More days than not I come home pretty convinced that I have one of the best jobs in the world. To begin, I get to play with airplanes all day... is that even work? Alas, it is, and the weight of the responsibility is not lost on me, but we'll get to that later. Indeed, I have an amazing job that allows me to challenge myself, learn a ton, be outside, work with my hands (and very often every muscle in my body), and be involved in aviation, one of my greatest passions. This week has been a long and taxing week in many ways. We worked a couple of long days to accomplish an engine change which went extraordinarily well, but we've also had 100hr inspections due on various aircraft every day except the one that we were able to devote fully to the engine change. That makes for a great deal of stress and late nights, but it seems that we've become a well-oiled machine and are able to get the job done without much hassle, and more often than not, sooner than is necessary. It's an amazing feeling to be part of a team that works well together, has fun, and accomplishes some pretty impressive feats.
Yesterday was our big day for the engine change and by the end of it I was nothing short of tuckered out! I had very little desire to go back to work today, especially because we were looking at a late night, but I mustered enough motivation to get there, listened to some 'get psyched' music on my way into town, and ended up having a fantastic evening, once again reveling in the fact that I get to play with airplanes all day for a job. Not only that, but this is the view from my office...
Can it get any better than that!? Seriously, I know I've mentioned this, but I really love my job.
This picture was taken as I was working on one of the squawks that I discovered during tonight's inspection. I was standing on a huge ladder under the wing, tightening a nut on the through bolt that attaches the pushrod tube from the wing to the aileron and then replacing it's cotter pin. It was a very easy task in itself, but was made quite challenging because of access to the nut. The details of the task are fairly inconsequential, but it gives me good opportunity to share an extra anecdote about the guys I work with.
I had successfully removed the old cotter pin and tightened the nut. As I was getting a new cotter pin, my boss, Bubba, asked me how it was going. I reported that all was well, but that he was welcome to check it out. He did, and was satisfied with my progress, but then he proceeded to work on getting the nut lined up with the hole in the bolt where you put the cotter pin. I kind of had to give him grief about this because he was stealing my job and I didn't ask for his help. He then kindly explained that he wanted to do it so that I wouldn't have to get frustrated... silly boys. They do take good care of me though. Yet another example of how blessed I am to be working at Pacific Airways. Both men that I work with are exceptional mechanics and willing teachers who are able to mix just the right amount of patience with a bit of grief thrown in there to keep me humble.
The other interesting part of this particular situation was the judgment call that it required. The nut already had a cotter pin in it, which acts as a safety to prevent it from turning to come completely off the bolt. However, it was quite loose and it was on a part of the airplane that's pretty relevant as far as it's ability to fly. That said, when I reported my finding, Bubba's response was, "Good luck with that." He then stated that he would be fine leaving it, but acknowledged that it needed to be tightened. So it came down to me and how much of a challenge I wanted to take on. It wasn't a difficult decision for me because we had time and I felt it would be pretty doable, but it's a good example of the weight of some decisions. Lots of decisions are easy... it's broken, you fix it; it's cosmetic, it depends on how much time you have. Sometimes though, we run into things like this that definitely need to be fixed, but may not need to be fixed immediately. We generally err on the side of being overly cautious, but nonetheless, the decision has to be made and there are days when there's just not time to be overly cautious. This is a great example of when it's best to be the new guy. As much as the decision is most often left to me on things that I find, I know that I'm not the final word and that can be so very comforting.
However, this leads me to one of the most significant burdens that I've faced since being in this position; simply that of the responsibility of signing off an aircraft as airworthy. There are a lot of shops where a green mechanic may sign that he's done certain tasks, but would rarely have the opportunity to sign off an entire airframe. In fact, lots of shops wouldn't even give me decision making power on discrepancies that I find during an inspection. Here though, if you do the work, you sign the line. There's yet to be a time when I sit down to do the paperwork and am not struck with the great weight of responsibility that signing the logbook entails. It's true that this pressure can be trying, but having that responsibility, both in decision making as well as signing of logbooks, makes me a better mechanic because I know that if something goes wrong, it comes back to me. That might not sound all too appealing, but I do consider this to be another positive aspect of my job. Not only do I have a more vested interest in what happens, my pride in a job well done often dwarfs any pressure or anxiety that I may have felt at any given time.
