The Legend Of...

 This is my first content in many years. As I was looking back at this blog I realized that my "The Legend Of..." series stopped at one post! 

I have been an aircraft mechanic for 30 years this year! It has been a fantastic career. I have been involved in many, many, troubleshooting fixes that the flying public will never be aware of, and that's the way it's supposed to be. We sign up for this career not for the accolades but for our own personal satisfaction.

Anyway, enough of my soapbox speech. This post is about all the absolute legends of aircraft maintenance I have had the pleasure to work with and learn from.

Today we talk about one of the best mechanics I have ever worked with, Trees. Now Trees has been in the business for many years. He has done Line Maintenance for four airlines in his career and has worked all over the country in the trade. He was in effect an Old School Mechanic.

You will soon learn that most of my Legend stories will be about "Old School Mechanics".

I obviously met Trees when I got hired back in 1996, but I really didn't get to know him until I started working Day Shift in 1998. When I bid Days after working my whole previous career on Mid-Night shift I was very intimidated. I envisioned the Day Shift mechanics (correctly) as these super-heroes who somehow knew everything about how these planes stay in the air.

An unknown airliner.

As I learned my trade it was because of guys like Trees that I began to understand the importance of our work. We are the last line of defense for the flying public and it's important that we manage and handle ourselves in the correct manner. Always think about the plane and the passengers. It does not matter if our decisions are not popular ones (I.E. we ground a plane).

After a while working Day Shift I realized that Trees was one of the best troubleshooting people I had ever met, so I started paying attention-big time. As Trees and I worked together year after year I soaked up as much knowledge as I could off the guy. Trees and I worked Day Shift and Swing Shift and even signed up for OT on Graveyard Shift together. We worked well as a team and made lots of money together working and more importantly fixing planes. One rainy night we changed all four of the Eyebrow windows on a 737-300. We discussed the importance of not stopping until we were done because the plane needed to make it's departure time and how there was no way it would if we took many breaks. Of course we finished up. It was a long night but one of the best memories I have from working planes at SWA.

As time went on Trees stopped working Graveyard Shift. I continued and he would always say "one day you will give up on working Graves". I really never thought I would, I liked working some extra shifts and the money wasn't bad either. But as the years past by, Trees was right. As much as I loved working planes the environment and the politics of the place finally got to me and I stopped working Graveyard Shift. 

To Trees it was all about the job. He was serious about his work and he taught me that everything we do as Line Mechanics is very important. Learn your craft and use what you learn to fix the plane-the correct way. And when something is incorrect you fix the situation. If someone needs to be told off-you tell them off! (This is one of the skills they do not teach you at trade school.)

Another thing about Trees is that he was a self made dude. He played the market and in that way he secured his future so that this mechanic gig was more of a way to keep himself occupied until he was old enough to retire. (Lucky him!!.)

Towards the end of his tenure Trees would go to his gate calls armed with only a flip-flop screwdriver and a pen-and he would walk to every call-no cart or anything. He was completely at ease with the job. No worries, no rush, no panic. Mechanical perfection a guy at the top of his game. So here's to my mentor and friend Trees fair weather and smooth skies during your retirement.-GOAT

2016! Time for some Maintenance Goals (or Goaling as the new hip way of saying it is!)

Every year people go through this whole resolution or goaling thing when the New Year is upon us. I've decided to try and put together some Maintenance Goals that should be attainable for all of us aircraft mechanics.

I typically do not make any resolutions but I think this could be a fun exercise for the heck of it.

Goal #1

Stop worrying about delays while working on planes.

This is a tough one. The company will always push you to work quickly and to work in a way so as you take minimum delays. Delays are bad, they cost the industry millions of dollars every year. Delays are most likely to be caused by weather, crew scheduling or air traffic control, however maintenance delays are an issue too.

My contention is that a delay caused by a mechanic fixing a broken plane should not be lumped into all those other types of delays. We are talking about  safety of flight in most of the things that end up being maintenance delays so a departure time should be the furthest from your mind while you are trying to troubleshoot an issue.

My goal would be (and has been) that I will not rush, rush, rush to fix a plane. I will take my time and double check my work if necessary to ensure I have made no mistakes. I do not give estimates of "when I will be done" unless I'm pretty sure of what I'm doing. In essence NO PROMISES.

As an added "word to the wise", the company will rush you and try to get you to work quickly (understandable, they are in business to make money) BUT if by chance you mess up and the FAA has to get involved you will see just how fast the company will dump you and disavow any knowledge of how or why you did what you did. It is up to you as an A&P to check your own work and to be absolutely sure that when you sign off something it is done right.
 
Goal #2

Meet an "old school" mechanic and learn something from them.

I've had the honor to work with some of the "Old Timers" in our industry. I was employed at my job at the right time. The time when these guys were still eager to teach a new guy and when they could still say something like "hey jackass you are doing it wrong!" and not get into trouble.

