In late February, nineteen of our Travel, Tourism & Airline Operations students gained insightful experience as they spent two weeks in Spain.
Upon arriving, students spent their time at the AeroStar Aviation College in Granada, Spain. There they learned a wide variety of important topics and skills, which included self-defence, first aid, understanding aeroplanes and more.
As part of their understanding of their studies, students spent a day of their trip flying small, single-engine aeroplanes. It was then that students were able to fly for themselves. The plane was first controlled by the pilot until it was stable in the air. Once this was the case, the students themselves then got the opportunity to take control of the aeroplanes themselves, whilst being aided by the pilot who sat next to them and kept an eye on the controls.
In their self-defence classes, students were introduced to a style of self-defence that would be highly applicable when it comes to interactions that may take place on an aeroplane. If a passenger is acting incompatible, or if things progress to the point where there is an altercation taking place, students were prepared to act in these events, using techniques that could be applied in the narrow environment of an aeroplane, and in cases where the passengers are seated. In worst case scenarios, students were prepped on how to use handcuffs, and how to perform security checks if they believe passengers were hiding something on their person. An activity used by a tutor in the aviation college, required that the class be split into two groups, and then have one group move into a separate room. The tutor gave out small objects to a select amount of people in both groups, then tested the class by having everyone perform security checks on each other. The challenge was effective in conveying how easily objects can slip past security if the checks aren’t done properly, as students found creative ways to mask these items, many of them keeping them successfully hidden away from their peers.
More activities took place during their two week stay. Towards the end of the visit, the entire class moved from Granada to another city, Cordoba. There, students continued their studies by partaking in swimming exercises, learning how to swim properly in the event of an emergency landing on water, as well as, enjoying a trip out to Granada airport where they got to see the functionalities of an airport, visiting the cockpit of an aeroplane, learning how the airport keeps track of the weather at all times, and getting to speak with the fire department that is situated on the grounds.
After two amazing weeks, full of activities, the students landed back in Manchester on 6th March.