Airfield Driving Experience

[AerBabe]

'm applying for a job ... a job I really REALLY want. I have all of the experience they deem 'essential', except for "Vehicle driving e.g. patrol vehicles, tractors & other plant".

Can anyone help me with this? Give me some experience of tractor driving, or take me round some airfields, seeing what is involved in patrol?

Please please please???
Thank you. :O

[stiknruda]

I've got a tractor or two, Monocock probably has more modern ones!

Stik

[Monocock]

Would love to help but I think you might find "my equipment a bit too large"!!

It's all 180hp stuff and most airfields use small amenity type machinery that is totally different.

Your best bet might be an agricultural college for a couple of hours. Speak to the machinery lecturer bloke and explain your predicament. The college I went to would certainly help out but they are a long way away for you.

If you get really stuck I'm sure between stik and myself we can find some willing young farmer for you. (so to speak):D

[Hersham Boy]

Or wing-it (excuse the pun)...

You drive a car, right? Tractor's the same thing, but slower. I doubt they're going to ask you to make a JCB dance, or to stack bricks with a long-reach crane! I'm a total idiot and I've not found a piece of machinery that I couldn't get to grips with after 30 seconds of instruction yet...

I'm sure there is machinery that takes lots of skill and learning to operate, but that prob won't be on the list.

Sometimes "essential" can still be wishlist, in reality, as well.

Hersh

[Windy Militant]

By experience do they mean an operators license? If you're employed to drive Fork Trucks, nowadays you have to have been on a HSE approved course and have a certificate to prove it.
Cranes and excavators etc you'll probably need a ticket for insurance purposes.
Plant operators license (http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/faq.htm)

[AerBabe]

I'm sure it won't be a problem - but I want to demonstrate willing in the application!

[englishal]

Havan't got a Nissan Patrol, :D but have a Mitsubishi Pajero which is fun to drive around fields in mud. Got a bit scared when the AI (inclinometer) reached 30 degrees though on a particularly steep bit of ground :D

Would love to help out, but am off for my "High altitude endoresment" and "Half pipe" ratings in the Alps this afternoon.

Ah, have just noticed that you said "airfields" and not "fields"...oh well :D

[shortstripper]

We've got big tractors and little ones here ... but they tend to smell as high as you can fly .... and you're likely to go away errmmm ... "greener" than you came:\

SS (dairy farm manager) :E

[Kolibear]

You sure this isn't April Fool +1??

Maybe they mean 'Petrol vehicle' not 'Patrol Vehicle'

[LowNSlow]

AB what are you actually patrolling? If it's an airfield I would imagine that it's just the ability to drive slowly in low gear around the perimeter with the occasional dash to catch offending pilots who aren't wearing their hi-viz vests :E :E

As Hersham Boy said, driving a tractor is no different from driving a car except slower. Be prepared for one with a hand throttle, clutch on the right pedal and brakes on the left pedal though. Once you get over the unfamiliar controls it's a doddle as everything happens relatively slowly. :ok:

Edited cos I'd got my pedals the wrong way around......

[AerBabe]

No, it's not another April fool. One successful attempt was enough. :ok:
The job is as an operations officer at North Weald (if anyone is involved in this, do drop me a line & let me know what your favourite bribe is). They have a tick list of 'essentials' for experience; one of which is drivin' trac'ors. Of coursel, I've never driven one. But, IF I get as far as interview, I'd like to be able to have some more cards up my sleeve. I'd rather be able to say 'yes, I can and have driven trac'ors' than 'no, but I'm sure I could'.

[Oscar Duece]

We'll we've got some small tractors. but so old and knackered it would scare some people off.

For the other agri aviators out there list

Ford 3600 (1978)
DB 820 (1974)
F35 (1976)
Fordson Dexta (1958 ?)
Ferrari ! Articulated vinyard tractor (1979)
Univeral 850 (1972) owned from new (will need a new clutch soon, any help locating a source ???)

All with pto drive and standard 3 point hitch (We keep a 6ft offset topper (Twose) on the Universal, rusted in place by now) and have a 8ft Bee which we use on the big Ford (58 hp, wow).
But you may find that some people use a gang mower to trim the strip and a frail topper for the really rough stuff.
Have I confused you enough yet ??