I'd love to hear some stories from these guys1

These guys are a wealth of knowledge and should be idolized by the young A&P mechanic. I worked in the microfiche/get a bigger hammer era and the stories and wisdom will help you grow and amaze you.

Goal #3

Teach a new hire something.

The new guys are the future of the industry. Instead of complaining about how these new guys don't know anything or are too lazy to learn the right way lets show them the light!

They will always remember you for it and it makes your job easier if they do it right the first time.

Goal #4

Get your money straight (retirement)

Ok, it's great to fight for the next pay raise and to stick it to the company with a nice new fat contract. What has concerned me for a while now is how little our A&P brothers and sisters think about their retirement.

Let me tell you a story; Not too long ago I was one of those people. I figured that I would likely work into my 60's and or 70's and retire. It's a common thing for A&P mechanics to work that long, retire and within 2 or 3 years they die.

It is very important to think about how you want to live when you do retire, when you want to retire, and what you wish to do when you do retire. I am of the opinion that the earlier you can retire the better. We work in a highly toxic field. The shorter the exposure you can have to these chemicals, etc the better.

My wife came to me about three years ago with concerns about  our lifestyle after we do retire. We have since been investing in commercial real estate and enjoying making money while sitting at home watching TV!

What I'm saying is that 401ks are great but remember that about half of your 401k money is going to be taken by the government as taxes when the time comes. The trick to retirement in my opinion is to diversify. Keep your 401k, add some alternative investments, add some commercial real estate to "recession proof" your investments and start planning for your golden years.

Keep in mind that the S&P 500 ended the year down -0.75% (as a total yearlong average). Since I got myself diversified I made an average of 6-7% on my investments!

If any of you out there wish to learn more about commercial real estate investing check out www.waypointpropertygroup.com and learn more about it.

Goal #5

Be safe.

We have chosen a pretty dangerous career. Running engines, flying rivets, sharp metal, poison gasses, oil, fuel, grease, you get the idea.

You want to be able to go back to your family at the end of the day so watch your back!

It's up to us to be vigilant with our own safety.

Happy New Year and let me know what your maintenance goals for the year might be.

The Day The Hits Just Kept on Coming!

It started off as a normal day: Oil calls, tray table latches, some minor avionics issues. Then, suddenly the tide started to change:

We got a call to look at a First Officer R2 window. The pilot was complaining that the window was "hazed". The mechanic decided to change the window which is only a 10 min job. The trouble started when the "H-Number" on the window which was removed did not match the H-Number of the window being installed.

Typical 737 Flt Deck windows (swa corp security safe pic)

This is a normal situation and as some of you know when these number do not match we have to change the wire position on a terminal block behind the window heat controllers which are located in the E/E Bay (in the belly of the beast).

This job used to be a simple annoyance: remove the window heat controller(s) so you can see the terminal strip, remove the wire and place it onto the correctly number terminal. Of course that is how you would do it on a 737-300 or "Classic" model airplane.

window heat controller (got this pic off ebay-scary) (swa corp security safe pic)

Boeing in its infinite wisdom decided to relocate this terminal strip on the 737-700 or Next-Gen aircraft. This strip is now located behind the forward wall on the forward cargo compartment. Keep in mind that in this instance we are working on a "live flight". This plane has passengers who are trying to get places. When the plane has passengers it will also have luggage. Where do we keep the luggage?-Forward cargo compartment.

So the mechanic had to troubleshoot to a point where he decided to change the window, make sure we had a window in stock, get the window in, and change the "taps" to the correct terminal spot. What do you think happened while he was troubleshooting and changing the window?

Terminal block similar to the one I'm talking about (swa corp security safe pic)

You guessed it, the rampers loaded the luggage into the forward cargo pit. So now he has to explain to the rampers that he needs the bags removed so he can access the wall, take the wall down, and do what he needs to do. Usually this is not a problem but lets face it the rampers are not too keen on unloading the bags they just loaded and it takes time.

So now we are on delay. In about 10-15 mins the mechanic has created a luggage hole or cave big enough to get to the wall.

The wall is now off but just to make sure you really want to accomplish this task Boeing decided to hide this terminal strip behind an angled structural piece which holds said wall up. To reach it you do it blind, once you can establish you are one the correct terminal strip.

These are the things that drive mechanics crazy. New plane-it should be designed in a way to help us do our jobs easier.

That's not the end of that story either. Once done and about 40 mins into a delay there was a problem with the new window (paperwork type problem) which almost required the mechanic to put the old window back in place doing this whole dance over again! In the end the paperwork question was cleared up but only after another hour was wasted by calling Engineering and all the important people in Dallas.

The next hit to us was self inflicted (by flight crew). The entry door got stuck on the jet bridge extendable canopy. Happens all the time. The OPS people usually will call MX and we can easily unstick it. This time the Captain did not want to call us, he told the OPS person to just move the jet bridge back.

