Operations Manager at RAF Cranwell

My favourite part of the job:

I can honestly say that working for Ascent at RAF Cranwell is a job that I relish for a multitude of reasons. I started my role for the initial set up before any aircraft were even due to get airborne. Seeing the programme from its infancy gives me and the rest of our team a real sense of pride when we see what we have already achieved in such a short period of time and it is still early days.

My greatest challenge at Ascent so far:

Of course there are problems along the way; what a boring job it would be if every day was the same, but I personally enjoy trying to meet these challenges head-on and endeavour to find a solution and a way to improve the system and to help those around me to try and ensure that we achieve our primary role – that of teaching people to fly!

My day to day activities as an Operations Officer:

My job is different every day. There are days where I ensure that the Ops room is ready for the flying day, starting with preparing the early brief, ensuring the aircraft are allocated and fuelled correctly and assuring the information in the Mission Planning room is accurate and up-to-date. Other days I will be delivering Human Factors training across the company to facilitate a safe and just culture company-wide. There are those days that are filled with meetings or interviews and days where I am gathering statistics to try and ascertain if we are working as productively as we can be. It is this variety within my role that makes my role so interesting.