D.O.M. Blogs

I have interviewed many aviation maintenance managers over the years. Just about every one of them would tell you that they developed their leadership skills by observing and learning from others as they climbed their career ladders. They adapted the positive skills from great leaders and learned what not to do from bad leaders.

I don’t tend to watch much late night TV. I’m usually in bed after the weather forecast is finished on our local news. But on a recent business trip, I found myself channel surfing after the local news and stopped when I saw Kevin Spacey being interviewed. I don’t remember which talk show it was, as I was paying close attention to what Spacey was saying. His message was inspiring – "Send the Elevator Back Down!"

...you might want to take your tests sooner rather than later! There have been some significant changes to FAA Order 8900.2A which covers Designated Mechanic Examiners ­(DMEs) and the Performance Test Standards (PTS) they are required to test to. These changes will affect the practical tests of the mechanic exams and are going to take effect October 1st for current DMEs. DMEs who are newly appointed before October 1 will need to meet the new requirement once they receive their designation, even if it is before the October 1 date.

I came across an interesting blog this morning on smartblogs.com by S. Chris Edmonds. The title of his blog is “What Would Your Best Boss Do Today?”
In his blog, Edmonds asks us to think about the best boss we ever had. If that person would come into your workplace and see how you are leading your team, what would he or she think?

Last week, I was in Miami attending the MRO Americas trade show. As part of the show, I witnessed competitors from around the world compete in the Aerospace Maintenance Competition. There were 39 teams competing in 20 different events to see who was the best of the best. Our May issue of D.O.M. magazine will have an article on the highlights of the event including the winners of the different categories.

What do you do if you can’t find a suitable gear bag for your bicycle? If you are an A&P, you design one! That’s what Cody and Justin Greenwell have done. They have launched a Kickstarter project to help fund manufacturing of their bicycle storage solution – the CODEPAK.

Cody, a certified aircraft mechanic, and his brother set out to build a premier bike cargo solution. Their design is a bike pack that is light, durable and easy to open.

This is the busiest time of year for our sales team. They are working with our advertisers and potential advertisers lining up their advertising schedules for 2015. I am not a sales guy. I know that being in sales is tough, and I admire those who are successful doing it. Just like in business publishing, aviation maintenance operations couldn't be successful if it weren't for successful sales professionals.

NBAA's annual convention and exibition is the largest business aviation gathering in the world. I am writing this blog on the evening of the second day of the show. One more day to go!

It has been a productive show for the D.O.M. team. We have had the opportunity to meet with many of our readers and customers while we were at the show. There was a lot of news at the show, and we will be sharing that news in the November/December issue of D.O.M. magazine. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few highlights from the show that were particularly interesting.

I recently attended a NBAA Maintenance Committee meeting in Washington, D.C. During the meeting, I had a chance to talk to some of the committee members about what we can do to help promote professionalism in our industry.

I will be expanding on this topic in my next editorial column in D.O.M. magazine. In the meantime, I would like your feedback on the topic. Here are a couple of things to think about:

1. Is there a need to improve our professionalism in the industry?

2. What can we do to accomplish this?