AMTonline Blogs

I am in Massachusetts today for an article interview and photo shoot. As I was driving to the airport yesterday, I was listening to the radio and couldn’t believe what I heard. A news story mentioned that some TSA agents would be transferred to cover other duties. Can you guess what they will be doing?

A. Working alongside Wal-Mart greeters to help tag merchandise that customers are returning.

B. Harassing mechanics and other airport personnel as they are trying to do their jobs.

C. Working alongside the Secret Service to guard presidential candidates.

If you guessed A or B, good guesses, but you are wrong. Believe it or not, the correct answer is C.

It seems that the U.S. Secret Service is so thinly stretched with all of the presidential candidates running for office, that it plans to borrow 2,000 immigration officers and airport screeners, as well as shift 250 of its own employees from investigations to security details, to help guard the huge field of candidates.

OK, I can understand using immigration officers. But airport screeners? Give me a break! What are they going to do? Shine their mag light in someone’s face and say, “Excuse me sir, but you will have to hand over that bottle of water. It’s over 3 ounces.”

It’s bad enough that a TSA screener makes more than an A&P (plus all the perks of working for the government). Now they are going to assign them to protect presidential candidates?

Well, I know who I am hoping they will be “protecting.”

If you want to read a story the Washington Post did on this subject, click here.

Thanks for reading!

Happy AMT Day! Today, May 24, is the birth date of Charles E. Taylor, the man who designed and built the engine that powered the Wright Flyer into the history books. He is recognized as the first aircraft mechanic.

Here’s to Charles Taylor, for if it wasn’t for him we might still be talking about the Wright Glider. And here’s to us — the tens of thousands of aircraft maintenance professionals who keep our fleets of aircraft safely flying.

The AMT Day movement sure has come a long way from the initial seed planted by FAA Safety Program Manager Richard Dilbeck a few years back. Dilbeck pushed legislation proclaiming AMT Day in California, making it the first State to do so. He has also been instrumental in getting AMT Day resolutions passed in States all over the country and in U.S. territories. He has also had some help along the way, especially with AMTA director, and AMTSociety councilman, Ken MacTiernan.

I am in Kansas City today along with AMTSociety executive director Tom Hendershot and Ken MacTiernan at American Airlines’ maintenance facility as employees celebrate AMT Day and honor AA’s Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award recipients. I’m looking forward to the event. I’m also looking forward to sampling some good Kansas City Bar-B-Que later this evening!

If your company is celebrating AMT Day, be sure to let us know. I will be doing a writeup in a future issue of AMT magazine. You can e-mail me text and photos or mail to:

Joe Escobar, Aircraft Maintenance Technology, 1233 Janesville Ave., Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

Thanks for reading!

Joe Escobar

This Thursday, May 24 is AMT Day. May 24 is the birth date of Charles E. Taylor, the man who designed and built the engine that powered the Wright Flyer into history. It is an opportunity to remember aircraft maintenance professionals that came before us, honor those that currently work amongst us, and encourage up-and-coming mechanics that will soon work alongside us.

AMT already knows of several events that will be happening on May 24. I will be in Kansas City along with AMTSociety executive director Tom Hendershot and AMTSociety councilman Ken MacTiernan visiting American Airlines as it has an AMT Day luncheon and honors its own Charles Taylor Master Mechanic award recipients. AMTSociety director, and AMT magazine publisher, Greg Napert will be in Daytona Beach, Florida at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as it celebrates AMT Day. Frontier Airlines will have a cookout for its mechancs. Baker’s School of Aeronautics will host an AMT Day luncheon.

So what will you be doing on AMT Day? We encourage all aircraft maintenance professionals to celebrate AMT Day in one way or another. If you are a manager or supervisor, how about doing something for your staff? If you are a mechanic working on the floor, why not suggest to your manager that your company do something for AMT Day?

If you will be doing something to celebrate AMT Day, be sure to share that with us! You can e-mail photos and descriptions of the event to me. If you prefer to mail them, you can send them to:

Joe Escobar, Aircraft Maintenance Technology, 1233 Janesville Ave., Fort Atkinson, WI 53538

Thanks for reading!