L-1 Door (swa corp security safe pic)

The jet bridge moved back and the hinge and guide arm on the door got all bent up. I've changed guide arms and usually it can be done in about an hour but that hinge (hinge plate actually) is another story. We grounded the plane and I and another Mechanic worked on it for the rest of the shift. It turns out that to replace these hinge plates the door has to be removed from the plane! Last time I removed a door form an airliner was way back in my Delta Airlines days.

We get off shift at 10pm and as a cherry on top of our great day two planes struck winglet to winglet right around 9:30pm. The airplane gods were not happy that day! The only silver lining was that none of the "Damage Events" (sounds like a movie on SciFi Channel) were caused by maintenance.

Winglet (swa corp security safe pic)

License Friendly Work

While working on airplanes we often have the opportunity (and the privilege) to work on complex machines using our trouble shooting smarts. This is very satisfying and all us A&P mechanics should take pride in having this ability.

There are also times when we do what we at SWA call "license friendly work". Examples of this could be:

Window wash

Demo mask
Seat belt extensions, etc.

Lots of guys get sent to a window wash call and they start huffing and puffing about "why can't the flight crew do it" and things like that. Back in the day the flight crews at SWA used to take pride in the fact that they would often wash their own windows. Sounds crazy but it's true! -BUT-that was back in the day.

Now a days with the FAA being the way they are none of the flight crews are willing to wash their own windows (can't blame them). So what option does the crew have but to call us to do it.

Back to some of my fellow mechanics. A few guys hate to wash windows but to me, it's license friendly work. Let's just say it's very hard to get into trouble while washing windows.

I look forward to wiring issues and hydraulic leaks and troubleshooting but towards the end of the week I love me some window washes!

While washing the windshields the flight crews will often open the slider and apologize for calling me out to wash the windows. I always ask them "Do you know how much money they pay me to wash these windows?"
Some weeks all I feel like doing is washing windows!
Hard to get in trouble.

CSI Aircraft Maintenance (Cue Theme Music!)

As an aircraft mechanic we encounter a lot of mysteries. Sometimes the mysteries are as simple as:

Why won't this light come on?

Where is this fluid coming from?

What kind of fluid is this?

Much like that TV show CSI we are trained to dissect the problem in order to solve it. It's one of the things that I think really makes the job enjoyable. When you can figure out what is wrong with a component it's very satisfying. Follow the clues and figure it out.

Most problems are not this obvious!

For this reason it is important to hone your skills by learning to read wiring diagrams, prints and such. Also, even though it is a huge pain in the ass, you will need to get your Run and Taxi license as well as your CAT ticket. These things help us to correctly troubleshoot!

Not as hard to read as it would seem.

Sometimes (and this is the dark side of it) the CSI reveals that some of your coworkers are lets say- working harder at trying to find an excuse to NOT fix something then it would take to simply fix it.

I'll give you an example. When I arrived at work in the morning one of the planes was broken. The fellow who was working on it is not one of the sharpest tools in the shed. You know the type, always troubleshoots down to the part which is "not in stock."He miraculously cannot get to the hard MEL because he is still "working his check."

Long story short we decided to start the troubleshooting process over from the beginning due to this guys rep. Sure enough within an hour we figured out that this guy lied about what was going on and all we had to do was change "the big part" to fix the issue. Another hour and we had the plane back in service.

So what do you do when you find out a fellow mechanic simply lied to get out of doing work? What can you do? If your leaders (management) already knows about the guy (and they do) there is little you can do. Complain? Sure. But nothing official. Just kind of keep it in the memory bank and watch your work when that guy is involved.

There are other times when we do the unexpected (at least to non-mechanics) to solve the mystery. A pilot will call us about a leak and we show up, first thing we do is touch it and rub it between our fingers, smell it, and sometimes to the horror of the pilot you taste it. He or she is in horror but I'll wager that an aircraft mechanic is one of few people who can tell the difference between oil and hydraulic fluid by taste! Admit it once you have tasted hydraulic fluid you can never forget the taste.

There are other times when your CSIing will figure out that the flight crew input some incorrect info into their FMC! Those are great times almost as satisfying as finding the CB popped while the crew is struggling to figure out why some system won't work.

So...keep sharp, never stop learning, be honest and hone those taste buds!!

It's all in the name

We aircraft mechanics change a lot of parts during the day. Some big parts and some small parts. We get accustomed to certain nomenclature of these parts. A circuit breaker usually looks like a circuit breaker. A latch usually looks like a latch. A fastener usually looks like something that will hold two or more things together.

Circuit Breaker

There are times, however, when the manual calls out for us to change a part and that part looks nothing like what it really (at least in your own opinion) look like. Perhaps the most widely known example of this trickery I can think of is the "Black Box". We all know that the black box is actually orange, but imagine how confusing this would be to a person outside of the aviation field.

