone else there (She was pretty impressive) We stayed in the room for 10 more minutes asking any questions we had before we had to leave as it was getting close to lunch time, We actually went over and left the ATS at 11:55am and arrived back at the administration building for 12:10pm (A little late but for that experience i would say it was worth being late for lunch)

Environment Talk

We met back at the admin building and met our mentor as she took us over to the old decommissioned tower which is now used for IT and Engineering as well as the fire services. We met the head of Environment protection for the airport who’s job it was to suggest any improvements and idea the airport CEO could use to improve efficiency and their carbon footprint.

We didn’t learn much from this talk but we did get something from it. After we headed up to the decommissioned area of the tower and it was like walking a time machine 10 years back, everything looked so old yet some systems were still operating but in standby mode.

It was a pretty cool thing to see, all the old technology that they used back then and how updated it is how in the main operational tower. While i was in the old tower i also managed to find some old equipment such as old flight strip holders. We didn’t stay up there for long as we only had a short time with the mentor as he had to go to a meeting but as we left the building he waved off so we walked back to the admin buildings to return all the receipts from the week and check when we are in next.

Another fantastic experience and i start the full customer service training on Monday. I will mainly be in the administration buildings although they have said they are gonna try get me on airside once a week to see the amazing things that happen over there and maybe interact and help with a mentor’s job

Will update on Monday, these updates might not be as long as this though because i will mainly be in an office but you never know what might happen in there. Thanks for reading todays update on the experience!

[Jettuh]

That’s awesome, great job!

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Training Day 1

So today was my first actual training day. Today started off with a long brief tour of the airport how a passenger would see it, We gone through the daily passenger routine including going through security, then departures and out via arrivals. While going through the terminal we noticed 2 aircraft that had a special livery on them including the EasyJet Airbus 250 livery and the EasyJet Linate-Fiumicino Per Tutti livery.

(Image by Bing)

(Image by Bing)

While arriving back on landside before we exited the baggage claim I also got told they have 5 carousels the main 3 in the International arrivals and 1 for arriving UK passengers who don’t have to go through border force. Carousel 4 however was out of service / not in use because they use that as a spare in case it gets extremely busy.

I stopped by at Subway before we left the main terminal so i never had to go back to get my lunch and i could learn more while I was on my lunch break.

I was working in the administration buildings for the airport helping with customer service tickets. I was shown all the various software that they use including Sprout and Zendesk which makes things easier for the staff. I was shown how to login to the staff portal for Zendesk and learned how to manage tickets.

At first i was sorting tickets that were already managed and closed but since they said I was working extremely well and efficient they gave me access to the car park system they use where I could manage a customers booking by finding their reference number so I was helping to manage any car park query’s including passengers not receiving their confirmation emails and passengers forgetting their booking reference as the search system could search by a various amount of ways.

I was mainly in the office all day but i have been told I will be out tomorrow with Environmental on the airside doing some pretty cool and unique experiences, so I am pretty excited for that. I know it’s not going to be like the inductions but just working at the airport on this training program has given me so much information and confidence if I ever get the chance for an airport job dealing with customers.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Training day 2

Today started just like training day 1 although we had a really bad snow storm that hit us about 5 o’clock in the morning and when I arrived the whole airport was completely shut down, planes wait on the tarmac but they were not taking off as the runaway was closed.

It seems everybody was having issues getting in to work today because of the so-called “BeastFromTheEast” although none of us could actually start any work until the runaway with clear and planes could take off and land so everybody was helping to clear the runaway of snow.

Eventually about 10 o’clock we got the runway cleared and flight started to take off again the airport sorted once again sounding like an actual airport with planes taking off and landing. Although the storm had stopped customer services were getting quite a lot of complaints about the weather disruption so I had to help manage the tickets about the weather and explained to customers what had happened and that we were prepared although no action could have been taken unless we got the all clear.

The snow started to fall again although it wasn’t as strong as it was. As it wasn’t strong the airport was still fully operational except the deicers were out on the apron and plane stands.

By the time that we had finished cleaning up all of the complaint tickets about the weather it was 12 o’clock and I was able to go for my lunch.

After I had my lunch I met up with a member from the environmental team who took me over to the Winter ops meeting where we discussed how to make the operations better and more efficient for the airlines and customers. We also got told to be put on warning as another storm may hit over the weekend so I decided to volunteer and put my phone number down if they need my assistance.

Tomorrow I am with environmental all day so I have no idea what I will be doing but I maybe think I will be out gritting and watching over the operations of the airport as well as looking in retail and checking the metres.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Training Day 3

Today i was mainly hanging out with the Environmental team at the airport as they gave me a few tasks that i could manage. Like all days once again i started off in the arrival to the admin building although because my mentor was on a course today i got told to wait in the reception. I was sitting in the reception for about 30 minutes as i was not due to walk over with an escort to the building until 10am.

I got escorted over to the old Air Traffic Control Tower (They never had a better name) and into the Environment team offices were i met one of the main staff who is second in charge when it comes to the environment team. I got shown around the office and then was told to put on a hi-vis jacket as it was like -9 out but at the same time i needed it as i was going on Airside.

When i got my hi-vis on we entered the lift and had to press a special button combination to access the old control tower (3rd floor) of the tower were all the trolleys are stored and all the contraband is sorted (food wise) I took a trolley along with another colleague and we walked over to the security checkpoint inside the terminal.

