At Newcastle's NAA, engineering students are likely to spend more than 700h working on the academy's Boeing 737 and British Aerospace 125, together with other systems in the workshops.
Unlike normal colleges, the NAA does not employ teachers, it employs engineers.
Jeff Watson's background is ex-Royal Navy. After 25 years service he ended his services career at RNAS Yeovilton's Flight Safety Centre as the RN's air accident investigator.
The youngest staff member at Newcastle is an ex-chief engineer with HeavyLift.
Source: Flight International