The orange "Black Box"

Often when I change any part of the avionics on our planes I bring the box up to the jetway to do the paperwork. Most of the avionics boxes are black and so when the passengers amble down the jetway to board I usually get one or two remarks about why I'm changing the "Black Box". I even hear parents telling their kids in hushed tones how "that part records all the airplane info". I usually don't correct the passengers unless they address me directly.

This nomenclature issue came up the other day at work. I had a call about the fire warning system not testing properly. When I got up to the plane the captain says that the fire warning system does not test when it's on the DC bus.

This is the first call of my day so after I clear the fog from my brain and take the plane off the ground power bus (onto the DC bus) sure enough the "Master Caution" light did not illuminate when I did the fire warning test. Naturally I'm thinking why would the fire warning test not turn on the Master Caution? Lets BITE check the fire warning box (no help), maybe change the fire control module to see if that helps.

At this point I make myself slow down because changing that fire control box is a big deal. The check out (test) for that control box is about an hour long. Before I do that I call for a wiring diagram for the fire warning DC system. When the wiring diagram comes I start to think I'm going down the wrong route with the problem. Sure enough after some more checks I realized we had a Master Caution problem not a fire warning problem. After I get some more prints for the correct system we narrow the problem down to the Master Caution Dimming Module. Now here is where the real problem starts.

A "Module" to a Line Mechanic is a box that contains wires/lights/relays and all the other little magic electrons that make an airplane do what it is supposed to. A "Module" is a squareish metal thingy that has a cannon plug connected to it.

The wiring diagram says the Master Caution Dimming Relay lives behind the P6-3 panel. Now me and another two guys, lets call them MoneyMaker and DaDude, take turns looking for this module. behind this panel are lots of wires, relays, modules and miles of wires. Each is labelled with a small white sticker that announces its equipment list number. We spent the better part of an hour looking for this module to no avail.

Back behind the panel is also a little door which when opened is hiding a circuit card. All three of us opened that door and saw this circuit card and all three of us were like "well, that's not a module, it's a card".

Long story short one of the guys in the shop must have called Boeing or The Answer Man or someone because a little past an hour later DaDude comes back to the plane and says "So and so says it looks like a circuit card". MoneyMaker and I look at each other and say "No F-ing way!!".

That "module" is a circuit card hidden behind a small door. And to make matters worse the thing is correctly marked, but to see the marking you have to stick your head into the P6-3 panel crane it around and then and only then would you see the Module Number sticker.

So any of you engineers out there:
Why not call that "module" a "card"?
Why not give that little door it's own panel number?
Why not put a little sticker on the damn little door that says "hey, the M(###) lives in here!

Turns out we didn't have the circuit board in stock anyway and once it came in it did fix the problem but the real issue here is the word "module".

Now that I have expanded my work vocabulary to make sure a circuit board can be called a module and likely vice-versa, I'm not really looking forward to the so called 737-MAX and all it's new vocabulary!

And now...the end is near!

I have had a great career. True I was laid off and went through two down cycles in the airline industries. I have lost a house and spent a few sleepless nights worrying about how to make it until the next pay check. But, in the grand scheme of things it has been a very successful and profitable career for me.



I was at work the other day and one of my co-workers came in. He said that something interesting happened to him on the way to work. He left his house at 3am and needed some coffee so stopped by the local AM/PM convenience store.

He gets his brew and the guy behind the counter asks him if he is an airline mechanic. Not too big of a leap since my buddy was wearing a SWA Mechanic jacket. He tells the guy yeah and the guy starts asking about the job.

My buddy realizes this guy knows what hes talking about simply by the questions he was asking so he asked the guy what his background was. It turns out he retired from World Airways as a mechanic. "No way" my buddy says. The guy lifts up his shirt to display his World Airways belt buckle!

The airlines used to offer us employees really great pensions. These pensions slowly but surely started to disappear in the 80's and now not one American airline offers it's mechanics a pension plan. As most American companies the pension plans of old have been supplanted by the 401k plan.

The 401k was never designed to be a retirement savings plan but it is what most companies offer and so it is what most mechanics depend on for their retirement savings. There are a few drawbacks to the 401k that are alarming. The most troublesome to me is that it pretty much follows the stock market. Also it is often difficult to switch your investments within the 401k and most plans limit the choices you will have to invest in.


All this has come to my attention because as a person who wants to retire early in life I started doing some studying. Did you know that 75% of working Americans have less than $10.00 saved for retirement? Scary huh?

Long story short what I've learned is that to really enjoy your retirement you must diversify your savings. 401ks are good but you have to have some investments outside of them to really see your retirement savings take off.


Airlines are great, and being a mechanic is a source of pride for me. I've heard too many stories of old airline mechanics working way past the age of 70 and never retiring. Old airline mechanics retiring and having to work at WalMart to supplement their retirement income. Old airline mechanics retiring and passing away within a year or so  because they worked too hard for too long and their bodies are all used up.



