Ken MacTiernan, director of the Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Association (AMTA), founder of the Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC), and longtime friend shared the following news, and I wanted to share it with our readers in case you may not be on his mailing list:
Greetings everyone.
Disappointment? Yes! Frustration? Yes! Disrespected? Yes! Confused? Yes!
I recently learned of the passing of Richard McSpadden, AOPAs Air Safety Institute’s leader and past Thunderbird Commander. McSpadden’s popularity was nearly unparalleled as he hosted several podcasts and did public speaking and presentations on a regular basis. The pilot community has celebrated his life after the tragic accident that took his life — and rightly so!
For the first time since March 2022, we have Senate-confirmed FAA Administrator. On October 24, the U.S. Senate voted 98-0 to Confirm Mike Whittaker as the next FAA Administrator. He will serve a five-year term.
In response to Whittaker’s confirmation, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg released the following statement:
Allow me to share a story seven and a half years in the making of the failure of the NTSB to provide due process for an aircraft mechanic.
This story involves Anthony Jack Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins served in the U.S. Air Force from 1969 to 1989 as an aircraft mechanic, flight engineer, and line chief on C-130s. After his military career, he worked as an aircraft mechanic and inspector, holding an A&P and Inspection Authorization until 2016 when this matter started.
The 2023 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) is just around the corner. It will be taking place October 17-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
In my opinion, NBAA-BACE is the second-best opportunity for maintenance managers and aviation maintenance professionals to gain the knowledge necessary for career advancement. (The best conference is NBAA’s Maintenance Conference, which offers three days of maintenance- and management-focused sessions!)
A few weeks ago, President Biden announced the nomination of Michael G. Whitaker to serve as the next FAA Administrator. The FAA has been without an Administrator since early 2022 when Steve Dickson retired. It has had three Acting Administrators since then, and will have another Acting Administrator if Whitaker isn’t confirmed by October 25.
I'm in Washington, D.C. this week attending the NBAA Maintenance Committee fall meeting.
Yesterday, several fellow committee members asked me how ChatGPT is affecting my job. I told them that to be honest, I don't use ChatGPT. Maybe I'm behind the times?
One member told me he uses ChatGPT to help organize his daily schedule. So, being the curious person I am, I logged in to ChatGPT and asked, "How can ChatGPT help me organize my day?"
ChatGP's response:
ChatGPT can help you organize your day in several ways:
EAA AirVenture is almost upon us. During the last week of July each year, hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts gather in Oshkosh, WI for EAA’s annual gathering. According to EAA, about 650,000 people participated in last year’s celebration!
If you’ve never been to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, you don’t know what you’re missing. I’ve been to 20 AirVenture shows. Every year brings something new and exciting for the many visitors that flock to Oshkosh for this annual aviation event. There’s something for everyone at AirVenture!
B-nuts to be specific. The NTSB has released Safety Alert 086 titled Mechanics: Ensure B-nuts Are Properly Secured! You can view the Safety Alert by visiting https://www.ntsb.gov/Advocacy/safety-alerts/Documents/SA-086.pdf.
The Safety Alert starts off saying, “B-nuts are a small piece of hardware that can cause a big problem if they are not properly secured.”
It goes on to discuss “The problem.”
We are in Hartford, CT for the NBAA Maintenance Conference this week. I've had the opportunity to talk to many readers and exhibitors since yesterday when the conference started.
I've had the opportunity to sit in on a variety of sessions here at the conference. was a session on Goodyear Blimp maintenance and operations. It was presented by Jim Crone, Goodyear Airship Operations maintenance manager and David Spratley, a mechanic in the department.
The D.O.M. magazine crew will be at the NBAA Maintenance Conference in Hartford, CT next week (May 2-4). If you will be at the conference, please stop by our booth (805) and say Hi. We welcome the opportunity to talk with you!
If you have never attended an NBAA Maintenance Conference before, I would encourage you to do so. The conference has plenty of educational sessions for aircraft maintenance professionals — from DOMs to mechanics. If you work in the business aviation field, this conference is for you!
FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen addressed attendees of the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) Annual Conference on Thursday March 16. In his keynote, Nolen spoke of the importance aircraft maintenance professionals play in a safe aviation system.
“…as a pilot, I know that the unsung heroes that keep the aircraft in the air, are the people in this very room,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I can say that pilots are only as strong as the maintenance professionals who stand, not behind them, but alongside them.”
The D.O.M. and Helicopter Maintenance magazine team was in Atlanta March 7-9 attending HAI Heli-Expo 2023. It was nice walking the show talking to the exhibitors and learning about all the new products and services available for helicopter maintenance professionals. Thank you to all of you who stopped by our booth to say hi. It was great meeting new people as well as catching up with longtime acquaintances.
Every year, millions of people make New Year's Resolutions. Every year, more than 80 percent of those resolutions fail. That's why I believe it's not a good idea to make New Year's Resolutions in the first place!
Many New Year's Resolutions fail because the resolutions are unrealistic, unattainable or not well-defined.
Do you want to make a New Year's Resolution? How about resolving to start setting SMART goals!
We all need to set goals. Without goals, we wander through our career and personal life aimlessly — letting things happen as they will.
Wikipedia defines self-fulfilling prophecy as: "...a prediction that comes true at least in part as a result of a person's or group of persons' belief or expectation that said prediction would come true. This suggests that people's beliefs influence their actions. The principle behind this phenomenon is that people create consequences regarding people or events, based on previous knowledge of the subject."
I came across a post on LinkedIn by Aircraft Specialties Inc. (ASI) this morning. It said, "LIFE CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD BACKWARDS, BUT IT MUST BE LIVED FORWARDS."
As I read the post I thought, "What simple and relevant words of wisdom!"
We learn from our past. We all make mistakes. We also have successes. If we are able to learn from those mistakes and successes, our future is more successful.
We can also learn from others. We can learn what to do (and what not to do) if we pay attention to others.
D.O.M. magazine is the premier magazine for aviation maintenance management professionals. Its management-focused editorial provides information maintenance managers need and want including business best practices, professional development, regulatory, quality management, legal issues and more. The digital version of D.O.M. magazine is available for free on all devices (iOS, Android, and Amazon Kindle).
Joe Escobar (jescobar@dommagazine.com)
Editorial Director
920-747-0195
Greg Napert (gnapert@dommagazine.com)
Publisher, Sales & Marketing
608-436-3376
Bob Graf (bgraf@dommagazine.com)
Director of Business, Sales & Marketing
608-774-4901