Hot form press operator - FT.com Steve Mercer, BAE Systems I work on a hot press making parts for fighter planes, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and the F35. You can imagine the press as like a big waffle iron that we load up with titanium. The press heats the metal until it reaches a superplastic state and then we mould it using physical pressure and applying gases to shape it exactly as the engineer specified. I wear a heat-resistant suit, similar to a firefighter's, but even then you can overheat in a couple of minutes because the press operates at 950C. You've got to have total trust in your suit and in your teammates. There is always somebody watching, warning that you've been there too long, and to step back so someone else can step in to carry on. I do three shifts a week, working through the night from 9pm to 7.30am. We have to keep the press running at all times, it's a process we can't interrupt. The most satisfying part of the job is getting good feedback, and knowing that all the parts we have made are usable. I'm not here to produce scrap. I live under the flight path to Warton, a BAE site where the aircraft are assembled and tested, and quite often they fly pretty low over where I live. I've got to admit it's always good to see one of them flying and know that I have had some input - that I've helped build them.