Today is my first anniversary as a Business Management Support Coordinator Apprentice at NATS. I have developed an incredible amount over the last 12 months and feel really proud to be a part of the company.

We are always looking for new ways to challenge and inspire our thinking; part of that involves making sure that our solutions are not limited to a narrow Air Traffic Management (ATM) perspective and are instead considering how knowledge from other disciplines could be applied to ATM.

My colleagues have discussed how they became engineers with NATS and the importance of women in engineering. However, professional development is important for everyone and is encouraged by NATS. To be awarded a Fellowship by the IET is a tremendous personal achievement.

The display at the National Museum of Computing has a controller workstation from the 1980’s alongside a state of the art simulation of systems from the Swanwick Centre and a busy airport tower. We’ve added some historical artefacts and a timeline of NATS linkages with Bletchley Park to celebrate our joint heritage. If you are interested in computers or air traffic control, the museum is an excellent day out and if you visit I hope you enjoy what we’ve put together.

When people hear that my role in NATS is to lead the Survey and Drawing Services (S&DS) team they often think I sit at a desk drawing things every day. But in truth, what the team and I do is much more varied and exciting.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but then how would you train engineers to maintain equipment?

The answer lies deep in the green fields of Hampshire, where a unique site plays host to an array of ground based navigation systems that provide a hands-on training experience to all NATS engineers, as well as delegates from across the globe that seek our expertise.

Engineering skills are being transferred across organisations and borders to support the growth of aviation in the Middle East. Former NATS engineer, Khalid Elseed, explains how he is now using his expertise in a new role as an ICAO Surveillance Adviser to the Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

The growth of wind energy in the UK has created an increasing challenge for aviation and air traffic control in particular.

Historical records show that around 70% of aircraft accidents occur in the landing and take-off phase of a flight. This means that areas close to airports have an above average risk of damage due to aircraft accidents. So how do we protect against this risk?