The way for me is going to be retiring early rather than later with enough income from my investments to allow me to continue living in the lifestyle I'm accustomed to.


We are all living longer these days. Males tend to live into their 80s these days and that number is going up and up. Will you 401k be able to support you for 20 years after you retire? How about 30 years? Start thinking about it now so I don't have to hear any more stories an old mechanic working at the local AM/PM convenience store after 30 years at World Airways.

Cooperation

There I was......that's how a lot of maintenance stories begin. "There I was, hydraulic fluid all over me, there I was, laying in a 2" deep puddle of rain, there I was, saving the day as usual."

The majority of days in our business are not that exciting. We muddle through the day putting oil in engines, fixing reading lights, adjusting the PA volume, checking tire pressure, any of hundreds of little things that comprise the industry.

One of the things that I'm sure the public does not realize is the amount of cooperation there is between airlines (at least in the maintenance departments). This is a brotherhood really and one that would grind the airlines to a halt if it did not exist.

Here is how it usually goes: Plane comes in and sure enough we need a new part. As usual the part you need is the one that you do not stock. Maintenance control will call around to maintenance departments around our area to see if they have the part. If they do and they are willing we can "borrow" the part from them. The borrowed part is used on a per hour or per cycle basis and is inspected and tested once returned.

That takes care of the big parts but what is really cool is how most airlines cooperate with the small parts. The innumerable bolts, nuts, washers, glue, sealant, grease, oil, tape, etc. Most often when a guy shows up at the shop from XYZ Airline and says he needs a bolt of such and such size with the correct washer we will simply let them have it. This may sound like a small thing to write about but I'll give an example of a couple of times where it saved me.

I was up in Seattle with a guy I'll call Mountain Man. We were there looking for short in a wire. The trouble was that this wire ran through the connection between the wing and the fuselage. After we got it all straightened out we realized that we needed a particular type of clamp for high temp areas. We called maintenance control and they suggested we head over to Alaska Airlines to see if they had one. A truck ride later and a quick visit to the Alaska Airline Maintenance hangar and the guy in the engine shop tossed one to us. We were able to install and get the plane ready for the next day. I should mention that it was around 2 or 3 am when this all went down. If we did not get the hook up from Alaska we would have had to wait until a clamp was flown up to us from Oakland sometime around 10 am the next morning.

Adel Clamp

The next example happened just the other day. We had a plane grounded that needed a CIT sensor replaced on the #1 engine. I was kind of excited because I could not recall ever changing one of those even though they do go bad every now and then requiring R&R. As it turned out when whoever took the old sensor out one of the threaded inserts in the engine case came out along with it's mounting bolt. I've never had one of those inserts fail like that and I'm pretty sure the guys I was with had never seen it either. Since that is a very unusual thing to replace we at SWA did not stock it in Oakland. The guys thought we were stuck until the foreman headed across the ramp to Alaska Airlines Maintenance and sure enough they were able to provide us with one so we could get that plane back in service.

Stupid little threaded inserts.

This cooperation occurs mainly on graveyard shift when a guy or gal from another airline's maintenance department will stop by to borrow a torque wrench, or hardware or whatever. While working graves I have had to drive to SFO and borrow parts from United Airlines plenty of times.

It's pretty cool that mechanics are like this (for the most part) any where you go. An airline mechanic will be more interested in getting that plane back in the air than worry about you being from the competition. There is no ego tripping or even thoughts of denying help. A write up is a write up, a plane is a plane, parts are parts.

This industry is surprisingly very small. We run into people we have worked with at other companies time and time again. What if you refuse to help a mechanic one night and years later he or she is doing the hiring at the next place you try to work?

Airports and FOD

One time I tried counting the airports I've been at and actually worked on planes at. I stopped at 17 or 18. Remember that we Line Mechanics at SWA will fly to other airports when a plane breaks down. For example if there is an engine issue in PDX we fly up there to work the problem. It's actually one of the better parts of the job and it another thing that keeps the job from being routine.

As you can imagine it is normal for airports to be kept clean. Usually the airport operations people are very concerned with garbage and stuff like that on the ground in the ramp area. Foreign Object Damage (FOD) is a big concern for a few reasons:

FOD can get ingested in the engine of an aircraft and cause major damage to the fan blades. It will also bounce around the inlet and tear up the engine inlet.




FOD gets run over by planes and get stuck in the tires. I've seen plenty of bolts, nuts, caps, safety wire, stir sticks you name it stuck in aircraft tires.

FOD on the ground will also puncture the tires of the ground equipment such as jet tugs, etc.



FOD gets blown up by the airplanes as they taxi out to the runways and gets airborne. These missiles can hit equipment, other planes and always seems to find an eyeball or two.

