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My name is Gillian Bullen and I'm a design
and development engineer for Virgin Atlantic.
My day to day job involves maintaining the
air worthiness of our fleet of aircraft.
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As a child my main area of play was problem
solving with, so puzzles, and jigsaws. Anything
that was broken I would fix and join in with
my parents with DIY. When I was in school
my strengths were math, science, and technology
subjects, and those naturally progress into
engineering. Combining that with the fact
that I lived under the flight path of Glasgow
airport drew my attention to aviation. My
first job was in the hangars was a technician
was mechanical systems, so I would be involved
in engine changes, changing wheels and tires,
all the mechanical side of the aircraft. Today's
more of a support role, providing support
to the hangars and to the line engineers,
to make sure they have the correct maintenance,
they have the correct tools, and equipment
to make sure they can do their job properly.
Everyday presents a different problem, and
I'm put in a position where I can use my creativity,
and my education, and my problem solving to
fix those problems, and to attack those challenges.
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Virgin Atlantic it will be the first UK operator
of the 787-9, and this is a brand new airplane
that is technically advanced. The whole build
up of the plane is completely different to
legacy airplane. Its built of competent materials,
its lighter, its more fuel efficient, and
its faster. It will get our passengers to
their destination in a quicker time and for
less fuel. The industry has to change, we
have to get smarter to catch up with these
airplanes, to be able to see this industry
go from a mechanical based and its getting
more computer based, it's a real change. I'm
looking forward to how that looks in the future.
A good engineer is somebody who takes a problem
and doesn't look to just fix it, but to make
improvements on the back that, that they're
constantly striving for innovation and something
that's more efficient, and something that's
better than it was in the first place.
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A world without engineers would stay exactly
how it is today. There would be no evolution
of technology. Nothing would become more efficient.
Nothing would get better. With engineers you
have the opportunity in a group of people
that are all constantly looking to improve
things. I think everyone relies on aviation
everyday, consciously or subconsciously, whether
its from receiving goods, or going on a holiday,
or traveling for business aviation is the
gateway to the rest of the world. We've got
a really exciting future ahead of us now.
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