Joe Barrass

My degree provided me with a number of skills that have helped me in my career since graduating.

• Report writing and the use of excel was an integral part of my previous roles at airports (Sustainability Officer at Farnborough Airport and Environmental Advisor at Newcastle International Airport)
• Presentation – past roles required me to present to various internal and external audiences, including committee meetings and the general public.
  Modules in water and air pollution were key to having the knowledge needed to carry out water quality monitoring across airport sites and working closely with government bodies such as the Environmental Agency.
• Air Quality, Monitoring and Climate Change knowledge as the role included assisting in calculating carbon footprints and writing reports, which would be submitted to local councils and discussed at meetings to see whether airport-related activities were affecting local air quality for example.

In my current role have to present on a daily basis giving all passengers a safety brief at the beginning of every flight once all passengers are boarded and doors are closed (safety features, flight route, weather, any forecasted turbulence etc).

My favourite thing about studying my subject at Edge Hill was understanding and learning about real world challenges and what is happening in the industry to reduce their impacts (climate change, water pollution, erosion etc).

I found the careers advice and interview guidance topic at the end of 3rd year particularly helpful.

The three top skills I gained from my degree were:

• Team work
• Leadership
• Decision making

I was inspired to pursue my current career by family members who worked in the industry, who inspired me and gave me a passion from a young age. More recently, some flying friends along the way helped with motivation during particularly tough training!

A typical day in my job involves operating an aircraft with two crew (captain and co-pilot), so communication and teamwork is critical. The first task when you report for duty is pre-flight briefing in the crew room, you discuss with the captain your day and go through all important paperwork before going near the aircraft. This includes; checking the weather, calculating how much fuel you will require (we usually take minimum fuel to reduce emissions and there is a company and industry-wide push on this), weather, does the aircraft have any maintenance issues and anything else that may affect the flight.

Ensuring the flight is departing on time to try and maintain a good “on time performance” for the company. (Some delays do occur which are unavoidable – we have lots of weather related delays in Scotland).

Customer service skills – Boarding passengers and giving them a safety briefing. Communication via radio to Air Traffic Control and adhering to instructions. Flying the aircraft safely, accurately and inline with company procedures. This can be challenging in the Scottish weather especially in winter when we fly into icing conditions as this presents some hazards!

If flying to Barra in the Outer Hebrides, this includes landing on the beach (the only airport in the world where the beach is the runway). We generally do 4-6 flights a day. That’s a lot of take-offs and landings!

Always have confidence in yourself and your own ability, do not be afraid to challenge yourself and do not give in at the first hurdle. You will slip up sometimes but you learn from your mistakes and we are all human. Chase your dreams and do not give in!