Staff and cadets from Bicester Squadron were invited to experience life on an active airfield when they spent the evening touring the facilities at London Oxford Airport.
Following an invitation from the Oxford Aviation Academy, Flying Officer Daniel Azizian, acting Officer Commanding of the Squadron and himself a qualified commercial pilot jumped at the chance to show his cadets what life is like in the amazing world of aviation. What he never expected was to be given such an open doors tour of the various facilities and to see his cadets being given such an insight into the various sections that make up this busy airport.
Amongst the various sections which were opened up to the group were airport operations, flight training simulators, aircraft maintenance Air Traffic Control and of course some of the aircraft themselves. Each of these areas included an element of hands on experience but, without a doubt the highlights were learning the workings of the airport’s state-of-the-art £500,000 fire truck and the opportunity to “fly” one of the £1.5 million flight simulators. This latter experience was suitably summed up by Cadet Jones who said “it was amazing, the simulator really made it feel like you were moving.”
Ian Harrington, Manager Training Sales at the Oxford Aviation Academy was impressed with the cadets and stated that ”It was a pleasure to host the Squadron, the cadets are, after all the future of aviation.” Flying Officer Azizian agreed and added that “all of the cadets thought the visit was brilliant and several cadets are now excited about the prospect of pilot training.”