Patrick Kinane - Senior Quality Systems Auditor | AAR Corp.
When looking for individuals to profile in D.O.M.magazine, I like to look for people who have worked in different segments of our industry. Interviewing people with different backgrounds gives our readers examples of various career paths that can be taken in our diverse industry. Our contributing author Patrick Kinane definitely has a diverse background. Kinane is the Senior Quality Systems Auditor at AAR Corp. in Wood Dale, IL. This is the story of his lifetime of learning.
Kinane wasn’t surrounded by aviation when he was growing up in Chicago. Nonetheless, he realized at an early age he had a mechanical aptitude. He enjoyed building models as a kid. Later, he would build and fly remote control (RC) airplanes. As a teenager, he started doing maintenance projects on his cars.
When Kinane graduated from High School, the Draft was still in effect. Kinane knew he would end up in the military, and he decided to enlist in the Air Force because he wanted to work on airplanes. He worked on hydraulic and pneumatic systems in the Air Force.
A&P School
After serving his time in the Air Force, Kinane decided he wanted to get his A&P. He enrolled at Lewis University, an A&P school in Romeoville, IL. Kinane shares that out of a class of around 25 students who started the program with him, he was one of five who graduated with their A&P. “Out of those five, all of us came from the military,” Kinane tells D.O.M.magazine. “I think the hands-on knowledge we learned in the military really helped out a lot. Those who came right out of High School didn’t have any aviation experience really struggled. I think even today, military aviation experience helps out.”
The Job Search
Once he earned his A&P certificate, Kinane started his job search. It was 1967. “At that time, the aviation industry was doing well,” Kinane says. “Everyone here at O’Hare was hiring. Back then, we didn’t have the security measures in place that we do today. You could go into the hangar and talk to the maintenance manager to see if they were hiring. I really wanted to work for American Airlines. The buddy who was going to job interviews with me wanted to work for Eastern. Oddly enough, he ended up getting hired by American, and I got a job with Eastern.”
Kinane worked at Eastern from 1967 to March of 1989, when Eastern shut its hangar doors. While there, he worked mostly as a mechanic. “I really liked working on airplanes,” Kinane says. “I also liked working on the midnight shift because you had more time to work on the planes without interruptions, although looking back, I guess my body didn’t like it so much. I liked the people I worked with at Eastern, and kept in contact with many of them over the years.”
When Eastern shut down, the Dean of Lewis University, whom Kinane had kept in touch with, asked Kinane if he would be interested in teaching at the school. “I don’t know anything about teaching,” Kinane told the Dean. “That’s OK,”the Dean replied, “These kids don’t know anything, so anything you teach them will be good.”
Kinane taught at Lewis University for a semester. When a recruiter for Midway Airlines showed up at the school, Kinane talked to him about the job opportunities at Midway Airlines. He got a job as the manager of training for Midway. That was his first step into quality assurance (QA).
Kinane was at Midway for around a year until they closed. Kinane says he had fun at Midway. “I was used to the Eastern culture,” Kinane shares. “I thought that was the way things were done. The pilots didn’t talk to the flight attendants. The flight attendants didn’t talk to the mechanics. The mechanics didn’t talk to the ramp people. Then I went Midway and found it refreshing that everyone was on an even scale there. It was a fun airline to work for.”
Leaving Aviation
After Midway Airlines shut its doors, Kinane landed a job outside of aviation as the director of education for an accounting firm. He wasn’t trying to get out of aviation, but he needed a job. “I hated it,” Kinane says. “I was teaching a bunch of accountants and attorneys. They just wanted the information. I couldn’t crack any jokes or make the courses interesting. When a friend of mine called and told me ATA was hiring at Midway Airport, I jumped at the opportunity to get back into aviation!”
Kinane worked as a mechanic at ATA. A few years later, the former director of QA at Midway Airlines called him asking if he wanted a job as the manager of training for Inflight Phone Inflight Phone based in Oak Brook, IL, a little closer to Kinane’s home, and he jumped at the opportunity to get back into QA.
Inflight Phone manufactured, installed and maintained inflight phones and entertainment systems for aircraft. Kinane worked there for a few years when he took a job in Detroit as the director of maintenance for USA Jet Airlines, a company that flew parts for Ford Motor Company.
A while later, a friend of his from his Eastern days asked Kinane if he would take a job as manager of maintenance for Carnival Airways. He helped start up a line maintenance operation back at Midway Airport.
Kinane then went back to work for ATA when Carnival Airways went out of business before taking a job at United as a supervisor.
