Portal of the Folded Wings, D.O.M. Awards, and Tacos
I was in California on May 24th this year visiting clients. May 24th, as most of us should know, is National AMT Day — which is also the father of aviation maintenance, Charles Taylor’s birthday. Charles Taylor was the Wright Brothers’ mechanic. Charles Taylor happens to be buried in Burbank, CA at an aviation shrine called the Portal of the Folded Wings. Since I was in Burbank, I thought it was fitting to stop in and pay my respects to Charles Taylor and visit the shrine.
The Portal of the Folded Wings is near Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, and as one would think of a shrine, it is certainly impressive. It was built in 1924 at Vahalla Memorial Park and was dedicated on December 17th, 1953. Taylor is buried with other high profile aviators such as Bertrand Acosta (co-pilot to Admiral Richard Bird), Walter Brookins (pilot for the Wright Brothers), and Winfield Kinner (built “Kinner” airplanes) to name a few.
The portal also honors other aviation heroes not buried on the grounds such as Amelia Earhart, Billy Mitchell, and the crew of the space shuttle Columbia
The memorial is as impressive as it is peaceful, and it is a wonderful place to pay your respects to some great aviators of the past. I was proud to be able to reflect on my choice of a career in aviation maintenance while attending such and honorable place — and I would highly encourage anyone to stop by and visit if you are even in the area.
While I’m on the topic of honoring aviation maintenance heroes, I would like to remind all of you that D.O.M. magazine is calling for entries for our annual Maintenance Manager of the Year and Above and Beyond awards. We are extending the deadline to August 17th in order to give everyone a chance to participate. The winners will be announced in our November/December issue.
As I stated in my Publisher’s Comment in our March issue, (along with the details for nominating someone for the awards) we continue to believe that there is not enough recognition for all the extra effort and professionalism that exists in our industry — particularly for maintenance managers that deal with the day to day challenges of running an aviation maintenance department. So we continue to present these awards to recognize excellence in aviation maintenance management.
You can email your submissions to our editor Joe Escobar at jescobar@DOMmagazine.com. If you prefer to send via snail mail, the address is: D.O.M. Magazine Awards P.O. Box 175 Milton, WI 53563.
Finally, after leaving the portal, it was time for dinner. I stopped at a small quaint Mexican restaurant in Burbank and ordered some tacos. The atmosphere at the restaurant was perfect and relaxing and offered a small dining area that was nicely acquainted as well as a breezy porch to enjoy my dinner.
The food that a couple of folks at a nearby table were eating appeared to be very nice — the presentation and the fresh cilantro and onions on the top of the tacos along with the fresh tortillas was enticing. Then my food arrived and I bit in to the tacos that I ordered (fish and chicken). The chicken was dry, and the fish was old tasting and soggy.
This restaurant had everything right regarding atmosphere and presentation, but the basics of what they were offering was terrible. There were some good things about this restaurant, but because the food they offered was terrible — I wouldn’t be coming back.
It occurred to me that this is applicable to any business. If your core product isn’t excellent, there’s no reason for clients to come back. In aviation maintenance — you can have a beautiful facility, the best customer service, shiny bright tools, etc., but if your core product isn’t excellent, your clients won’t be returning.
Thanks for reading
Greg Napert - Proud to be an A&P