In late November 2017, a small team from 2494 (Portishead) Squadron ATC were selected as National Finalists for the RAF Year of the Engineer Competition.

Following the announcement in April that the Royal Air Force were running a National ‘Year of the Engineer’ Competition as part of the RAF 100 celebrations, our four cadets, led by Civilian Instructor Dan Pashley, put together a proposal and submitted their idea to a panel including industry leaders and senior Royal Air Force officers.

In order to get this far, the 2494 team put forward a suggestion that involved using social media to help coordinate international rescue efforts in the future.

As they have now made it to Round 2, the team will receive up to £3000 to aid concept refinement and production of a prototype or concept demonstrator. They are also awaiting allocation of an industry mentor who will be able to help the team of cadets shape their ideas and turn their idea into reality ready for final judging in Autumn 2018.

Congratulations to the team for their progress so far and good luck for the next stage of the competition!