[Sir George Cayley]

Is that the same North Weald the Govt wants to obliterate under a massive housing scheme?

Airfield Ops covers amultitude of sins. I suspect the new boy (girl) gets to cut the grass!

If it were me I'd phone them up and ask if they could list out the equipment so you can check them against your skill sets.

Patrol could be Bird Control, Perimeter Security, Airside Safety (ensuring everyone looks suitably Canary Yellow) Follow me services for lost taxy-ers. FOD suppression and fetching the ATCO's their butties at lunch time

Just a guess!

Sir George Cayley

[kabz]

I drove a Kubota tractor with a mowing attachment to do the mowing at my local gider field. Easy peasy. No worries aerbabe. Maybe you should go ask a local farmer or something.

Just a couple of extra levers to control the power take off and high-low range like a landrover.

In fact we used to stick some of the guys wives on it as they quite enjoyed the vibrations or something ... :}

[Saab Dastard]

I've driven tractors on various gliding sites to haul gliders around and to pull out launch cables. As others have said, there are a few different things - hand throttle and hi/lo ratio - that actually make it easier to drive than a car.

It's strangely relaxing, too, as everything seems to be in slow motion.

It really is not difficult, and to prove it some women can do it too!

(I'll get me hat and coat)

SD

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

As others have said, go gliding!! I used to do lots of tractor driving in my gliding days, and those, to, had no rollover protection (and it was a hill site, so by no means all flat). They are very simple machines - like a heavy, slow car to drive, but with a hand operated throttle.

I've also had a go with a bulldozer. Driving the beast was easy (hand-operated steering clutch levers for the steering, with differential foot brakes to lock the tracks), but my attempts to level a piece of ground left me with deep respect for anyone who can do it. As the 'dozer tilts on the rough ground, the blade digs in and tends to bury itself ever deeper, or rises and dumps a mound of earth for the 'dozer to pivot over. The secret is accurate and anticipatory tiny adjustments to blade height - and there's a lag between oprating the lever and the blade moving.

Makes aeros look simple :lol:

SSD

[Boing_737]

You could always do what our professional bretheren do and simulate!!

Simply drive your car to the bypass of your choice. Drive on it at no more than 25 mph using only gears 1 & 2 (maybe 3 at the most) :}

Anyone got any suggestions for emergencies:confused:



(seriously - good luck with getting the job)....

[Whirlybird]

Aerbabe,

If really desperate, lie! Tell them you've done it, and if you get the job, just make sure that you have done it before you start. That gives you a bit more time.

Good luck. Sounds right up your street. :ok:

[FNG]

At North Weald they have a wonderful 1940s fuel bowser, to go with the not so wonderful 1940s rock buns in the canteen, but I think that only John the Fuel gets to drive the bowser. Crash gearbox, worse brakes than a Cub, a fine machine. Last I heard, North Weald had earned a reprieve for another year or so. I hope so, as it is a splendid and atmospheric place, home to many interesting aircraft. Aerbabe, if they offer to pay part of your wages in rockbuns, walk away.

[stiknruda]

Aerbabe...

I have some cutting and rolling needed ASAP - Davie Broon, 55hp
I'll provide lunch and diesel and if you knock out a nice certificate proclaiming tractor competency on your PC, I'll sign it.

spoke to bruv-in-law at dinner yeterday and he's only got 9 tractors but will let you drive the 35hp one to spread muck

STANDBY... STANDBY...


Stik

[skydriller]

Not that I would ever depart from the subject of a thread...;)

But how the hell is that place legal? Rides on diggers for little kiddies at £1 a pop? I seem to remember it being illegal for under 13s to ride on tractors - and here are some outfit charging for it. In fact I remember being challenged by a roving HSE guy one summer on the farm when straw-carting in a field with SD senior aged about 13/14 - didnt tell him I'd been driving them since I was 7 or 8 though:O .

And as for whizzing around in a modified JCB bucket, are the HSE OK with this too?

Anyone else on here with a farm (I know there are a few of you!) and experience of the HSE in said environment not raise an eyebrow at this site.