Most airports take FOD damage very seriously and clean the ramp areas often to reduce the threat of such damage. I finally after visiting plenty of airports have decided that the dirtiest, most FOD filled, not caring airport of them all is the one I actually work at the most: Oakland International Airport.

Oakland International Airport is filthy. There are places where the dirt and FOD are piled up, wind blown and more than a few inches deep! It's really bad here in OAK and what makes it even worse is that a lot of the debris gets blown right into the Bay. The Port of Oakland people don't seem to care and they can't say that they don't notice it. As you walk into the airport along the service road from the employee lot the trash is piled up along the fence and just pass the fence is the Bay.

I must have gotten numb to it or else it has recently gotten really bad. Every night when the airport more or less is shut down to the public the cleaning crews come out. I'm not sure what they do all night but when I walk in at 5am and there are cigarette butts piled five or six inches deep in the smoking area trash thing and falling out onto the floor it can't be much. There are garbage cans around the ramp area that get filled up, overflow and wait days and days until they get any attention. The sheer amount of trash is astounding really and I'm not sure what to do about it. It has gotten to the point that it is high on the list of things that make me want to leave this job.

When I go to Sacramento or Boise I marvel at how clean the places are. There are FOD buckets around and the airport must come through with sweeper trucks quite often to keep them that way. I'm not sure how SWA allows Oakland to not clean up. They must know that all that stuff is going into the engines etc. No one seems to care much. I mean I grew up in NYC, The Bronx to be exact, in the 70's when no one really cared about littering. That is what Oakland International Airport reminds me of.

Aircraft Maintenance and Old Age

I know it's been a long time since I've posted (almost a  year!) but I had to get over this whole "Corporate Security" thing. Those of you who are or who know aircraft mechanics know that we can hold a grudge for quite a while! I'm going to continue on every now and then, more stories, more cool tools, etc.

This post is about getting old. It's something that we all have to face and for a lot of us it hits pretty hard and pretty quick. In the early days of my career I did Airline Overhaul. I was crawling around structures, getting into tight corners, lifting heavy-odd shaped things like aircraft lavs, climbing into fuel tanks, laying on aircraft ribs and stringers, grinding all matter of metals and corrosion, you get the picture. Back in the day I was able to do those things and hop right up, walk away, no pain, no aches.

The thought of having to go to work now in my mid 40s and possible climb into a fuel tank is frightening! The little  things are hard these days! Kneeling down to get the bolts off the main tire so we can change it kills my knees. My back puts up a fit when I have to change a flight deck seat. My shoulders scream while I'm changing a position light.

These aches and pains are something all you new up and coming mechs are going to have to look forward to.

The most startling change is the eyes. Back in the day I could read all those tiny tiny tiny wire numbers which are printed on those tiny tiny tiny aircraft wires. I could use a mirror and read those numbers along with those annoying parts data tags on various valves and actuators with no trouble at all. Now part of my Line MX Tool Kit are my reading glasses. Without the help of those suckers I would be in trouble.

I worked with a guy I'll call MDro. MDro was a good mechanic and he was a good supervisor after that. I remember when we would be reading wiring diagrams MDro would wear TWO pairs of reading glasses!

My intent is not to complain about aging but to let you guys know that it gets harder to do this job as you get older. A good friend of mine always say that "it takes a lot of work to make this job look easy". Just know that the work part may not increase but the aches and pain part will.

When the tools are missing!

If you do any sort of maintenance work, not just working on airplanes, but any thing really you will come upon a time that you realize some of your tools are missing. I'm not sure how things work in other industries but at the airlines we buy and own our own tools. The larger or calibrated tools are supplied by the company but everything else we must buy on our own. Because of this when a tool is lost it is a big deal to us. I'm sure some of you are thinking "great there are planes flying around with "lost" tools stuck in them." While I cannot say that no tool has ever been left in a plane I can say that there are steps that are taken to ensure that this does not happen too often.

When I worked at Delta Airlines in the overhaul hangar some of the older guys would say that they did not lose a tool but rather that someone else thought they could take better care of it.Or that someone else did not like the way I was treating the tool so they took it.

When I first heard this I assumed they were just being funny about a not-so-funny situation. Now, after all these years I have come to realize what those guys meant.

Let me explain:
In our business we have our own tools, as I already explained. Most of the jobs we do only require one mechanic and so there is no trouble. The issue comes when one, two or even three mechanics are working on a job together. Since we purchase our own tools we pretty much all use the same brands of tools: Snap-On, MAC tools, or Craftsman stuff.
Anyone who has done one of the bigger jobs where at least two mechanics are working can tell you that at some point you are passing tools back and forth without first saying "hey make sure you give that back" or something like that. There are times when the tools are all over the place! Here where I work we do our maintenance outside not in a nice clean hangar and often in the rain. Once a tool, especially a smaller tool like a socket hits the wet asphalt it can literally disappear!
Add the weather, the multiple mechanics and the time pressure and you can see why tools disappear.