There's nothing better than to drive by the airport on my way into town and get to see this:
The picture is a bit blurry, but in the water are three of my airplanes, loaded with freight and passengers, ready to depart to who knows where. I can't even describe how wonderful it feels to be up late one night working on an airplane only to see it loaded first thing in the morning, headed off on it's way. It's amazing to have such a behind the scenes job that is so imperative to the operations of the company and so relevant to the lives of all the passengers and their families.
Just to reiterate, my job is amazing. The people I work with are fantastic. I love the work I get to do. That's not to say that it's all roses and sweet smelling things. In fact, other than me, there are very few sweet smelling things throughout the course of my workday, but overall, life is good.
Can it get any better than that!? Seriously, I know I've mentioned this, but I really love my job.
This picture was taken as I was working on one of the squawks that I discovered during tonight's inspection. I was standing on a huge ladder under the wing, tightening a nut on the through bolt that attaches the pushrod tube from the wing to the aileron and then replacing it's cotter pin. It was a very easy task in itself, but was made quite challenging because of access to the nut. The details of the task are fairly inconsequential, but it gives me good opportunity to share an extra anecdote about the guys I work with.
I had successfully removed the old cotter pin and tightened the nut. As I was getting a new cotter pin, my boss, Bubba, asked me how it was going. I reported that all was well, but that he was welcome to check it out. He did, and was satisfied with my progress, but then he proceeded to work on getting the nut lined up with the hole in the bolt where you put the cotter pin. I kind of had to give him grief about this because he was stealing my job and I didn't ask for his help. He then kindly explained that he wanted to do it so that I wouldn't have to get frustrated... silly boys. They do take good care of me though. Yet another example of how blessed I am to be working at Pacific Airways. Both men that I work with are exceptional mechanics and willing teachers who are able to mix just the right amount of patience with a bit of grief thrown in there to keep me humble.
The other interesting part of this particular situation was the judgment call that it required. The nut already had a cotter pin in it, which acts as a safety to prevent it from turning to come completely off the bolt. However, it was quite loose and it was on a part of the airplane that's pretty relevant as far as it's ability to fly. That said, when I reported my finding, Bubba's response was, "Good luck with that." He then stated that he would be fine leaving it, but acknowledged that it needed to be tightened. So it came down to me and how much of a challenge I wanted to take on. It wasn't a difficult decision for me because we had time and I felt it would be pretty doable, but it's a good example of the weight of some decisions. Lots of decisions are easy... it's broken, you fix it; it's cosmetic, it depends on how much time you have. Sometimes though, we run into things like this that definitely need to be fixed, but may not need to be fixed immediately. We generally err on the side of being overly cautious, but nonetheless, the decision has to be made and there are days when there's just not time to be overly cautious. This is a great example of when it's best to be the new guy. As much as the decision is most often left to me on things that I find, I know that I'm not the final word and that can be so very comforting.
However, this leads me to one of the most significant burdens that I've faced since being in this position; simply that of the responsibility of signing off an aircraft as airworthy. There are a lot of shops where a green mechanic may sign that he's done certain tasks, but would rarely have the opportunity to sign off an entire airframe. In fact, lots of shops wouldn't even give me decision making power on discrepancies that I find during an inspection. Here though, if you do the work, you sign the line. There's yet to be a time when I sit down to do the paperwork and am not struck with the great weight of responsibility that signing the logbook entails. It's true that this pressure can be trying, but having that responsibility, both in decision making as well as signing of logbooks, makes me a better mechanic because I know that if something goes wrong, it comes back to me. That might not sound all too appealing, but I do consider this to be another positive aspect of my job. Not only do I have a more vested interest in what happens, my pride in a job well done often dwarfs any pressure or anxiety that I may have felt at any given time.
There's nothing better than to drive by the airport on my way into town and get to see this:
The picture is a bit blurry, but in the water are three of my airplanes, loaded with freight and passengers, ready to depart to who knows where. I can't even describe how wonderful it feels to be up late one night working on an airplane only to see it loaded first thing in the morning, headed off on it's way. It's amazing to have such a behind the scenes job that is so imperative to the operations of the company and so relevant to the lives of all the passengers and their families.
Just to reiterate, my job is amazing. The people I work with are fantastic. I love the work I get to do. That's not to say that it's all roses and sweet smelling things. In fact, other than me, there are very few sweet smelling things throughout the course of my workday, but overall, life is good.
After one of those long nights at the office, just how sweet smelling are you?
ReplyDelete