Airbus

It was on Thursday 28 October 2004, I got a phone call from an agency called MPI, whom I had worked for on previous occasions, could they put my CV in for a 3 month contract in Toulouse doing logistics, but I needed SAP now eve time I start in a new company they have a system I can not remember what I have used in all the firms, but I used to work for a firm that was in close contact with the old British Aerospace which is now Airbus and I did use that system so I said yes I have

On the 29th I get a call back, yes they would like you to start, OK when? Can you fly out on 31st, oh well the life of a contractor, but you have to scrap a living somehow

So off I set flying from Gatwick, arrive in Toulouse I  was supposed to be met but no one ever does, so hop into a taxi and to the hotel in town, nothing brill and the staff pretended not to speak English, but a connie just needs a place to sleep, eat and work but that’s the way of life

At the hotel reception at 6am, found some guys going to Airbus so lift was sorted, got into works reception and met by my linkman, pick up my badge and into the building. The sheer size of the place is astounding you may see photo's of the place but its nothing like real life, now all we had to do was find where I was to be working, anyway after about an hour of going around in circles I am collared by my boss Nick, who takes me around and I get to meet the staff Big Al and Nat who are both French, Raff who is English, French and Asian so he aint got a clue what he is, and later on Geoff the big boss of logistics  

Raff was given the job of looking after me, he can be a nice guy but at times he is an obnoxious little shit, we get to work on the SAP system, and he asks how well up on it I am, I just said its a while since I used it and will need a bit of a refresher, that’s ok he said most people are not well up on it, I was thinking its just as well because I aint seen this one in my life! It was a good job its easy to use and  I pick it up fairly quickly, but I have used SAP in several firms after Airbus

The daily routine started to evolve and it did not change much, I had to go to two board meeting with Operations and important issues would be raised per aircraft and they would need dates as to when the parts would arrive and this would be wrote on the board by Steve and Pete, could them guys whinge if the parts did not come, nice guys but it was like having ten moaning wife’s following you about, at one stage if I found out a part would not be here on time I would pop back in the late afternoon and change the date, I think Steve nearly noticed once but was not caught out. People did at one time keep stealing Pete's cap so he wrote his initials "PRT" it was pointed out to him prat had an A in it

Its a great feeling to see an aircraft that you have helped develop take off, and it was no different seeing this one fly, only difference is this had the World media looking at it, and people camped out for days to see it fly! The day was very hot and everything stopped, even to pop out for lunch was hard as several roads had been closed for the day

My three months turned into two years, and it was time to leave but that’s the life of a contractor never in one place for too long a time, little did I know at this time that in two weeks I would be in Bahrain. In my time people came and left, at times it was like banging your head against a wall but over all, the people made it a fun place to work, like Nick, Big Al, Geoff, Elaine, Nat, Ruth, Patrick, Barry the list could go on and on.

I hope the problems are sorted out and the aircraft becomes one of the most successful aircraft in history, it may also be the last of the big planes ever to be built

I did get told off for getting a photo of MSN001 towed out for the first time