In the past month I attended the 2009 NBAA Maintenance Managers Conference in New Orleans and MRO in Dallas. The Maintenance Managers Conference was a great weeklong event with many interesting maintenance seminars and speakers from different aviation maintenance realms. Leadership remains key to the continued success of our industry and the overall theme of this year’s conference was “wrenches to laptops.” This is an area we have seen grow exponentially over the past few years as more and more computers have made their way into hangars and on top of toolboxes.
One thought that was very common on the minds of our maintenance leaders was the importance of staying positive. Everyone has had to face some new challenges this year and it seems that those who are pulling ahead have kept their heads up and found a way to put a positive spin on their approaches. Everyday workplace pressures can be quite overwhelming, especially when our peers may not have the “sun is shining” view. Help them overcome the negative aspects with a helping hand and remember, we all have had a bad day or two before it gets better.
Another hot topic over the week of seminars was safety — not just being “safe,” but following procedures and directions to prevent incidents. Human nature seems to guide us to take the easy route or skip a step; in our business the easy route could lead down the path of an aircraft failure. I understand that all parts or component failures cannot be avoided, but we can do our best to make sure all directions are followed upon installation or inspection.
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Until next time we’ll see you online: forums.AMTonline.com.
Thanks for reading!
Jon Jezo