HMU change

After the work is done comes the quick cleanup and then most times an engine run or taxi check or even a taxi over to the high power run up area. The fix is checked and then OPS wants the plane taxied over to the terminal, paperwork (which now takes almost as long as the actual work) is done and the crew is briefed. The whole time you are thinking about getting the plane back on line so that the passengers can get to where they are going.

Days later you reach into your tool bag, looking for that 5/16 wobble socket and of course it's gone. You think back to the last time you remember using it and sure you remember using it but for what? who was working with you? what was the actual day? Then you simply plan to head to the store and get another.

Sure there are times when you ask around and the tool shows up but more often than not it's gone. There are other times when you reach into your tool bag and pull out a 3/8 open end wrench that looks similar to your but it's not quite the same...

This is where the tools go. It's almost always the smaller tools, they are the easiest to overlook, especially in the heat of the battle.

"Someone else thought they could take better care of it than I did".-makes sense now.

Not my stuff but you get the idea.

Recently I realized that my 1/4,5/16, and 3/8 wobbles are gone. I have had them for a long time and as most of you know they are not cheap! I'm sure someone has them but who? The 3" extension is also gone so it must be with them, at least they won't be lonely!

At one time I would get upset about all this but looking back I know that it's all part of the industry, at least when you work the Line.

I know some of you will say that all of a persons tools should be marked, etched with a name or employee number. If you still believe that then you are new to the industry or being a little naive.

There are some guys who never seem to lose any tools, they are also the ones who never seem to get dirty, makes you wonder how they do it!?!

Each One, Teach One

As many of you readers are already in the aviation field you as well aware of the fact that most people who are in the business do not suggest that others enter into it. This is an unfortunate side effect of aviation, to get to where you want to be takes a loooong time and as a result by the time we get to our position of choice we have a tad bit of ill will toward the industry.

Another safe pic!

The majority of us have been laid-off or "downsized" at least once in our careers and it's natural that we don't want others to go through all the adversity that we did. When people ask me about getting into aviation maintenance I like to tell them that it is a great job, but, all the stuff that you have to put up with on the way to the ultimate position is not worth it to most people.

The few of us who hold on and accept the struggle are rewarded with jobs that we love. It may be that the process is the ultimate weeding out system there is. I remember when my wife was just starting her airline career and flew for a commuter airline. They got no pay during training, had to pay for their own hotel during training and as a reward once they were done with training they made about $800/month! I was sending food out to her and about two other pilots just so they could have something to eat. One of the guys I work with has worked at 14 different airlines! That's crazy!

Recently I was asked by a local A&P trade school to participate in their Aviation Open House. Sure I would be representing SWA MX and my boss would be there also, but could I really encourage people to enter into this slug fest of an industry? I thought about it for a while and decided to do it. I think that since this Open House is for young kids around the community and is primarily to foster an interest in aviation as a whole it could be worthwhile. Lets face it we all know that it is easier to work with a person who has a genuine love of aviation than some guy who just in it for the money.

Where it all started for me

Kids should be exposed to all facets of life and why not being a greaser for the airlines? Maybe one of those kids will grow up to be an industry leader and can reflect on the day way back when they met some guy by the name of Goat told them that he really loved his job. I think about some of the people I have worked with that truly hate their jobs. I f someone had told them at the very beginning the truth about aviation maybe it would have saved them 20-35 years of misery and making others miserable. Wish me luck, once the truth comes out SWA might not be asked back next year!

Certain Planes.....Certain Planes!!

There are times in this industry when it seems that certain airplanes are out to get ya. They come back for the same issue, time and time again. Recently I worked a plane with an EGT issue. The older 737-300s have EGT systems that are very reliable but when a small part of that system goes bad it will throw the whole thing into a spiraling mess.

Nice SAFE pic of one of our planes.

A plane came in with a gauge going blank. A quick check of the history showed that the gauge had already been replaced (twice) as well as the other common culprit (a cannon plug in the engine core). Long story short I left that night and the plane was still broken. Fast forward to the next morning and I'm assigned that plane again. The guys at night meggered the wires ( a time consuming job) and found no faults. The boss was on the line with Boeing and they were busy trying to find a particular grounding post to verify it's security. Before they could get back with us the guy I was working with, let's call him Mr. Baseball, had found the post and together we verified the security of the set up. We ran the plane and all was well so we did our paperwork and let her free.

That plane didn't leave until later in the day and when it was brought to the gate the other EGT gauge was blanking out! We got that one sorted out and away she went, after another gate call about a circuit breaker.

Don't ya miss the old simple days

A week late I got a call for a seat belt or something small and finished it up, headed back to the shop. As soon as I sit down the crew calls back for something else. I fix that and head out again. I almost make it to the shop when they call me back for a third time about a leak or something like that. This time it hits me it's that same plane I spent two days with a week ago!

