"Never Shall i Fail My Comrades"
....it is a great bunch of guys i work with out here. These are some new people in mgmnt i am working with and i guess i have impressed the heck out of them. The flight crews i'm flying with are saying good about me, Maintenance mgmnt is thanking me and saying good stuff.........I'm just doing my job........ but if they think i'm something special who am i to argue?!?!?!?!?
The other day....Friday....was a really good day. We were getting our tails kicked....we were super busy and short handed. One crewchief, "Brad".....a nice guy from Pittsburgh.....he is younger and less experienced than me had inspected an airplane. When he was finished he had to go help on another plane. I was doing an engine run at the time to troubleshoot a problem on another airplane, and when i was finished i topped off the fuel on the plane that Brad had inspected. It was probably about 0200 in the morning then. When i was finished i was in the flight deck documenting the Aicraft forms for the refuel.........and i glanced over at a flight deck window and it looked cracked. So i went to check it out and sure enough.... it was cracked. Not good.....it is a huge job to change the window cuz it is a pressure panel and there are at least a zillion tiny screws and nuts all that have to be sealed and torqued.
Not to mention the fact that you have to reach behind flight deck instruments to access some of the nuts......and you cannot drop any.....or you have to find them when you do for obvious reasons. And there isn't alot of room to get your hand in so you will drop some.
Anyway young Brad should have caught the window on his inspection......but it was not real obvious and i dont blame him for not seeing it at nighttime. But none the less it was a grounding write up. One that, would have been very ugly had the flight crew been ready to fly ......and found it then. Especially with the inspectors on board. We would look very very very bad and we would have failed our evaluation. Poor Brad would be decertified.......and look very bad....for a pretty honest mistake.... but it was one he will never forget. He is a good guy, ...a good up and coming mechanic........and has learned to look closer at the windows. No need to make an issue of it.
So when i found it ....i told him and i told him that i would say he found bubbles in the window and he had asked me if it was good or bad....and then i had just went and finally got a chance to look at it and noticed it was cracked. That way it wouldn't look like he missed the writeup on his inspection. But i didn't be little him, he is the type that will be harder on himself than i ever could be. It is not my style to belittle anyone anyway. So we busted azz to get the window changed and we were able to be ready for the next flight. Our inspectors were impressed with how quick we got it changed, when they came in the next day. So it is ironic ....what could have made us look really really really bad, made us look good. (all cuz of me being in the right place at the right time.)
So on the way home that night, Brad said to me " thanks for finding that"........, "i would have looked really bad and gotten decertified if you hadn't"........
That was super cool 'cuz alot of guys might be thankful in that situation, but would never say so, because they would not like that a female found it. Especially cuz after that refuel we were done for the night....and some people would've gotten sent home early....and everyone thought that they were within minutes of going home early on a friday night/ saturday morning (technically i guess)
...me finding a big job like that after we busted tail all night guarenteed that we were staying the full shift. But it is the way it goes.........and it was nice that noone bitched, and that all that was said was "good find.....,and thankyou"
It is unfortunate that not every one in the airforce has the same values of teamwork as myself. I often see people running to the boss to to say how so and so screwed up.
It is unfortunate that our mgmt promotes it. In my opinion, we could learn alot from the army. In ranger school you are assigned a buddy, and if he fails ...you fail. I wish the next time someone went running to a boss saying how so and so screwed up...that they would say...."and you just sat that and watched?.....you didn't help to correct it....i'm writing you up for failing to work as a team."
We have alot of talent and alot of good people....it is scary how good our mxs team would be if mgmt promoted the idea of being a maintenance team.
The other day....Friday....was a really good day. We were getting our tails kicked....we were super busy and short handed. One crewchief, "Brad".....a nice guy from Pittsburgh.....he is younger and less experienced than me had inspected an airplane. When he was finished he had to go help on another plane. I was doing an engine run at the time to troubleshoot a problem on another airplane, and when i was finished i topped off the fuel on the plane that Brad had inspected. It was probably about 0200 in the morning then. When i was finished i was in the flight deck documenting the Aicraft forms for the refuel.........and i glanced over at a flight deck window and it looked cracked. So i went to check it out and sure enough.... it was cracked. Not good.....it is a huge job to change the window cuz it is a pressure panel and there are at least a zillion tiny screws and nuts all that have to be sealed and torqued.
Not to mention the fact that you have to reach behind flight deck instruments to access some of the nuts......and you cannot drop any.....or you have to find them when you do for obvious reasons. And there isn't alot of room to get your hand in so you will drop some.
Anyway young Brad should have caught the window on his inspection......but it was not real obvious and i dont blame him for not seeing it at nighttime. But none the less it was a grounding write up. One that, would have been very ugly had the flight crew been ready to fly ......and found it then. Especially with the inspectors on board. We would look very very very bad and we would have failed our evaluation. Poor Brad would be decertified.......and look very bad....for a pretty honest mistake.... but it was one he will never forget. He is a good guy, ...a good up and coming mechanic........and has learned to look closer at the windows. No need to make an issue of it.
So when i found it ....i told him and i told him that i would say he found bubbles in the window and he had asked me if it was good or bad....and then i had just went and finally got a chance to look at it and noticed it was cracked. That way it wouldn't look like he missed the writeup on his inspection. But i didn't be little him, he is the type that will be harder on himself than i ever could be. It is not my style to belittle anyone anyway. So we busted azz to get the window changed and we were able to be ready for the next flight. Our inspectors were impressed with how quick we got it changed, when they came in the next day. So it is ironic ....what could have made us look really really really bad, made us look good. (all cuz of me being in the right place at the right time.)
So on the way home that night, Brad said to me " thanks for finding that"........, "i would have looked really bad and gotten decertified if you hadn't"........
That was super cool 'cuz alot of guys might be thankful in that situation, but would never say so, because they would not like that a female found it. Especially cuz after that refuel we were done for the night....and some people would've gotten sent home early....and everyone thought that they were within minutes of going home early on a friday night/ saturday morning (technically i guess)
...me finding a big job like that after we busted tail all night guarenteed that we were staying the full shift. But it is the way it goes.........and it was nice that noone bitched, and that all that was said was "good find.....,and thankyou"
It is unfortunate that not every one in the airforce has the same values of teamwork as myself. I often see people running to the boss to to say how so and so screwed up.
It is unfortunate that our mgmt promotes it. In my opinion, we could learn alot from the army. In ranger school you are assigned a buddy, and if he fails ...you fail. I wish the next time someone went running to a boss saying how so and so screwed up...that they would say...."and you just sat that and watched?.....you didn't help to correct it....i'm writing you up for failing to work as a team."
We have alot of talent and alot of good people....it is scary how good our mxs team would be if mgmt promoted the idea of being a maintenance team.
posted by militarybrat at 7:02 AM
6 Comments:
Thanks for keepin' 'em flyin'!
Hey glad your back and doing ok! Keep up the great work.
Most of all, THANK YOU
Hey, Chick! Glad to see you writing new stuff. I'm in the financial services industry, another one of those Boys Clubs. I remember this one guy asking for a man to speak to, and when I wouldn't transfer him, he told me to "go back to the kitchen where I belonged." Click. Only time I ever hung up on a customer.
Being a woman in a traditionally man's job is really tough. You have to do it better than anyone else and right every time to get the respect you deserve. Luckily for you, you DO do it better and RIGHT every time! Keep 'em flying, Ma'am!
Hey...are you okay?
Ditto what Blob said- are you ok? It's been a loooong time between posts and I'm getting kinda worried.
Does ANYONE have any information on this blogger? Is she ok? Is she back in the states? Posted 4/8/05
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