Helston Lad Returns Home as Top Engineer
Commander Steven Skittrall returns to his hometown of Helston and RNAS Culdrose after many years away. He is now heading up the Air Engineering (AE) Department at the Air Station and is responsible for all aircraft engineering matters at Culdrose.
Steven says ‘it’s the best job I could have been given, I am so chuffed to be back leading the engineering team here at Culdrose.’ This is his home coming. He was born in Helston, went to Wendron Primary and Helston Secondary School before joining the Royal Navy in 1993. He is married to Lisa who is a Porthleven girl and they have three daughters who are now at school locally.
Steven has had a very busy Naval career. After Officer training at BRNC Dartmouth he went to Southampton University to study Air Engineering. In addition to being an engineering officer he is also a fully trained Observer, the Royal Navy’s aircrew responsible for tactically fighting naval helicopters. He completed a number of Observer jobs with 849 NAS, including deploying abroad and training tactics. He then used both elements of his training, working as a maritime test observer, checking aircraft systems whilst flying. He was last at Culdrose in 2012 when he was the Air Engineering Officer of 771 NAS. He then spent a number of years working in the Portsmouth area before his return to Culdrose as Commander AE.
Commander Steven is really relishing his new job. He is also looking forward to getting out around the Cornish coastline to purse his love of fishing and kayaking. Professionally he knows he has a challenge ahead of him as the job has changed and grown a lot over the years. He will have a significant role supporting the output of Culdrose. He knows there will be opportunities and challenges supporting the two new aircraft carriers of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. He is also looking forward to supporting Culdrose’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) work where Culdrose engineers engage with the local schools and the community. He hopes to play a major role in these initiatives, especially with 2018 being the year of the engineer. He hopes to use his background and local knowledge to further develop the strong Culdrose local community links.