AAU at FI2010

After a hideously early start our intrepid volunteers; Paul Hogan and Nick Coleman from London Metropolitan University, and Chris Neal and Rob Crocker from Merlin arrived at Farnborough in Monsoon conditions. Luckily all the vital equipment survived the trek across the hundred acre car park! A quick sortie for coffee and the stand was ready to go. We were lucky enough to be in an excellent area with plenty of networking opportunities, as well as a chance to catch up with current members. An endless stream of interested children, suddenly apparently set on a career in Aerospace, kept Paul, Nick and Chris busy as word got round that the AAU was offering free lanyards! Chris was particularly charmed by one lad who, on being asked if he was looking to study aviation/aerospace based courses at higher education level, replied "Dunno. Wassat?" On the whole though, the children seemed very keen to learn, and although initially attracted by our freebies found it useful to have both industry and academic representatives to answer their questions. As usual the excellent flying display lured everyone outside into the thankfully much improved weather and by 1600 it was time to trek back to the cars. For those we were able to chat to at the show please let us have any feedback, and for those unable to make it - see you next time!

It was wonderful to have the AAU back at Farnborough, and, especially in these tough economic times, was good to find a huge amount of solidarity and support within the aviation industry. The only way to survive the many "cuts" being pushed upon the academic sector is to band together and share resources and views, after all, many of those children passing the stand will eventually try to gain entry to Higher education in the aerospace/aviation sector, thus ultimately feeding industry demand for qualified employees. Interestingly, and this has become a growing trend over the years, many students who initially turn to a career in aviation, focusing on becoming tomorrows pilots, also now want a solid degree behind them, and as it possible to combine the study of both. This combining of courses draws academic, and industry interests ever closer and we look forward to more of this in the future.

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