Females in Aviation Maintenance
At NBAA last October, a young lady walked right up to our booth and said, “Hi Joe, I’m Danielle Burke with SunQuest Executive Air Charter, and I believe our DOM would make a great cover story for your magazine.” I asked Danielle to tell me a little bit about their DOM. “Well, our DOM is young, intelligent, hard-working and a valuable member of our team,” she said. “And by the way, she is a female!”
Well, Danielle put me in touch with Blythe Salcido, the director of maintenance for SunQuest and we got the wheels turning. Since March is recognized as Women in History month, our staff felt it would be quite appropriate to feature Salcido as our cover story for this issue.
I am proud to have worked alongside some good female mechanics over the years. My first lead, Cyndi Christensen, taught me a lot about aircraft maintenance. Not only was she a good mechanic, she was a great mentor. She continuously encouraged me to learn more and take on new tasks and projects. We would eventually work alongside each other as QA inspectors later in our careers.
Unfortunately, I witnessed first-hand how difficult it sometimes was for her to work in a male-dominated industry. She would have to work harder to get treated the same as her male counterparts. When she made a mistake, others were often quick to criticize when they might otherwise laugh off a similar gaff by a male co-worker. Blythe Salcido pointed out similar issues of having to work harder to prove herself. To her and other successful women in aviation maintenance who have not only survived the challenge, but have excelled — job well done!
On another note, J.D. McHenry discusses cell phone etiquette in this issue. I can relate to a lot of what J.D. has to say. What he shares may seem like common sense to some, but I am amazed at some of the crazy cell phone behavior I have seen over the years – even more so in recent years with the explosion of smart phone use. I’ve seen people driving while reading and sending text messages or emails. I have witnessed people answering phones, and sometimes even placing calls, while sitting in bathroom stalls. (How important do you think you are that you need to talk on your phone in a public bathroom?) I see couples at dinner staring at their cell phones instead of engaging in conversation. Although some of J.D.’s discussion deals with common courtesy, he also makes good points about how cell phones can be a risk factor on the hangar floor. Don’t let your smart phone lead to dumb mistakes!
One thing Blythe Salcido mentioned in our interview was how her attitude towards work/life balance has changed over the years. She now realizes the importance of having a life away from work. J.D. makes some great ties to this towards the end of his article. How is it fair to our family and friends if we are addicted to our smart phone, constantly checking every email even in our time off? We need to break the chain of smart phone addiction. If we are on vacation, we should trust those we have delegated to do a good job. How bad does it look if we are constantly checking in on them? It sends a signal that we don’t trust them! There should be procedures in place in the event of an emergency. Yes, in rare cases there can likely be a need to interrupt your time off. But can’t other issue wait until you return to work?
Last, but not least, I would like to welcome Phillip Esparza to the D.O.M. magazine team as a contributor for our new “From the Trenches” column. Esparza is the owner of Fort Worth, TX-based Semper Fi Aviation. You guessed it – he served in the USMC as a crew chief on helicopters. He has been active in aviation for 35 years and holds an FAA A&P, IA, private pilot’s license and serves as the Fort Worth area Designated Maintenance Examiner (DME). He has held positions with Aerospatiale helicopter Corp, (now American Eurocopter), Bombardier Business Aircraft, Dallas Airmotive and Lockheed Martin. He has worked as general manager for a large Part 145 repair station in Fort Worth, and director of maintenance for Polaris Aviation Solutions based in Teterboro, NJ. He currently is a consultant for FAA Part 145, 125, and 135 operations, aircraft completions, maintenance, interior and international maintenance operations.
Welcome to the team Phillip!
Thanks for reading! Joe Escobar