It have been pretty impressive and draining weeks since I started my internship at the KLM. It’s hard to imagine that it has already been eight weeks, and now I have two weeks left until I go to college again. Now the end is coming, I see that our ability to work almost completely independent at the ramp is making progress. In the beginning we just did what the supervisor told us, now all of the trainees know how to work following the procedures.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been interviewed by a journalist of the internal KLM newspaper. Here’s a translation of the article:

ROC students are attending internship at BTS

For ten weeks they’re standing between the aircraft: Uman, Arjen, Wesley, Shawn and Daniel. Thanks to a cooperation between KLM and the ROC Hoofddorp these Aviation Operations students are working within the team. Therefore they can put their theoretical skills into practice.

During work they are accompanied by sector manager Pieter and supervisor Renz. Pieter: “The main goal of the internship is that the boys can bring the theory into practice. For them it’s great to finally experience the real thing which is described in their books.” The employees of the department are enthusiastic about the trainees. Pieter: “You can see that everybody does his very best to make the boys experience as much as possible.

For instance, they aren’t allowed to drive the highloaders themselfs, but the specialists really like to give them a drive. When that happens you can see their proud faces.” Daniel, one of the five trainees confirms this: “It’s great to (as an addition to the theory) walk between the real aircraft.” Wesley adds: “We’ve had a good introduction course at the KLM, and when I was at the platform, it was even better than I expected.” Arjen: “We have to wake up pretty early, because we start at 7 am, but it’s more than worth it.” They have to go to college for another two years, so they have to stay focused on studying. But the question if they would like to work at the KLM after they finished college is answered: “YES”.

See the original article below (click to enlarge).