But after working as a mechanic and in training/QA for many years, Kinane realized that being a manager wasn’t quite his cup of tea. “I like working with the guys,” Kinane says. “I was more of a mechanic than a manager.”
Kinane says he wasn’t happy at United, and started to look for another opportunity. That’s when he heard that AAR was hiring. Kinane got a job at AAR, where he has been working for the past 5½ years. He is currently the senior quality systems auditor at the company.
A Lifetime of Learning
It has been a lifetime of learning for Kinane. “I have been going to school my entire married life,” he shares. “It all started when I went to A&P school at Lewis University.”
While working as a mechanic at Eastern, Kinane decided to take more courses at Lewis University in pursuit of a Bachelors degree in Aviation Management. “I picked away at the courses little by little,” Kinane tells D.O.M.magazine. “It took me around 15 or 20 years to get my degree.”
While attending Lewis University, Kinane took an interest in psychology. During a conversation with one of his professors, he found out he could pursue a graduate degree in industrial and organizational psychology. Although Kinane thought about pursuing a Masters Degree in organizational psychology, the only University that had a graduate program was Purdue, and he didn’t want to quit work and uproot his family to move to Lafayette, IN.
Instead, Kinane decided to further his management education by pursuing an MBA. He was accepted in the University of Illinois’ Masters degree program. Kinane says he became disillusioned while taking his MBA courses. “It just didn’t feel comfortable,” he shares. “People were considered just another asset on the shelf – they were worth so many dollars. It just didn’t sit well with me – I just didn’t feel comfortable.”
Kinane earned 100 of 120 credited hours towards his MBA. He then decided to change course and get his Masters in Education, which he earned with a major in Online Instruction.
By the time Kinane earned his Masters degree, developments in online degree programs offered him the option to pursue a Ph.D. online. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. “That was extremely exciting,” Kinane says. “I get to use that knowledge each and every day.”
Kinane now teaches Organizational Behavior courses at DeVry University. Although he is not taking any further college courses at this time, he shares that teaching gives him the opportunity to keep learning. “I think sometimes I learn as much from the students as they learn from me,” he says.
Although he is done pursuing academic degrees, he says he will never stop learning. “I may take a seminar online that I find interesting,” he says. “I’m always reading and learning. I will never stop learning.”
Online Courses
Kinane says that online courses are a convenient way for students, especially those who are already working, to earn a degree. But he cautions that just because they are convenient doesn’t mean you can sail through them. “Many people think online courses are easier,” he says. “Yes, they are convenient, but they are not easier. You don’t have to be in class at a certain time each day. Instead, you need to manage your time. You need to have the discipline to devote adequate time for each course.
“Online courses are more participatory in nature,” Kinane continues. “In a brick and mortar classroom, you are relying on the instructor to give you information. You can just sit there and take notes. In an online class, you are relying on the instructor plus you need to participate.”
Career in Aviation
Kinane says that choosing a career in aviation maintenance is one of the best things he has ever done. “It’s not just a career,” he explains. “People that are in aviation watch movies about aviation. We read books about aviation. We go to the bar after work and we talk about airplanes. It’s part of us – we can’t get away from it. It’s like a virus. It’s like a disease that affects our little group of people.
“There have been moments I have struggled,” he continues. “Sure, there have been jobs that I have hated. But overall, I couldn’t picture myself going into any other industry and being as happy as I have been in aviation.”
Parting Advice
We asked Kinane if, based on his education and experience, he could share any advice for managers. “You need to have a good rapport with your people,” he says. “If you don’t have a good rapport with your workers, they will let you lead them even if they know it is wrong, It’s called malicious compliance, and I’ve seen it over and over again. For example, you might tell your team, “O.K., today we need to do A, then B, followed by D and finally C.’ If you have a good rapport with them, they will likely speak up and say, ‘Shouldn’t C come before D?’ But if you didn’t, they will just do exactly what you told them and say, ‘But that’s exactly what you told us to do,” when things go wrong. I’ve seen it happen to many people.
“I got too social with my employees, and that got me in trouble,” Kinane continues. “Managers need to maintain a rapport with their employees, but they also need to maintain a professional distance. They can’t afford to be ‘best friends’ with them.”
And what advice would he give to those working in, or wanting to work in quality assurance? “Follow the data, don’t lead it,” Kinane says. “Don’t start off assuming you know what the answer is. Start out with a premise – a question, and follow the data where it leads. You never know where it is going to lead you. It could lead you to something completely different than what you thought.”