• Question: What were your best and worst days as an engineer; e.g. the plane turbine catching on fire...

    Asked by I Love Brownies to Huw, Gosha, Ray, Stacey, Steve on 16 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Steve Cox

      Steve Cox answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Failing a crash test on a new vehicle is a pretty bad day usually. That’s because the car you’ve just crashed probably cost about a million pounds to make so it’s a pretty expensive thing to do again. That’s not to mention all the work you need to do to find out why it failed, which isn’t always that obvious because things happen so quickly, and in ways that you don’t expect, in a crash test.

      The best days are when your product is finally finished and ready – you then get to show everyone and say “I Did That!!”

    • Photo: Huw Williams

      Huw Williams answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Any day where we have an a serious engine failure or even (touch wood) an air crash is a seriously bad day for us. The safety aspect of my work is all about ensuring that passengers get to their destinations in one piece. We have to make judgements about the safety of aircraft every day, the consequences of making the wrong decision are unthinkable when there are 200+ people depending on you.

      On a lighter note the best days are when we break new records for reliability and life in service which are happening more and more often these days as we get better and better at building engines.

      Huw

    • Photo: Gosha Barzowska

      Gosha Barzowska answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      I think best days for me is when the proejct finishes as it makes you feel like you accomplished sth very important 😉
      Worst days are when we get some negative feedback form our customers or when they come to us with some issues – we then need to be really reactive and quick to solve the problem. It gets a bit stressful but again it is very rewarding when the problem is solved 🙂

    • Photo: Stacey Cutten

      Stacey Cutten answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      Sorry for taking a while to reply! 😛

      So far, my best day has to be actually receiving the job offer for my apprenticeship. I felt so relieved, it was a new start which presented amazing opportunities for the future. My first day at college and my first day on site were also very very good.

      My worst, well…On Friday night, I was out with my friends, and I got a text from my mum saying “Urgent, call me”. Obviously being a teenager I just thought that I was in trouble. I called her and she said “Your auntie has turned on the news and it says that your building is on fire!”. In a panic I called my manager, who also hadn’t heard the news. It was the Battersea Art Centre, not the Battersea Royal College of Art…. I know this didn’t directly effect the building I am working on, but the panic I felt was real and I genuinely believed our building was in trouble!

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