....unless its all a big wind-up....

[shortstripper]

Typical double standards innit? If the fella is an instructor (one day ATB course no doubt) that's probably OK. A farmer with a lifetime's experience of tractor driving is given grief over taking his own kids for a ride now and then.

I have an aurgument here every time they show up about not wearing a crash helmet when riding the quadbike to get cows in ect. Before anyone pipes up about why I should, let me tell you I have GOOD reasons why in this case I shouldn't!

It always makes me giggle when they do wander about here checking stuff ... They always go on about things that whilst potentially dangerous, often aren't ... when right behind them, and glaringly obvious to me there is something that very much is dangerous and they miss it!!!:rolleyes:

Still, good luck to the digger guys. If well run, it should be pretty safe ... potentially lethal maybe? but just how much cotton wool do we need to wrap the whole population up to protect them from everything?

SS

[Sensible]

Go with Sir George Cayley's suggestion and phone em up and ask who is going to be doing the interviews and then ask to speak to him, her (It also shows that you are interested enough to want to do your homework and it lets them know your name in advance) actually ask what items of plant that the sucessful applicant will be required to drive. The chances are that they are shortening the list of applicants to weed out the ones who when told to cut the grass say "wot me? I cant drive a tractor" There is nothing that cant be driven and I don't know your age but you can always say at interview that you have driven a number of different types of those (whatever) in the past but not recently and need to brush up. There are enough people with contacts on this forum to give you some basic instruction on whatever it is that you are going to have to drive before you turn up to do the job and nothing is impossible to drive, it just needs practice. The interviewer will know that if you can fly then you will be able to drive anything!

Make up with bullsh!t what you lack in experience! Enthusiasm counts more than experience in many instances anyway.

Good luck. :ok:

[AerBabe]

Thanks for all the responses. Stik - I'm not entirely sure whether your offer of me spreading much for your BIL is a good one or not. :uhoh:
As it's the Council doing the hiring, I may have some problems even getting an interview. Apparently, they have a tick list of things that applicants MUST have, and if you don't match all the boxes, you go no further. There were a couple of little things I don't have experience of or my certificate is out of date. We shall see. It's about time I had some good luck. :sad:

[niknak]

Ignore Whirlybird and his associated idiots - don't lie.

Tractors are not simple beasts to drive or operate, and you'll be caught out very quickly if you do tell fibs, like aeroplanes, they are very complicated animals and bite back if not handled with due respect.

Simply say on your application that you've no experience of driving tractors, but are keen and willing to learn, your other natural talents will get you the job, and they'll get someone to train you to drive and operate a tractor.

[Kingy]

AB,

Come help me mow our strips... Got a tractor at the field with a gang mower. On second thoughts though, the 'ol man's got several tractors, a JCB, a mini digger and a dumper truck... man, it's like full sized tonka toy heaven at his place...! Best thing is, we could land in his little paddock in the Cub - what you say..?

PK

[Kolibear]

You'll probably be given your very own Hi-Vis Jacket & told to go out & direct the Saturday Market traffic.

But if you ask very nicely, maybe John will let you have a ride in the Big Red Refueller ;)

[FNG]

Ahhhh, the Saturday Market, retailing the most astonishing variety of worthless tat ever assembled, and attracting entire families of mouth breathers from miles around. Look mummy, lets watch whilst the silly pilots try to land in stonking crosswinds whilst the perfectly into-wind runway is closed on account of all those stalls selling knock-off Arsenal shirts in the undershoot. Still, its better to put up with this than have the place bulldozed.

[Kolibear]

Ahhhh, the Saturday Market, retailing the most astonishing variety of worthless tat ever assembled,

I can see that you've been there too FNG, you're secret is out! Its the sort of place you only ever visit once and proves that the statement 'You get what you pay for' is absolutely true.

Mrs K & I went in just before last Xmas, we got talking to one stallholder about how his business operated and I mentioned that I flew from the airfield. His reply was 'Oh, I didn't realise that they had aircraft here too'

Its sort of difficult to miss a Jet Provost or a herd of Yaks taking off.