From crewing officer to cabin crew
My aviation career began behind the scenes as a crewing officer, helping to ensure that flights had the right people in the right place at the right time.
I later moved into the cabin and progressed to become senior cabin crew with Air 2000.
I spent more than nine years with the airline, during which I developed skills that have remained relevant throughout my career: communication, leadership, teamwork, adaptability and the ability to make calm decisions in demanding situations.
Working in aviation also showed me that the industry extends far beyond the flight deck. Every flight depends upon a network of people working across operations, engineering, customer service, safety, technology and many other specialist areas.
Career changes
After nine years in aviation, I followed another of my passions: technology.
Over the following nine years, I worked for organisations including Apple and McCann, gaining experience of how technology, creativity and communication can be brought together to solve problems and improve the way people work and interact.
I have always been interested in technology not simply as a collection of devices, but as a tool for creating experiences.
Used effectively, it can help people understand complex ideas, build confidence and see possibilities that may otherwise feel out of reach.
Like many people, my career changed again following the major disruption caused by COVID-19. It gave me an opportunity to reconsider what I wanted to do next and how I could use my experience to make a difference.
I decided to train as a teacher.
For the next three years, I taught secondary-school Computing, iMedia and Business Studies. I later progressed into further education and was promoted to Deputy Head of School at a college.
Teaching helped me understand that people do not all learn in the same way. Some thrive through written work and traditional classroom instruction, while others need to see, experience and interact with a subject before it becomes meaningful.
Bringing my own industry experience into the classroom and embedding it within the curriculum helped learners engage with subjects in more meaningful ways.
It reinforced my belief that both young people and those considering a career change later in life are more likely to develop their skills when they can connect what they are learning to real roles, practical applications and future career opportunities.
My three passions - aviation, technology and education - have now come together through The Immersive Hub and FlightDeck PC in Wigan.
Our mantra is: Experience | Inspire | Progress
The principle is simple. First, give someone an opportunity to experience something new. Use that experience to inspire curiosity, confidence and ambition. Then help them identify how they can progress.
Through flight simulation, immersive technology and practical challenges, we allow people to explore aviation in a way that is active and engaging.
Someone may initially visit because they want to fly a Boeing aircraft or attempt a carrier landing, but that experience can become the starting point for a much wider conversation.
A varied industry
Aviation is not only about becoming a pilot. The industry needs engineers, technicians, cabin crew, air traffic controllers, dispatchers, ground operations teams, software developers, cybersecurity specialists, designers, educators and many other professionals.
Part of our role is to help people discover those opportunities and recognise that skills they already possess may be relevant to an aviation career.
Emerging technology and training
We are also exploring how emerging technology can improve training. Devices such as Apple Vision Pro can place learners inside immersive environments, allowing them to explore equipment, practise processes and experience situations that might otherwise be difficult, expensive or unsafe to recreate.
Immersive technology should not be used simply because it is new or impressive. It must have a clear purpose. When designed effectively, it can help learners visualise complex systems, practise decision-making and develop confidence before entering a real working environment.
This is especially valuable for young people who may not engage easily with conventional education.
A learner who struggles with a traditional worksheet may become fully engaged when completing an aircraft turnaround challenge, investigating a technical fault or working as part of an operational team.
The underlying skills remain the same - communication, mathematics, digital competence, problem-solving and teamwork - but they are presented within a meaningful context.
Receiving an ‘Outstanding’ outcome from a recent inspection of our educational provision was particularly important to me. It recognised not only what we deliver, but the inclusive, adaptable and learner-focused approach behind it.
Aviation Ambassador
My appointment as a Department for Transport Aviation Ambassador now gives me the opportunity to take this work further.
I want to help make aviation more visible and accessible, particularly to young people who may never previously have considered that the industry could offer something for them.
I also want to strengthen the connections between employers, education providers and community organisations so that inspiration can be followed by genuine opportunities to develop skills and progress.
The aviation industry needs talented people from a wide range of backgrounds. Meeting that need requires more than simply advertising vacancies.
We must give people meaningful experiences, introduce them to the breadth of available careers and help them understand the pathways into those roles.
My career has taken me from airline crewing and the aircraft cabin to global technology companies, the classroom and educational leadership.
Those experiences have now come together with a shared purpose: using technology and education to help the next generation discover aviation.
For me, that journey can be summarised in three words: Experience | Inspire | Progress
For more information please visit theimmersivehub.co.uk