Joe Escobar

If you have been paying attention to industry news lately, you probably noticed quite a few topics on the growing anger amongst airline employees. US Airways CEO Doug Parker says the labor issue is worsening across the industry. United Airlines CEO Glen Tilton tried to defend his estimated $40 million compensation package at a recent shareholder meeting. Northwest Airlines announcement that it would give outgoing chairman Gary Wilson a $2 million going away present led to immediate court objections from the airlines unions, whose members endured sharp pay cuts and job reductions during Northwest’s bankruptcy reorganization.

While Tilton defended his compensation package, he also said more must be done to cut costs to remain competitive. United continues job cuts and restructuring to trim expenses.

But shouldn’t sacrifice be mutual? How can the CEOs of these companies continue to preach the importance of saving money through concessions, job cuts and offshoring work while they walk around with big fat wallets in their back pockets? If leading a company out of bankruptcy means you deserve a multi-million dollar pay package, shouldn’t the employees who bore the pain also get something back for their sacrifices?

If employee compensation is only a priority when an airline needs to cut costs, and no consideration is given during times of profitability, the airlines are in for a turbulent trip in regards to employee relations in the near future.

Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Thanks for reading,

Joe Escobar

On February 16, numerous freak incidents of cracked aircraft windshields at Denver International Airport were reported. The cracked windshields were on 14 aircraft of various aircraft type operated by three different carriers. Six aircraft experienced the cracking during takeoff, another just after landing, two upon taxiing to the terminal after landing, and three while they were sitting at their gates. Wind speeds that day were gusting up to 48 miles per hour.

I have to imagine that all those cracked windshields caused many engineers and mechanics to scratch their heads as they tried to figure out the cause.

The NTSB still hasn’t issued a final report on the incidents, but Denver-based NTSB investigator Jennifer Kaiser, who led the probe into these incidents, has commented on the likely cause of the cracks.

A February 28 article in the Denver Post by Jeffrey Leib says that Kaiser attributes the damage to FOD.

So, what kind of FOD is Kaiser talking about? Hail? Hardware on the ramp thrown into the windows? Bird strikes? Rocks?

None of the above. Believe it or not, it was sand. In the article, Kaiser says it is possible that sand that was put down on the airport’s runways and taxiways during December and January snow storms were blown into the windshields that windy February day. Microscopic analysis of the windows showed that fine particles caused pitting in the windows. The pitting in turn caused the cracking.

So, case solved? Maybe not. Investigators were not able to determine with certainty what debris caused the damage because there were no transfer marks from the material onto the windshields.

It is hard to imagine that blowing sand can cause aircraft windshields to crack. If it can, I am curious — how were all the other aircraft that were at the airport that day affected by the sand? Were they also damaged by the sand FOD? Will that damage eventually lead to more freak incidents of cracked windshields?

You can click here to read the full Denver Post article.

Thanks for reading.

Joe

To say the residents of Greensburg, Kansas have had a rough week is an understatement. The town was practically obliterated by an F-5 tornado about 1.7 miles wide last Friday night. That was one big honkin tornado (according to Mike Rowe, “Honkin is a technical term”). I remember seeing pictures of the destruction that Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University encountered this past Christmas as an F-2 tornado cut a path through the campus, and it is difficult to comprehend the size and magnitude of the monster tornado that hit Greensburg.

But amidst the heroism and sacrifices being made by the Greensburg residents and surrounding communities as they try to, literally, pick up the pieces, a news item I read yesterday upset me. It said that five uniformed people were arrested on Sunday on charges of looting cigarettes and alcohol from a store in Greensburg. The four soldiers from Fort Riley Army base and a reserve police officer had gone to Greensburg on their own to assist, and were not part of any official detachment. In another case, two people wearing Red Cross jackets, who were not actually part of that relief agency, were arrested Sunday on suspicion of looting.

As if the people of Greensburg don’t have enough to worry about, now they have to worry about looting by people in uniform. The assistance provided by military personnel, law enforcement professionals and relief agencies in the aftermath of a disaster is priceless. It’s too bad that a few idiots chose to tarnish the commendable efforts of these organizations.

Big honkin idiots!

Thanks for reading,

Joe Escobar