When Priddy resident Jim Callaway was a lad he would cycle from his childhood home at the Butcher's Arms, Bishop Sutton, nine miles to Lulsgate Airport, just to spot the aircraft. Later he got holiday jobs at the popular local airport, now officially known as Bristol International Airport, which has seen passenger figures leap from 307,000 in 1982 to this year's forecast of four million.
So when he reached school-leaving age 20 years ago there was no question of where his working dreams lay, and he has managed to fulfil them.
Jim is now Airside Safety Officer with responsibilities for safety and security in his job description.
He and his colleagues work in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, 365 days a year, including Christmas Day, and have escorted VIP aircraft.
Visiting VIPs have included the Queen, politicians and pop stars, including Robbie Williams, who have all passed through the airport without incident.
He said: "I used to look after disabled people too until a committee was set up for them back in the early-1980s." Bristol Flying Centre uses the airport to handle private and corporate planes and charters for aircraft for businessmen, and helicopter units belonging to Western Power Distribution, formerly SWEB, which are used for scanning power lines.
One recent arrival was a Global Express plane owned by Dream Works, Steven Spielberg's company, a new generation business jet with transatlantic range, which was the last word in opulence, according to Jim.
He said: "One high point was when we attended the terminal, not expecting to be presented to the Princess Royal.
"She was amazing and so wellinformed about our jobs that we wondered whether she had been on a CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) course." The checks the Civil Aviation Authority audit team makes on all the happenings at the airport are impressive to say the least.
On a very regular basis they not only check the big issues but delve into all the minutiae of events that happen.
A record is kept of everything, from how a piece of tarpaulin came to be left around, to any flouting of speed restrictions, and CAA inspectors check what procedures were activated to deal with it.
It is easy to mourn the fact that no such organisation exists to check up on the railways.
Mr Callaway said: "I am not just saying this but we have wonderful management here, they act on everything and this country has some of the strictest regulations in the world." He is ready for anything in his job which sees him clock up 1,500 miles a month in his Land Rover monitoring the 450-acre site where one of the worries is bird hazard control.
In his vehicle he has what is called a Scarecrow Crow Dispersal System which emits distress calls that scare off the birds.
A bird strike can be a serious affair; it could bring down a jet or dents could cause millions of pounds of damage.
He records every bird sighting on a computer which goes straight into the records, paper recording is a thing of the past.
Grass on the land between the runways is also kept long because the birds prefer short grass. Lulsgate has one of the best bird control units in the country. Everything is done to disperse them in an environmentally friendly way.
The environment is protected too when the fire section training is conducted on a purpose built aircraft rig.
All run-offs are directed into an interceptor and taken away.
He has paddles and the Star Wars-like illuminated wands in his Land Rover so he can direct moving aircraft if need be.
It is safe to say that Jim is a man happy and proud of his job, with total respect for his fellow workers from management to the control tower to the check-in desks.
All staff and vehicles are security checked before being allowed onto the airfield.
"They can even X-ray your sandwiches, " said Mr Callaway.
"We have always had security in place. Northern Ireland was a significant milestone and September 11 also brought major changes. We have the same level of security as Heathrow and an armed police unit is on the airport.
A piece of metal from a previous takeoff lying on the runway in France may have sounded the death knell for Concorde but Jim said procedures in place in the UK make it unlikely to happen here.
"I am confident myself that it couldn't possibly happen here, " he said.
When we were out on the apron in his Land Rover, he spotted a miniscule piece of leather dropped from a piece of luggage, slammed on the brakes and removed it in a flash.
He and his colleagues inspect the runway before take-offs and landings, not only looking for any debris but letting the conrol tower know the runway condition - whether it is dry, icy or wet.
Where once the airport could be closed down in foggy conditions, most aircraft now have Category Three landing systems which means they can land safely with low visibility procedures in place.
Jim has no qualms about flying and, after seeing just some of the procedures in place to ensure passenger safety, neither should you.
Mr Callaway said: "I love flying, I could almost put my head out of the window. I go to Guernsey every year." And asked whether the job lived up to his earlier hopes, he said: "No two days are the same, you never finish learning - regulations and procedures are always changing. I love it."
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