D.O.M. Blogs

A recent NETFLIX documentary, Downfall, discusses the events leading to the two crashes of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in a short span of time — Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019. The film is critical of Boeing and draws a picture of a flawed management philosophy at Boeing at that time that focused on raising stock value instead of fostering a strong safety culture (which had previously existed at the company). Was there an agenda by the movie producers to shed a bad light on Boeing? I don’t know.

Aviation technology is developing at a rapid pace — especially in small unmanned air vehicles (sUAV). Some recent sUAV flights pushed the envelope by proving a concept that is, well, screwy.

I’m sure all of you have seen Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of his aerial screw design. Back in the late 1480s, he envisioned this concept of how a person might be able to take flight.

There has been a lot of discussion on how the nationwide rollout of 5G cellular service in the U.S. will affect the aviation industry. 

I’m writing this column on January 18th  — the day before the scheduled 5G rollout. 

"Be here now." I first heard of that saying when watching the Netflix documentary of the same name (it's no longer available on Netflix). Be Here Now shares the story of Andy Whitfield, the actor who played Spartacus on the Netflix series Spartacus. It is a story of how he approached his journey battling cancer. He chose not to worry about what happened the day before or what might happen the next day. He chose to be here now — to be present and not fear what he didn't know. To enjoy each and every moment he could.

How are your troubleshooting skills? A past discussion with a manufacturer’s tech rep seems to suggest mechanics who have good troubleshooting skills are not as common as they once were. “Good troubleshooters are few and far between,” he says. “A good troubleshooter is worth his or her weight in gold! Many mechanics these days don’t have any troubleshooting skills. If they get in a bind, they just call us to solve their problem.”

Yeah – there is a shortage of parts. Recent posts that I’ve seen in some of the aircraft managers forums online are that there are no tires available for a particular aircraft model — or that windows and/or other consumables are in short supply and threaten to ground some aircraft.

I received a press release from PIA two weeks ago sharing that one of its Hagerstown A&P students, Elise Krause, was the recipient of the Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship.

As part of the release, it mentioned that Krause took the “S.W.E.A.T. Pledge.” My curious mind led me to find out what the S.W.E.A.T. pledge is all about. I was pleasantly surprised to learn what the pledge entails. Here are the 12 parts of the pledge:

It's my favorite time of the year — summer! I enjoy the warm weather and long days. I like the smells of grills fired up and freshly-cut lawns. And during the last week of July each year, my favorite activity is right here in Wisconsin — EAA AirVenture!

Aviation is a welcoming commuity of professionals. In the 33 years I've been in the industry, I've met many great people. One of the great ones was Dana Kerrick. He helped me out with numerous articles for Helicopter Maintenance magazine over the years. He was always willing to help out whenever I had any questions about helicopter rotor inspection and repair. Ufortunately, Dana is no longer with us. He passed away on May 21. Here is an announcement from International Aviation Composites, Ltd.