Aircraft Maintenance

Over the years I have formulated a personal hypothesis about the status of the maintenance side of the aviation industry and how we got there. It is my humble, and perhaps flawed, opinion that with a few rare exceptions, the flying public view mechanics as rubes who are capable of performing only the many mindless tasks it takes to maintain an aircraft.
Who, I wondered, created this totally negative image of a mechanic? After all, weren’t Orville and Wilbur bicycle mechanics before they were pilots? And, if history is to be believed, during the 1920’s and 1930’s, pilots had to be mechanics or they would never fly out of that farmer’s field with a paying passenger. But, back then the world was different and the importance of a good mechanic was not taken lightly, so much so that very first words Charles Lindbergh said to a mob of admirers after arriving in Paris were "Are there any mechanics here?"
I believe there were three factors that created this negative image.

World War II
Right now I can hear some History Channel wag say "Way to go O’Brien, blame everything on Hitler." Okay, it’s true, I don’t like the guy, but just hear me out. The U.S. military formalized the enlisted status of mechanics way before the war, but World War II institutionalized the status of mechanics in the minds of millions who served. The military decreed that pilots were officers and gentlemen by Act of Congress, and mechanics were sentenced to the enlisted ranks and given less pay, privileges, and status — where they remain to this day. To make matters worse, after the war, this military concept for ranking pilots and mechanics was then transferred, intact, into civilian air transportation.

Hollywood
With one rare exception, that being the American Airlines commercial that featured a lead mechanic walking through a terminal and talking about professionalism and importance of a well-maintained aircraft; for the last 50-plus years, Hollywood has picked up on the public’s negative, stereotyped image of a aircraft mechanic and put us on the big screen and on TV to serve as comic relief.
Those of my generation can remember Captain Midnight who flew his jet off a mountaintop and saved the world at every Saturday matinee. The Captain was a Greek god of good looks, which contrasted sharply against the amiable, short, dumb, less-than-good-looking aircraft mechanic named Ichabod "Icky" Mudd — with two "d’s."
Younger mechanics might remember Lowell Mather, the dim-witted and socially-challenged mechanic on the TV show "Wings" from the 1990’s. Lowell’s idea of a good time was to take a six pack, his .22 calibre rifle, and a flashlight down to the city dump and shoot rats.