Readers of my last article probably noticed that I posted the question
"When was the last time that airplane was in the garage?" Recently I
was standing in the waiting area of the Halifax International Airport,
in Nova Scotia, Canada. I was leaning against the huge terminal windows
watching a maintenance crew towing a A320 Airbus to the "gate". As
the morning sun reflected off the sleek fuselage, I always think about
the enormous power in those turbo-fan engines.



A lady and her son were standing next to me and the boy asked where
they were bringing that airplane from. His Mother said they were
probably bring it back from the "garage". "Mom!" her son shot back
quickly.."It's a Hangar...duhhh!" She grinned and sipped her coffee.

Man..if I talked to my Mother like that, in public or not, I would be in
for a world of hurt especially when Dad found out about my disrespect.
This would probably shock a lot of parents today but when I grew
up, you didn't talk-back or disrespect parents, teachers, clergy, or
adults in general. The"strap" still hung on the principals wall when
I went to school.

Anyway, back to Airport...The crew unhooking the aircraft and doing
their final checks before heading back to the hangar, probably punched
a 12 hour night shift performing maintenance on that aircraft.

In Canada, Transport Canada has strict guidelines concerning maintenance
of Commercial Aircraft and if you have a look at the website you can get
an insight as to the "scheduled" maintenance our company Aircraft, as
well as, Airline companies across Canada adhere to.

"Time" is what decides what and when an Airplane is brought into the
hangar for maintenance. The aircraft as a whole is controlled by "cycles"
and "landings". This is basically every time an Aircraft leaves the Terminal
gate and docks at it's destination's gate. Every aspect of the plane is
controlled by time and when a part needs to be changed because the
"time" is up, the plane either comes to the hangar or a crew is dispatched
to change it at the airport the aircraft is at.

When a aircraft is brought in the hangar, my crew and I get to work and
we are under time restraint. The airplane has to be on the gate for the
scheduled departure time and all work has to be completed and double
checked by me before I "sign-out" the release to confirm the airplane
is "airworthy".



This is where my license and reputation is on the line. I am responsible
for the airplane once I sign the maintenance release form for all the work
that is done and that all systems are operational.

What kind of work do we do on an aircraft in 12 hours? I'll give you some
insight on the life of an Aircraft Mechanic in my next article.


What's going on here...you're probably thinking that this blog was supposed
to be about Home Business and Blogging. I thought I would let you know
a bit about who I am and what makes me tick. I like to alternate between
subjects but I am debating whether to start a blog devoted solely to Aircraft
Maintenance.