State of AMTSociety Address
Currently the board of directors is busy working with representatives from Australia, Canada, China, and Finland to give them the information they need to become entrants in the Maintenance Skills Competition at Aviation Industry Expo. This will also help our international membership status.
There will be 11 cities on the docket for AMTSociety’s IA renewal training schedule before the March 31, 2010, deadline. We’ll be returning to cities we’ve trained in for the past two years, plus we’ve added new cities. Check out the schedule and plan to attend a program near you.
AMTSociety’s involvement in organizations which help improve industry training, safety issues, human factors, self-improvement, etc., is continuing in every way possible by membership and interaction with the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC); National Center for Aerospace and Transportation Technologies (NCATT); Joint Services Aviation Maintenance Technician Certification Council; National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) Maintenance Management Committee; and many more. All of these organizations are in the process of advising the FAA on the issues that affect our everyday work. The intent is to make our environment in regards to training, safety, work habits, human factors, and self-improvement the best it can be to improve industry standards.
As I am writing this to you, the FAA is a signature away from issuing Advisory Circular 65-25E Aviation Maintenance Technician Awards Program which will have some new procedures in regards to how you train and record-keeping procedures. Look for further details after it has been issued.
Stay safe.
— Tom Hendershot
2009-10 AMTSociety IA Renewals
Sept. 12, 2009, Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Oct. 14, 2009, Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)
Oct. 28, 2009, Mahwah, NJ
Nov. 11, 2009, Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
Dec. 9, 2009, Seattle, WA (SEA)
Jan. 13, 2010, Houston, TX (HOU)
Jan. 27, 2010, Atlanta, GA (ATL)
Feb. 10, 2010, Phoenix, AZ (PHX)
Feb. 24, 2010, Kansas City, MO (MCI)
March 16-17, 2010, Las Vegas, NV (LAS) Aviation Industry Exposition
March 24, 2010, Denver, CO (DEN)
Corporate sponsor: Alberth Aviation
Alberth Airparts and Alberth Aviation, located in the Houston area, are innovators in the corporate jet aircraft support market. Alberth Airparts originally began in 1995 as a one-person operation. By 2004, Alberth Aviation followed and expanded into the ground support equipment and specialty tooling business.
Alberth Airparts owns both rotable and consumable parts supporting a wide variety of corporate class jet aircraft. It also buys excess and surplus inventory and offers consignment options. Its central Texas location and 24/7 AOG service allows for last-minute overnight delivery nationwide.
Alberth Aviation’s company motto is: “We only make it if we can improve existing designs and make it for less money.” The company prides itself on working with mechanics to solve problems that occur in the hangar.
Its product line includes lavatory service carts, bottled water carts, wheel/brake dollies, custom carts for specific customer needs, jack adapters, spanner sockets, fairing removal tools, and backlash tools for Falcon Jets. The company has performed extensive research on its Aviation Tire Inflation Cage. It has videos to show how dangerous servicing aviation tires can be without the proper safety equipment.
Rudy Alberth founded the original company and manages the sales and prototyping of new products. Lou Kahanek joined the company in 2005 and manages operations, production, and administrative functions. For more information visit www.alberthaviation.com.
Corporate sponsor: Dayton-Granger
Established more than 65 years ago in Dayton, OH, Dayton-Granger (DG) is a manufacturer of antennas, electrostatics, and lightning protection equipment for aircraft and other applications.
In the early days of WWII, aircraft navigation and communication systems were, at times, unreliable in some weather environments. Responding to this, DG developed and patented a way to significantly reduce precipitation static noise on aircraft. Thus, the invention of the first static discharger, a new concept in precipitation static noise reduction, came to be.
Further R&D led to the creation of a new generation of static dischargers that have evolved into the technology that is used today. This experience in the electrostatic environment led to the development of the DG Electrostatic Diagnostic Test Set, a device used to isolate environmentally produced RF noise on aircraft.
DG is located in a 105,000-square-foot facility on 8 acres adjacent to the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. This facility, which contains manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, and shipping, also includes three outdoor antenna test ranges, two anechoic chambers, and is capable of supporting full-scale mockup testing of rotary and fixed wing aircraft sections.
For more information visit www.daytongranger.com.
Board of Directors: Kenneth MacTiernan
Ken graduated from high school with intentions of becoming a pilot. However, due to the strict vision requirements of the USAF, he decided, “If I can’t fly airplanes I will be a mechanic on them.” He enlisted in the USAF and worked as a mechanic on B-52 aircraft stationed at Castle AFB in Merced, CA, from 1981 through 1985 when he received an honorable discharge as an E-4. While Ken was in the USAF he attended junior college and also studied for and received his Airframe and Powerplant certificate.
Ken has worked for American Airlines for 23 years, working in LGA, SAN, and DFW. He was a crew chief for two years while in SAN. Ken is currently working on the night shift on the wide body out of service crew in DFW. He is qualified on the B727, B737, B757, B767, B777, DC-10, and MD-80 series aircraft.
Encouragement from William F. “Bill” O’Brien and Tom Hendershot gave Ken all he needed to enroll in the aviation program at the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell (ENMU-R), where he will graduate later this year with his associate degree. In addition, he also added Inspection Authorization to his credentials.
Ken is the founder and director of the Aviation Maintenance Technicians Association (AMTA), which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about who Charles E. Taylor was and the men and women who have followed in Charlie’s footsteps. To help achieve this goal Ken has been very instrumental in having bronze busts of Charles E. Taylor donated to different facilities around the country. These facilities include the San Diego Aerospace Museum; Wright State University-Dayton, OH; and American Airlines overhaul bases in MCI, AFU, and TUL.
Ken is the chairman of AMTSociety’s Maintenance Skills Competition, which is held annually at the Aviation Industry Expo in Las Vegas. He also serves as chairman for AMTSociety Scholarship Awards Committee.
Ken and his wife Maribell reside in Flower Mound, TX, with daughter Danielle and son Alexandre, plus two dogs and a bird, while daughter Eileen works and attends school in San Diego.
