Reader Feedback

Father-Son No More

In response to our June 2007 Editor’s Notebook (see June AM, page 4), you hit the nail right on the head. I’ve seen more and more older, experienced, mechanics leave the business in the past few years and it’s a shame. They’re being replaced by young guys that just lack the experience of their older peers and it shows (Has your airline got a problem with "No Fault Found’ (NFF), well guess why?). But the problem is not just at the mechanic level, it’s at the engineering level as well, and that really hurts because the mechanic is the first line of defense, the engineer is the second line of defense, after that....

Through the years I used to run into the same guys from the airlines at conferences. Now when I run into some of them, they’re working for a repair facility or a large parts supplier. They have moved on, they saw the writing on the wall and they did something about it. This may have been a father-son business, but it’s not anymore. I understand the airline business is a tough one, but what father would encourage their son or daughter to go into a career with poor pay, no job security, poor benefits and no pension? It just doesn’t make any sense. But fear not, in the long run the airlines, and ultimately their customers, are going to have to pay the price. With the bad reputation the airlines have earned, if they want to attract good people, they are going to have to pay for it. We all enjoy low cost airfares, but lets face it, the fares are just too low to sustain the business.

Name and address withheld

Engineers are Leaving Too

On the subject of the eroding engineering base within the airlines, it seems to be the worst within the regionals. Some have virtually no engineering staff to speak of, others have made suppliers keep support people on site. It’s a clever way of doing business, you get a support staff without having to pay for it. The bottom falls out for these people when they decide to send their repair business to a third party, the suppliers simply pull out. If you want to see how bad it’s gotten, go visit some of the smaller carrier’s maintenance facilities. Ask to meet their engineering group, count heads, compare the head count to the number of aircraft they support, ask people how long have they’ve been in the business, their engineering background. You may not like what you see and hear. Go down and meet the mechanics. You’re going to see a lot of young, inexperienced faces. At the large airlines, average age of a mechanic is probably in the mid- to late-forties, with plenty of guys in their fifties and more than a few in their early sixties. A guy with ten years’ experience is a "new comer." Ask what the rate of NFF is at the regional, then ask what it is at the large carrier, you’re going to find quite a difference and it’s not a coincidence. I remember being at one of the largest regionals a few years ago, working a flaps problem at night. They were going through the rigging procedure and the mechanic didn’t have the correct tools for the job. I asked him to go down to the tool crib and get a set of large open-end wrenches and they didn’t even have a set in their tool crib. I went out at dinner time to a Sears and bought him a set, probably the best money I ever spent. As far as support to tell this kid what to do, there was no engineering support or veteran mechanics for him to turn to. If I wasn’t there, he would have been on his own. The large carriers have eroded as well, but most still have an experienced core engineering group they can turn to, and they’ve still got experienced mechanics. But where will they be 10 years from now?

Name and address withheld