AIE in Review

The AMT staff is back from the 2010 Aviation Industry Expo (AIE) and what an event this was. For me it was the first time I attended the AIE. A few photos of the event have been posted on the AIE website home page with more coverage soon - so stay tuned. The week began with the Golf Outing and AMTSociety Scholarship Fundraiser on Monday March 15th. There were 105 participants in this event, the weather was great, and most of all a huge thank you goes to Harrah's Entertainment and Peter Zeeb of Harrah's aviation department and AMTSociety board member, for all the support and hard work in coordinating this event. AMTSociety held a host of maintenance training/IA renewal sessions of which 107 aviation maintenance professionals attended. A variety of company representatives gave presentations on technical matters and products. Pennie Thompson, FAA SDRS Program Manager gave a presentation on Service Difficulty Reporting (SRD) and Malfunction and Defect (M & D) reporting and the new internet based process under development for submitting this related information to the FAA. The AMTSociety Maintenance Skills Competition had 25 teams participating. Participants included aviation maintenance professionals from several branches of the United States military, airlines, students from aviation maintenance schools and more. For the very first time there were teams from international aviation maintenance organizations; the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association from Australia, and Lode Technology Company from Beijing, China both provided teams. The Australians were an enthusiastic group and had great fun. The Chinese team said last year their manager attended the AIE, he found the Maintenance Skills Competition to be very interesting so they sent a team this year. Approximately $50,000 worth of prizes was awarded to the winners of this year's competitions and every team won something. It is extremely important to note that most of the prizes were tools and related equipment, and approximately half of the donated prizes came from Snap-on Industrial. Thank your local Snap-on rep next time you have a chance. This alone should be incentive for your company to organize a team and participate in next year's event! Among the people handing out awards and prizes were FAA Carol Gilles and Marie O'Brien, wife of the late Bill O'Brien. I met one young man during the AIE by the name of Thomas Esterley. Thomas is a licensed aircraft mechanic, very interested in learning more about aircraft maintenance, he's looking for an opportunity to work in the industry, and he is also deaf. Through interpreters, he explained to me some of his family members were aviation minded, he had a job for awhile as a material handler with an aviation cargo company, and when able he likes to volunteer helping and learning from friends who work in aircraft maintenance. Thomas also explained to me his network of other deaf aviation technicians and his desire to pursue an aviation career. I saw Thomas attending all of the maintenance training sessions and he was a regular in the audience for the skills competition. Hat's off to you Thomas! The 2011 AIE is scheduled to be held February 23 through the 25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Hope to see you there. Thanks for reading, Ron