How long have you been at British Airways i360 and where did you work before?
I’ve been here for a year, and before that I worked in the offshore oil and gas industry as a survey engineer. I started my career in the Royal Navy as a marine engineering technician, so I’ve always worked near or on the sea.
What time does your day start?
My alarm goes off just after 5am which allows me enough time to get into work for 6am. I join the other duty technician and together we start our pre-opening checks, which take four or five hours depending on that day’s opening time.
What does the rest of your day look like?
After completing the checks and maintenance tasks on the pod and tower, we are then available to do checks around the rest of the site; reviewing everything from the air conditioning to the fire detection system. We also provide ongoing technical training to the pod hosts, showing new starters how to operate the pod and respond to different situations.
What’s the best part of your job?
Every day or two, we put our safety harnesses on and climb inside the tower to the very top, checking the mechanisms as we go. When you stand on the top of the tower with the wind on your face the view is incredible. It’s something no one else gets to see.
What’s your favourite time of day in the pod?
During the summer months, when I first get to work at around 6am and there are very few people around. It’s nice and quiet and we get a great view of the sunrise.
What about British Airways i360 most surprises people?
When new technicians stand next to the drum for the hauling cable they can’t believe how big it is – it’s 3.9m in diameter and weighs 10.8 tonnes, without the cable! You just can’t get a sense of this size by looking through the glass in the floor.
What time do the technicians leave at night?
During the week we will typically leave about an hour after the last flight. The last thing we do is park the pod towards the top of the tower. We think it likes to keep an ‘eye’ on Brighton overnight.