We entered security and went through (luckily i never got picked for the search!, it’s like the machine has it’s favourites) and got our belongings after they got scanned through the x-ray (it took about 5 minutes to sort out all the coats and hi-vis etc) To get to all the boxes of contraband we had to go behind the secure area were blue boxes full of mixed items stored all of the food, drinks and sharp materials as well as detergents, aerosols and makeup.

As we loaded up the boxes we had to leave at least one so security had somewhere to store any items they may have had to remove while we were sorting them all. We took the trolleys now full of the food waste boxes back over to the old ATC tower and began sorting items. it was a pretty interesting job and you could tell the variety of passengers in the airport and what foods they like.

We found 8 large tubs of Nutella in 2 boxes (Fun Fact: Nutella actually counts as a liquid while going through airport security) as well as various bottles of unopened water, canned drinks, bottles of soda, aerosols and deodorants as well as cleaning and health products such as toothpaste, soap and hair gels. After we sorted through all the boxes i was able to pick a few items from the contraband to take home and munch on although most of the items of food, drink, aerosols and beauty products will all go up for the airport raffle were we raffle of any contraband except sharp objects, weapons etc.

We took the boxes back over having to go through security once more to deliver the boxes as each box had to be individually scanned to make sure we were not bringing anything onto the airside. We had to take the trolley’s back over to the atc building before i collected my belongings and went back to the admin building to work on some more Zendesk tickets.

I was mainly managing tickets about a cancelled flight today and customers wanting a refund on their parking before I went over to meet 2 other colleagues by the Subway who are also on the training program working in Security.

After lunch I headed back over to the admin buildings and continued to manage zendesk tickets until when i got escorted back over to the Environmental department as i was helping them as well as staff from SSP (Subway, Burger King, WHSmith etc) clean up the East and North service yards. Just like every cleaning job we all got dirty at least a few of us. It was impressive to see how many bins they needed for glass as well as how many beer kegs they need (there was about 80 outside unused). Once we cleaned both service areas we had to spread Grit around the areas as snow was expected and it was -3 so ice could have still formed.

I’m sorry i was unable to provide much information on the last task today but there isn’t much you can really say about cleaning up rubbish and gritting a service yard XD Tomorrow i am back with Environmental from till then i am not sure what else is planned.

Will update again tomorrow

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Training Day 4

Today I was with environmental once again meeting at the administration building. I had no idea what I was doing today as it was a bit of a mix as the mentor who offered the experience for this training programme was in the building and we was to meet them at 12 o’clock.

Because of the snow everybody was getting late I almost got in late as my train got cancelled and I had to change to get a bus so a member from the environmental team came and picked me up at about 10am.

Because of we were late I had no time to drop off any of my bags although I only had one bag anyway we still have to go through security so as soon as he arrived he took us straight through. We met up with the head safety officer for the airport as today we did a walk around the terminal including the service yards to make sure everything was in check.

While we walked across the terminal we found a few concerning things but not major but they did get noted down as engineering would have to take a look at it. when we entered the service yard it was extremely cold although on that day it was - 13 with the wind chill so it was extremely cold I don’t know how we managed to stand in that yard and chat for about 30 minutes.

After the meet I was back in the administration building as lots of planes got cancelled due to adverse weather which meant lots of customer queries and complaints.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

As there isn’t very much to post after the first week I feel like I have posted everything that I can. It’s been a great first week I’ve learnt a lot of new things about the airport and the staff.

I have been updating this thread with each day and you thing although that’s going to stop from at this point until the end of the training program when I will make a final post on this thread about the final experience overall.

So far it’s been a really great experience something that every aviation enthusiast would love to do I’ve done so many things that people can even dream of doing.

Not yet just in case people do not know why this thread isn’t getting updated much anymore it’s because of the first week I have been shown almost everything I think there is about the airport that I need to know. Not yet just in case people do not know why this thread isn’t getting updated much anymore it’s because of the first week I have been shown almost everything I think there is about the airport that I need to know. I might post small blogs but they will only be about one or two paragraphs.

[PigScroll]

Thank you so much for sharing this really interesting experience with us!

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Week 3 and I’ve decided to sign up for the A-Team (volunteer) scheme as it gives that option of even more experience.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Week 4

I’ve been accepted into the volunteer program! Can’t wait to volunteer around the terminal and try putting my new customer service skills to the test. Once again am going to have to go through the security pass process but this time I won’t be on ESCORTED

I’m also searching for various careers in the aviation industry as I feel comfortable working in a large and busy work place even if it’s a Duty Free role I’m gonna apply for it!

I’m on the airfield today taking photos with my mentor for Blue Air and helping to promote one of their services.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Week 5

Today I found out the training is almost over, the 5 week course has been amazing I’ve done so many unique and interesting things while I’ve been at the airport and wish that it didn’t have to end. Even though I’m on the volunteer scheme (A-Team) it’s not going to be the same in the office with marketing and HR.

So many laughs and fun times we’ve been having a blast. My mentor has been the best, getting me involved in all sorts of fun and amazing opportunities within the airport. I can’t thank her and the marketing team enough for all they have done for me during the 5 weeks.

Thanks for all of you guys for taking an interest in this training blog.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Got my certificate on Thursday as I had completed the training. Looking into a job they have on offer Landside. It might just be car parking but it’s still an official airport job.

[Hazard_DutchAD]

Same here, I think that after we have sorted them then they get checked in big loads. I wouldn’t know but i do think they would send it off somewhere to make sure. It’s obvious they wouldn’t give out this information to anyone because it’s most likely a secure location.