To cap it all off about four days later I was working some graveyard overtime. I was doing the usual talking and gossiping for the first half hour when I decided I had better check what I was working on for the night. I'm sure by now you have figured out that I was assigned that same plane! Wow. All I can say is that particular plane is soon to be retired so the stalking will soon end.

The Outsourcing Debate

Although I have not heard anything about this recently I guess the pending merger of American Airlines and US Air has brought this debate back up. Most major airlines currently outsource their heavy maintenance. While this is nothing new, think TRAMCO and the like, the newer trend is outsourcing to companies that are not in the USA.

This is a trend that I do not think will slow down or stop anytime soon. Of course the unions are up in arms over this (who can blame them) but the truth is that personnel is one of the highest costs for any airline.

There is the nagging question of regulation at these MROs that are outside the country but I feel that they are being addressed. The FAA requires the MROs to operate with similar regulations as any MRO inside the states-but-who is doing the regulating?

I don't think that any airline would get rid of ALL their maintenance to go the full foreign MRO and contract MX route. They know that NO ONE would take care of the planes as well as their own employees.

Anyway check out this link to read the article that brought all this up in my mind:

Congress Wary of Outsourcing Aircraft Maintenance-Roll Call Policy

The Man Is Trying To Shut Me Down

I have said it before and I will say it here again, "I love my job" and I love working at SWA. This is a company that has done amazing things and could very well have a bright future (depending on how we handle some of the critical things we are dealing with now).

As any one who has read my blog can plainly see from my writing I only have good things to say about working at SWA. All of my blogs are carefully written to show SWA in a very good light. I may complain about some of the people that I work with or such but never about the company.

So it was a very big surprise to find out that Corporate Security has decided to ask me to stop with the  blog. Actually I think they had a problem with my picture that I include on the blog more than anything. While I love writing this blog, my job is more important!

I always thought that I was being an ambassador for our Line Maintenance department and tried to shed light on what I think is a very misunderstood and mysterious (to many of the flying public) industry.

So, what does this mean?

Well I think I will continue my blog but I will not be able to relate many of the stories and personal accounts that happen to us. I'm sure that I can't include any pictures of SWA planes. I think that writing about the industry is ok and I'm sure that Corporate Security will not care about me reviewing tools and trends in this wacky world of aircraft maintenance. I have waited a good month to write this as I pondered how to approach this event and the above is how I plan to go about it.

NOT a SWA plane!

For those who read my blog thanks and I will continue to try and write about an industry that I fell in love with when I was 14 years old and began my journey at Aviation High School in NY.

Old Timey Maintenance

For a while now I have been collecting pictures of aircraft maintenance from back in the day. It facinates me. The pictures demonstrate how far we have come but in many ways also show how little has changed. I figured I would put some of these up for you guys to check out.

The old prop-liners were cool and the Connie was the coolest of them all. Check these guys out wearing their white coveralls. It looks to me like they have some kind of radar issue but whats funny is that even today we say "one guy working, two just watching". Some of the ground equipment even looks the same as the stuff you would find at any airport these days.

A patch from a mechanics hat from Wilmington-Catalina Airlines. Even back in the day we wanted to be recognized as mechanics, not rampers. Today there is a struggle-mechanics want to stand out, not be confused with other ground crew. How many times have I gone up to the flight deck to be handed the landing gear pins or the fuel slip by the captain because he thought I was a ramper or fueler. I know it's cost effective for companies to have everyone have the same uniform but every mechanic wants to be recognized as such.

Look at these poor bastards!! Look at those ladders and no safety lines or lanyards. The term "back when men were men" comes to mind. Imagine having to climb up that ladder with tools or heavy parts. Think any of them had a fear of heights? These days the heights may not be as great but they say a fall from even four feet could kill you. Remember that these days we do have to put ourselves in some crazy positions to fix these planes. Walking the crown looking for lightning strikes, RRing rudder PCUs, working out on the wings. The dangers are still prevalent.

 

This is actually an old picture. It was taken during WWII, and yes they had color photography back then. This is an awesome pic that shows that women have been involved in our industry from way back in the day. Even prior to WWII women did the majority of work on the fabric of fabric covered planes. It always amazes me when people are shocked that we have female mechanics at our job. As a matter of fact one of the best students at my A&P school was a woman. She already had a job lined up working in an auto garage and could work circles around us guys.

The last one for today is not an airplane but it does have a lot of similarities. Hatches are open, tools are being used, etc. These guys are hard at work on this old locomotive. I wanted to include this pic because of the dirt and grime. I don't think this was a staged shot. There is grease and dirt all over these guys and this is what maintenance is actually like. We have a dirty job, some nights you make it through and you are not too bad off, but other nights you are filthy. The dirt and grease get everywhere. Also this demonstrates that the chemicals that we use to keep our equipment (trains or planes or cars) running gets onto us and, let's face it, is slowly poisoning us as we work. It is an unfortunate by product of doing the job we love.