Press Release

November 10th, 2009

Aeronautics course takes off

Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil is celebrating the soaraway success of a popular college course for would-be aeronautics engineers.

The MSP visited the James Watt College workshop to see the student’s handiwork for himself.

He was shown a single-seater Hummel aircraft that the students had stripped and re-built as part of the course.

Graduates since the course started in 2004 now have postings all over the world, maintaining aircrafts for the likes of British Airways, Ryanair and Loganair.

The college currently has more than 60 students studying the course.

Mr McNeil was shown round the workshop by David Houston, engineering curriculum manager, and William Graham, a college technician.

He said: “It is great that the college is able to run a course like this and I was particularly pleased to hear a good number of young people from the area are enrolling.

“These are the skills we need to retain in Scotland and it will open up great opportunities for the students who gain this qualification.

“It was certainly a pleasure for me to get a chance to see the workshop and of course the plane for myself.

“I look forward to playing my part in helping the college develop links with industry to ensure people get the chance to develop skills that the job market needs.”

ENDS