The Air Training Corps has launched straight into the new year with a whole host of activities in the new term.

The HMS Albion.

On the 2nd of October, the Royal Navy invited the school's squadron on a visit to HMS Albion, an Albion Class Assault Ship.  The ship was moored in Belfast and a total of 50 Cadets attended the visit.  They were given a tour of the ship by members of the ship crew to see areas of the vessel members of the public didn't get to see like the Bridge and the Flight Deck.  The visit was a huge success and the Royal Navy crewmembers who conducted the tour even made efforts to arrange future visits for our school's Squadron to Royal Naval warships.

The inside of the ship.

Portadown College students on the bridge.

AEF- Air Experience Flying

On 13th October 2010, the Portadown College Air Training Corps, along with the Belfast Royal Academy Cadets, met at BelfastInternationalAirport for our annual AEF flying at RAF Woodvale inLiverpool. We met at the check-in desks at approximately 7:00am; the wait for everyone to arrive was long and tiring.

After we checked in we had arrived at the notorious security desk. We got through with only a few thorough searches needed. Next we boarded the plane and just sat back and relaxed as we flew swiftly above the clouds. They were as white as snow and there was a very Arctic feel, with the chill of the fog and the picturesque scenery of the rising sun. We landed at the famous John Lennon airport at approximately 9am. As you looked around it was hard to believe you were actually here. I had never been to the John Lennon Airport so it was great to see the famous yellow submarine that sits outside and how people from Liverpool actually spoke. From there we had a short period of time to chill and have a look around the main arrival area before we stepped onto the bus for the long one hour bus drive to RAF Woodvale.

On arrival, we were shown the safety video explaining all the boring but very useful information we would need if we just happened to need to escape from a Grob Tutor training plane. The safety video is as you would expect, an essential piece of equipment, but terribly uninteresting to listen to. They had three individual planes meaning three cadets could go out at any one time. I was part of the third group of three to go up and my pilot was Brian Jefferson, an ex fighter squadron pilot of 25 years. I managed to get some pretty handy information about my future from his experiences. As we took off, I prepared myself for the experience that lay ahead of me, we started our path north, just one of the many routes possible. We flew over towns such as the seaside resort of Southport and on my trip I was lucky enough to go as far north as Blackpool in what seemed like a very short period of time. We passed such icons as the Blackpool FC stadium and the famous PleasureBeach.

As we left Blackpool and headed south again we passed above the clouds for a little bit of aerobatics which were thrilling to say the least. We attempted such moves as loops, hitting as little as 5 G Forces and climbing to nearly 6000ft for a stall. This was my favourite move as we raced upwards towards the never-ending sky and then down again faster than when we went up. This is one experience I’ll never forget: possibly the best 30 minutes of my life!

We were, however, at the station for what felt like ages and we left at around 4:15pm. By now everyone was extremely tired; from there we drove back to the airport and got checked in. We had just a few minutes before boarding opened, just enough time for us cadets to get some dinner and prepare ourselves for the long trip back. We had to spend the few minutes before departure wisely and the obvious solution was dinner. It was a mad rush from Burger King to the departure gate, especially when the group I was with forgot which one we had to report to!

At around 6pm we boarded the plane and began our trip home. We made it back to the International in remarkable time, earlier than expected but our joy was short-lived when they announced that we would have to wait a further ten minutes for a plane that was late to taxi to the runway. We finally ended our journey by meeting our awaiting parents at the departure lounge.

This was one of the greatest experiences of my life so far. Sitting in the passenger seat of the Grob Tutor aircraft was a great experience and one I will never forget. I never thought than I would be with my greatest friends in Liverpool on an average day, yet here I was. This would not have been possible if it wasn’t for Dr Henderson; he organised everything for us and still had time to do some schoolwork himself. It was through the ATC that I had the chance to do this and it really does give something back for the work you put in. Thank you Dr Henderson for a great day with ATC! 

Euan Cantley 

Year 12