Slow It Down-Be Cool-What's The Rush?

I know I am guilty of it. As a matter of fact we at SWA are all guilty of it. We Rush. We pride ourselves in getting the planes turned in 30 minutes or less and it is a way we differentiate our company from others. Typically we mechs have about 20 minutes to troubleshoot and fix our problems. We hurry to finish the planes at night time to get our precious "down time". We want to remote the planes as quickly as possible to get back to the shop for the next one or for clean up time. Of course there is a danger lurking in the rushing around. Things can be forgotten, planes damaged, and people injured.

Last week at work we had a grounded plane. The mechanic working the issue ended up having to remote the aircraft to our remote parking spot in order to clear the gate. The ramper driving the tug was going too fast, could not stop the plane with the tug and nearly ended up in the grass with the plane on top of him. Luckily for that guy the mechanic had his wits about him and was able to apply the aircraft brakes in a way as not to throw the ramper off the tug. The ramper is a guy I know and is one of the better ramp guys we have but he got in a hurry and nearly got hurt for no reason.

I have damaged airplanes by rushing and there is nothing worse than the feeling afterwards that just a few seconds longer and it could all have been avoided. The culture at SWA is such that we are encouraged to get our jobs done quickly but we as mechanics have to know that that does not mean to rush our work or even our paperwork. SWA never intended that the company culture affect the quality of our work. I am sure you have all had OPS agents swirling around you because it is close to push time or captains breathing down your neck because they will miss their commuter flight if the don't push right away. These things are important, and to OPS, the Ramp, and Flight Crews the push time of the airplanes are very important. The SWA culture of hurry, hurry applies to them in one degree or another for different reasons. My point is that this particular part of the SWA culture should have very little effect on we as mechs.

If at all possible I get the work done in a way as not to delay a flight but I will not rush my work to ensure a flight is not delayed. This is not to be confused with working quickly. There are mechs who work quickly but they do the same 10 steps to trouble shoot and fix an ILS (for example) as the next guy they can just get the job done faster.

The picture at the top of this post is an MD-80 nose landing gear that was ripped off by the tug that was trying to remote the plane to the gate. These guys were rushing, they got a tug that was HUGE! I mean that tug could have probably pulled the terminal over to the plane if they tried it. Then they got ahead of themselves and forgot to release the brakes on the plane. The guy on the tug gunned it and off came the nose gear!

When I first hired on at SWA we had what we called "QUICK TURNS". These quick turns were done in 15 minutes! That's pax off, bags off, pax on, bags on, fuel, and push in 15 minutes. Of course if there were and maint. issues you could pretty much kiss that 15 minutes good-bye but it was still an impressive thing to watch. We all got patches saying we were part of the "Quick Turn Team" it was pretty cool. With paperwork the way it is now and the planes getting more and more complex I do not think we will ever see the return of 15 minute turns but I'm glad I was around to see them.

Remember it's the little things that will get you in trouble and the little things are what get forgotten during a rush. The FAA is checking our paperwork with a fine tooth comb so cross all your T's and dot all your i's. Oh and don't be afraid to tell OPS or the flight crew that you will be done when you are done. There is not one person in the company who will fault you for wanting to fix the plane correctly.