D.O.M. Blogs

20 Miles

The D.O.M. team is in San Antonio for the NBAA Maintenance Conference (NBAA MC). If you are at the show, stop by booth 421 and say hi.

I always enjoy the NBAA MC. It's great catching up with all the maintenance managers I've met over the years and meeting new maintenance management professionals as well. The sessions are always educational — you never know what you will learn.

Effective Communication

Effective communication is important in the workplace. It is especially important for those who have moved from being a mechanic to a supervisor or DOM. 

I wanted to share some tips on better communication in this blog. I started by searching for “effective communication tips” on Google. One of the top results of the search was an article “Effective Communication: 6 Ways to Improve Communication Skills” on MasterClass.com.

5.5 Million Rivets!

Our upcoming April issue of D.O.M. magazine features an article by John Pawlicki that discusses airships and blimps and how they may play a bigger role in transportation in the near future.

Reading John’s article reminded me of my visit to the Zeppelin museum 15 years ago when I was attending AERO Friedrichshafen. I enjoy visiting aviation museums. The Zeppelin museum stands out as one of my favorites.

Boeing 737 MAX

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.

Lessons From the Mater Man

In a recent blog from Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership website, Bock tells the story of "Mater Man." It's the story of a farmer who sells tomatoes and other produce at a farmers market.

Mater Man is a successful businessman. Mater Man's key to success is following his four rules. I believe we could be better leaders and make our companies more successful if we pay attention to Mater Man's rules. They are:

What a Screwy Concept!

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.

Advance Your Career

There are many things you can do to advance your career. Getting a degree is one thing that can give you a leg up in career advancement.

If you have already have a bachelor’s degree, you may want to consider obtaining a master’s degree. One option that makes it easier for aviation maintenance professionals to get their master’s degree is Purdue University’s online master’s program from its School of Aviation and Transportation Technology.

The 5G Drama Continues

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. 

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. 

Be Here Now

"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.

The Pareto Principle

Have you heard of the Pareto Principle? In a nutshell, The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the “vital few”). Other names for this principle are the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few or the principle of factor sparsity.

Troubleshooting Skills

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.”

Thank You Veterans!

“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory.” — President Woodrow Wilson, 1919, in proclaiming Armistice Day (which would later become Veterans Day) on the anniversary of the end of World War I.

On November 11, we celebrate Veterans Day here in the U.S. We'd like to thank all of our veterans who have served our country!

NBAA BACE

I'm in Las Vegas attending NBAA BACE 2021. Today is Wednesday, October 13, and we're getting ready for the second day of the show.

The S.W.E.A.T Pledge

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:

Don't Be a Phubber

I just learned a new word — phubbing. It's a combination of the words "phone" and "snubbing." I learned of the word while reading an article from the University of Georgia that came in my daily news brief. You can read the article HERE.

Pages

About D.O.M. Magazine

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).

Privacy Policy  |  Cookie Policy  |  GDPR Policy

More Info

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