AMTonline Blogs

News from the FAA reports that the manager at the center of the Southwest Airlines safety incident has retired. See news item.

Stephen Prentice wrote about the situation in the May issue: What Do You Have to Do to Get Fired?

Bill O’Brien writes about the safety inspectors that reported him in the July issue. They had to resort to the Whistleblower Act to get someone to listen to the safety issues.

So who gets the best deal, the one who gets to retire or the ones that get to keep working with a cloud over their heads?

Thanks for reading.

Barb Zuehlke, Managing Editor

In Southern Wisconsin we’re battling water levels that are topping the record books. Sand bagging is helping to protect or at least delay damage to property and roadways.

So we understand wanting to prevent rain from adding to the problem.

But a story this week shows you have to be careful when dealing with Mother Nature. An owner of a home in Moscow has a hole in her roof from a 55-pound bag of cement dropped from a Russian Air Force aircraft.

Cement? To keep the rain away from public holidays the government has up to 12 aircraft drop silver iodide, liquid nitrogen, and cement powder to dry up the moisture.

In this case the bag failed to pulverize at high altitude and made a 2.5- to 3-foot hole in a roof. The incident was reportedly the first such occurrence in 20 years.

So stay dry and don’t try and fool with Mother Nature.

Thanks for reading.

Barb Zuehlke, Managing Editor

As AMT plans for our 10^th Career Development issue it has come to our attention that deadlines for several maintenance scholarships are approaching. As the industry evolves, new technology requires additional training and thankfully there are resources to help make additional training possible.

NBAA, the National Business Aviation Association, offers several scholarships to promote professional development and business aviation careers. Deadline for applications is Aug. 1, 2008. More resources will be covered in the August issue.

Alan H. Conklin Business Aviation Management Scholarship: NBAA and Conklin & de Decker will annually award $5,000 to a student who is officially enrolled in an aviation management program at a University Aviation Association (UAA) member school. A completed and signed application form must be accompanied by proof of enrollment, an official transcript, essay, resume and two letters of recommendation.

William M. Fanning Maintenance Scholarship: NBAA annually awards $5,000 to two applicants pursuing careers as maintenance technicians. One award will benefit a student who currently is enrolled in an accredited airframe & powerplant (A&P) program at an approved FAR Part 147 school. The second award will benefit an individual who currently is not enrolled but has been accepted for enrollment in an A&P program.

Lawrence Ginocchio Aviation Scholarship: NBAA and the family and friends of Lawrence Ginocchio will annually award $25,000 to five students who are officially enrolled at NBAA/University Aviation Association (UAA)-member institutions (to review full list, view the application form). Students must be undergraduate sophomores, juniors, or seniors with a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

USAIG PDP Scholarship: The U.S. Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG) annually awards $1,000 to an applicant enrolled full-time in a university offering the NBAA Professional Development Program (PDP).

The descriptions and application forms can be found at www.nbaa.org/public/education/scholarships/

Thanks for reading.

Barb Zuehlke, Managing Editor

The NTSB is set to review recent accidents that highlight the dangers of human fatique within airline operations.

• Oct. 19, 2004, Kirksville, Missouri, Corporate Airlines. Both pilots and 11 passengers were killed. Two passengers received serious injuries.

• Feb. 18, 2007, Delta Connection, operated by Shuttle America, Inc., Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport. All 72 passengers and a crew of four deplaned without serious injury.

• Feb. 13, 2008, Go! flight 1002, operated by Mesa Airlines, flew past its destination airport of Hilo, Hawaii. There were no injuries. What system or practices are implemented to prevent accidents from fatique where you work? What do you do to ensure you don’t succumb to fatique?Thanks for reading.