Apprentice Diesel Fitter

Behind every haul truck on a Pilbara mine site is a diesel fitter who can swap a fuel injector at three in the morning while the rest of the country sleeps. The Certificate Three in Mobile Plant Technology is what gets the apprentice into that cab. The qualification runs three and a half to four years. TAFE attendance comes in face to face blocks across the first three years. The remainder is on the job at the employer mine or workshop. The course covers compression ignition engines, hydraulics, fuel injection, electrical circuits, and steering, suspension and braking on excavators, dozers, graders and mining trucks. A typical day starts at the bench bay or up in the tray of a two hundred and fifty tonne haul truck. Pulling the final drive off a Komatsu eight thirty E with a fifty tonne overhead gantry crane.