AMTSociety Mx Logs Update

March 9, 2009

State of AMTSociety Address
The new year is upon us. I sincerely hope you have completed the 180 question exam from the January/February issue.

AMTSociety has been involved with the FAA FAR 147 RAC as an industry representative. The works of the committee have been forwarded to the Excom and FAA Legal for their review.

I also represented the AMTSociety at the Aviation Technical Education Committee (ATEC) at the meeting held in Mesa, AZ, and the National Center for Aerospace and Transportation (NCATT) meeting which was conducted at the DWF Airport.

We are continuing the revision work on AMTSociety student chapter and corporate chapter bylaws. And as I previously stated, recommendations will be sent upon completion to the entire board of directors for approval and disseminated accordingly.

We do have a new student chapter: North Central Institute located at 168 Jack Miller Blvd., Clarksville, TN. Dr. John McCurdy was very instrumental in this process.

Our second annual golf outing is progressing well. Awards and many nice prizes await the winners after the banquet. Please get your reservation in as soon as posssible and support this very worthy cause of our AMTScholarship program.

The second annual Maintenance Skills Competition is at 20 teams right now. Teams include general aviation, FAA Part 147 aviation schools, airlines, and for the first time ever, the U.S. military. If it is at all possible, please come and watch all of these craftsmen and cheer them on.

Something new this year has been developed in honor of Bill O’Brien. The William F. “Bill” O’Brien Maintenance Skills Competition Award has been developed with assistance and support from AMT and Bill’s family. It will be awarded by Marie O’Brien to the Maintenance Skills Competition team that completes all events with the lowest amount of time. This plaque will be ongoing with the winner being added each year.

In closing, I would like to mention all of the vendors who will be waiting for you March 10 to 12, and will welcome your attendance and questions.

Next month I will comment on the FAA/industry AMT program and the alliance with the FAASTeam. Stay safe.
— Tom Hendershot

IA Renewal Roadshow series
The AMTSociety IA Renewal consortium program had an excellent response from the holders of IAs in Houston on Wednesday, Jan. 14. Thank you to all who participated, and we are looking forward to next year.

There are two cities remaining for the year:

  • March 10-11, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Convention Center, held in conjunction with the Aviation Industry Exposition
  • March 18, Denver, The Summit Conference and Event Center

Register today for a great program; space is limited.

AMTSociety Golf Tournament
The Second Annual Scholarship Fundraising Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, March 9, at the prestigious Rio Secco Golf Club. It is one of the top three courses in the Las Vegas area. Haggan Aviation is once again the official sponsor of the tournament. If you would like additional information or to register, visit www.AMTSociety.org. You can also contact
Cindy Sewick at Haggan Aviation at (303) 792-0688, Ext. 33 or visit www. hagganaviation.com.

Board of Directors: Robert Drake
Robert Drake is the Director of Education for Crimson Technical College in Inglewood, CA. Crimson, formerly Redstone College, is the leading school for FAA-certified Airframe & Powerplant mechanics in the state of California. Crimson’s history dates back to the 1930’s “California Flyers” before becoming the legendary Northrop Aeronautical Institute for many decades. In 1999, Northrop-Rice Aviation became Westwood College of Aviation Technology. In March of 2006 ALTA Colleges changed the name of the school to Redstone College to reflect the different programs from its Westwood College offerings.

August 2008 brought big changes to the campus. Redstone Los Angeles was sold to Crimson Aero. Corp. with the goal of returning the Inglewood campus to the legendary status it had held for decades.

Drake joined Redstone College in January 2006 and has been actively involved in the Aviation Technician Education Council and AMTSociety. During the past year he served on the Industry Relations Committee for ATEC and brought a school-sponsored team to AMTSociety Maintenance Skills Competition in Dallas. He serves as secretary for AMTSociety.

Prior to joining Redstone, Drake spent 18 years with Alaska Airlines. Starting as a base maintenance technician, he was Full RII Rated for the MD-80, 737-200, 737-400, and 737-NG. As a lead aircraft mechanic, Drake had Run and Taxi Ratings on all aircraft as well as Airworthiness Release privileges. His last five years were spent as a line maintenance supervisor at the Los Angeles station. Before joining Alaska Airlines, Robert spent two years as a bench technician for AiResearch.

Robert’s father, Riley Drake, was a graduate and an instructor at Northrop during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He served on the advisory board for Northrop for many years while employed with Garrett AiResearch as manager of field service training.

Robert’s son Jacob is now a student at Crimson and will be a third generation A&P mechanic.

Robert has four boys — Jacob, Nicholas, Matthew, and Riley. He and his wife Lisa have been married for 20 years and live in Lomita, CA.

Corporate Sponsor: Safety-Net Inc.
After working as hazardous materials professionals for 20 years with local and state governments, in 1998 Dennis and Teresa Durham created a small consulting firm to assist industry with regulatory compliance pertaining to OSHA, DOT, EPA, and the FAA. By the year 2000, the North Carolina-based company began to provide services to companies nationwide and soon thereafter built a selective, referral-only client base to include international corporations. Today Safety-Net Inc. has focused resources toward providing tailored training programs to assist companies with hazardous materials/dangerous goods shipping requirements, as it applies to shipping and receiving, maintenance personnel, ground crews, and flight crews.