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!

My High School: Aviation High School NY

This summer I will be on my way back to NYC to attend the 75th Anniversary of the founding of Aviation High School. The school is celebrating by having a banquet and an all year reunion. For those of you not familiar with the Aviation High School in New York it is the oldest (I believe) operating high school in the country dedicated to teaching its students the art  of aviation maintenance. The graduates of Aviation High School are a very proud bunch and I hope to see a good number of them there that evening.

In NYC there are several specialty high schools like Aviation High. There is the New York City High School for the Performing Arts, made famous by the movie/tv show Fame. There is the Bronx High School of Science, Automotive High, Transit High, and several other vocational type schools available to NYC 8th graders. It is a system that I wish other major cities would use as it gives kids a leg up on their career paths-post high school. I know that most of the guys I work with had to pay for their A&P licences and are shocked to hear that I got mine for free from high school.

When I was an 8th grader they handed us this book which had all the specialty school listed in it. I took it home to check it out since I really had not thought about going to any high school other than my local one. I thumbed through it and finally saw Aviation High School. I liked the idea so I went to talk to my parents about it. My dad tells me that that was the school he went to!! I did not know. As with a lot of these types of schools I had to go and take a test to get in so on the right day I went down there and did the test, waited a few days and was accepted into Aviation High School, Long Island City, NY.

The first day there was an eye opener! Not only did we have a full high school curriculum, we also had to do shop classes to learn all the aspects of aircraft maintenance. This translated into the longest school day in the NYC School System. A lot of us had "zero period" at like 6:50am (I'm not sure if that's right but it was early!) and didn't get done with classes until 3:40pm. Me personally, since I lived way up in the North Bronx, I had to leave my building by 5:30am to be able to make it to school by 7:00am. Since the school was training us for a federal licence we had to have a certain number of hours of training. This meant that the school had less holidays and half days than other schools and when it snowed and other schools were shut down ours was open!

These things were all sort of PITA (Pain In The Ass) at the time but made for a fiercely unique and proud bunch of students. We worked hard because it was hard work, just to attend that school.

The pride you felt as a 14 year old when you finished your first project in your first shop class was amazing. I started out in Wood  Shop working on a jig for wing rib. A simple board with blocks attached that were used to make the ribs that create wings on older airplanes. When I was done and finally got my last signature from my shop teacher I was so proud of myself. I made something that was made to a standard that would hold up in any real world application, had learned about how to use tools, how to form wood, how to fasten wood and the kids that went to my local high school were just  learning the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.




Recip. Shop


Aviation High School has a hangar attached to it and by the time you were a Junior or Senior you were actually working on the airplanes that we had in the hangar, actual real live airplanes! When Senior year can around you had learned, Wood, Dope and Fabric, Sheet Metal, Electricity, Avionics, Carburation, Reciprocating Engines, Turbine Engines, Propellers, and a bunch more that I am sure that I am forgetting. As a Senior you attended shop for 3 or 4 hours a day! Every minute of it was like heaven to me. I stumbled like all teenagers do, had to take a class over (electricity, which I am strangely good at as a practicing A&P mechanic) made some life long friends and most importantly found out what I was good at and passionate about at a very early age. Aviation High School has steered the direction of my whole life.




Turbine shop


I remember when I became a Junior and really decided that I was going for the A&P licence. I got the FAA Test Prep book and read it over and over again for the next two years! The pages were literally falling out of the book by the time my test date came, but I knew that thing inside and out. I passed and was able to graduate with both my Airframe and Powerplant Licenses. I made friendships that have lasted up to this day, I learned how to use tools (more important that I thought it was), I learned that hard work is rewarded, I learned how to make things (another thing that is very important), I learned that graduating from a school like ours is very unique and not all that easy, and I learned about my love for airplanes. That love has seen me through a lot of good times and a few bad times, that love has fed me and my family, clothed us and put a roof over our heads. The Aviation industry is not an easy place to work and the Airline Industry is and always will be a mess but God willing there will always be an Aviation High School at 4530 36th St. Long Island City, NY to help kids like me fulfill their dreams.

As a foot note I have met a lot of people while working in this industry. I attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University after my time at Aviation High School and knew a lot of people from there as well. When you meet a fellow Aviation High School grad there is some thing about that person that is different than all the others. There is a little twinkle in the eye, a nod of the head, a way they walk, that lets you know they have shared an ordeal with you at such an important age in their life and the bond is there instantly. A few years ago (2003 or 2004) I went with my wife to an OBAP (Organisation of Black Aerospace Professionals) Convention in Phoenix AZ. While we were checking in at the hotel front desk there was an older guy standing next to me I do not recall if I mentioned Aviation High School or he simply saw my high school ring or what but he politely introduced himself and was a graduate of Aviation High School also, in something like 1952! We talked for a long while and he even gave me his email address. He still had that confidence and swagger of an Aviation High School grad.

Happy 75th Anniversary!!!! I hope to see a lot of you grads on June 9th 2011 for the dinner and school tour. Here is a link to a video tour of the 75 years of Aviation High School:  http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=202662

DOWNTIME!! It's Part Of The Game *Guest Post Suggestion!

It happens all the time. I know that at least once a week we mechanics will be sitting in the break room and a ramper or OPS agent will come in for any number of reasons. Inevitably they will say some thing like "you guys have it made" or "you guys don't work too hard". I can't really blame them, they have jobs that require them to constantly be in action. The more they do the more money the company makes in a sense. Since those other work groups are involved with the normal everyday type jobs at an airline they can not wrap their minds around the fact that Airline "Line" Maintenance operates in a totally different way.

We on the Line are paid hourly like everyone else at the airline, that however, is where the similarities end. Every time we leave the office to work a plane we spend money. The more we work, the more money we spend. I'm not talking spending little dollars either, we spend big bucks. At any given gate call we could spend up to and at times over $100,000. Everything we change on the plane is pricey. Of course the other work groups will never be able to understand the concept of staying in the office to save money but that is exactly what a maintenance department should do.

Any time people see us relaxing in the break room they should be excited that we are not out working on a plane and spending thousands of dollars. It's all part of the Airline game, and it's one of the reasons that working the Line is typically more desirable than working in a hangar. Hangar work is more like a regular type of job-the more you work the faster the plane can get back into service and make some money. Sure the same thing applies to a grounded plane out on the Line, but for everyday operations downtime for the Line is money saved for the company.