D.O.M. Blogs

In my editorial column A Level Playing Field in the June issue of D.O.M. magazine, I told the story of Nick, a repair station owner of an avionics repair station in the Oklahoma City area that felt forced to surrender his repair station because of the hassles his PAI was supposedly giving him. (You can click here to read that editorial if you haven’t already seen it.)

D.O.M. magazine is seeking nominations for its second annual Maintenance Manager of the Year and Above and Beyond awards.

The D.O.M. magazine staff introduced these awards in 2012 because it believed there isn't enough recognition for all the extra effort and professionalism that exists in our industry —in particular, there is not enough recognition for maintenance managers that deal with the day to day challenge of running an aviation maintenance department.

Many aviation management professionals will be in Fort Worth, TX April 30-May 2 attending the National Business Aviation Association Maintenance Management Conference (NBAA MMC). D.O.M. magazine will be exhibiting at the conference, and our publisher Greg Napert and I will both be there.

My wife works at a local school district. Last week, a group of teachers and administrative staff got together for an after-work social event.

I enjoyed spending the time walking around and talkng to different people. As I was talking to one teacher, the subject of the newly-hired school superintendent came up. Out of curiosity, I asked him, "Does someone have to be a teacher to be a superintendant?"

"I'm not sure, but I would guess so," he replied. "How can you lead a school district if you have never been a teacher yourself?

Litigation extortion. That is how I like to characterize the crazy litigious society we live in here in the United States. Some people are all too eager to sue the pants off of companies, raising the price of just about every product we buy as consumers. Those of us in aviation definitely feel the effects of litigation. Talk to just about any aircraft manufacturer or aviation product supplier. Chances are high they have faced lawsuits. It is one thing to file a legitimate lawsuit because of negligence. It is another thing to take advantage of the system to “stick it to the man.”

A Hawker 800XP operator, who was experiencing a squawk on both #1 and #2 HF systems, recently contacted us for support. He was not able to receive transmissions on either system.

NBAA2012 is fast approaching. The staff of D.O.M. magazine is making final preparations for the premier business aviation trade show of the year.

I always enjoy NBAA. It is an opportunity to see what’s new in business aviation products and services and network with the business aviation community. It’s an opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones. It is a big learning opportunity.

We in the aviation maintenance community have the opportunity to let our voices be heard on a regular basis as part of the FAA’s rulemaking process. Now is one of those times. A Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) was published in the Federal Register on May 21, 2012 regarding changes to 14 CFR Parts 43, 91 and 145 rules affecting repair stations . The original deadline for comments was August 20, 2012, but because of the efforts of several industry associations, the deadline has been extended 90 days to November 19.

As I chat with directors of maintenance, I always like to ask what they look for in new employees. Just about every one of them says that having a positive attitude is at the top of the list. Technical knowledge can be taught. But if someone has a bad attitude, they make life hard for the whole team.