The level of skills and experience at the outfit I work for has declined enough for the company to create Maintenance Representative positions, whose job is to watch the fleet for repetitive problems and give the mechanics troubleshooting guidance. Apparently our current workforce of mechanics/parts changers is lacking in the ability to research the history and nature of their discrepancies and need someone to point out that after four or five part changes the problem may need another approach to being fixed. Personally, I find it demeaning that someone behind a desk is telling me to take a meter and check for the obvious, or to change a hard to access component, but on a plus side, if you want to screw the pooch all night, no one can get on your case if you follow the Representative’s wish list of troubleshooting tasks. I guess we have lost enough of the mechanics who could troubleshoot and repair items on their own initiative and management has noticed. I just think it is a bad sign of the times when someone has to tell a mechanic how to fix an airplane. Isn’t that supposed to be a mechanic’s job? Isn’t one supposed to be proficient in one’s profession? Has anyone else noticed how many aircraft mechanics cannot repair their own cars anymore?
P.S. I am not a pleasant person to work around if one is unencumbered by the thought process. I can recognize the difference between ignorance and inability. I can do something about ignorance.