LOW INTEREST WARNING LIGHT

[DISGRUNTLED LAME]

Tell me all you "STAR" LAMES out there, how do you keep interested in maintaining ****boxes year in year out with out tooling, manuals or spares???

@¿@

[CONES R US]

Being criminaly insane helps, as does beer, drugs and being surrounded by lovely women.
But really, the industry sucks. Engineers (or should I say Technicians) never get the treatment they deserve so it's up to the individual to make the best of his or her bad situation to the best of their ability.
I contract because for me right now, it's the best way I can afford a half-descent lifestyle. It means long hours and being away from home and all that, but overall it's worth it. All the companies I have worked for are very similar in their view of maintenance, so I may as well be paid well for putting up with their demands (and limitations) for now.

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NO FAULT FOUND

[sprocket]

I think half the problem with maintaining aircraft nowadays, particularly in GA,is the age of the fleets. Many of these aircraft are older than the people operating and working on them. The required manuals are hard to come by or no longer updated….
The owners of these a/c need to be aware of higher workload on engineers who have to assess wear limits etc to the absolute max. rather than try to source hard to get spares….

Why are we in this game??……Must be the challenge or the love of pain



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Its a big thing...when you look into it !

[NFF_PRF]

It's for the respect, the good working conditions, the non-hazardous environment, the feeling of being appreciated, the good shift patterns, having all the spares available when you need them and having a management structure that will support you when your backside is against the wall.

Hang on is that my alarm clock I hear ringing.............that was a pleasant dream!

Oh well time to trudge in to work for another few hours of hell.

As a side line, has anybody got a manager that truely knows the meaning of "PLEASE and THANKYOU" and uses them as if they mean it?

[aeroguru]

Yes I have seen this warning light many times and the correct response is to bang in for a very lengthy spell of holiday,relax somewhere you really enjoy being and let it all drift by.It works 'cos'I have just been and done it.That light may blink for a while and then come back because nothing much is improving in maintenance is it?

[Genghis the Engineer]

Trust me, being an Engineer isn't much better in terms of respect, and in many cases pays worse than being a technician.

Admittedly we don't have to get wet and get our hands dirty so much, but frankly I often think that's one of the appeals of the technician job.

A boy once ran away to the circus, his father followed him to the next town, where he found him shovelling elephant dung. The father walked up to him and kindly said "son, come home", the boy looked at him in puzzlement and said "what, and miss out on all this showbusiness". Welcome to the aircraft industry.

G

[This message has been edited by Genghis the Engineer (edited 21 June 2000).]

[Kanga767]

Yes, flogging these 25 year old GA aircraft and expecting them to deliver acceptable reliability is just too much. How many buses and taxis are 25, even 30 years old? but; no; in aviation, you get BACK OUT THERE and FIX that PA32 or that 402B!!!! with this antiquated NAVCOM that has been repaired about 1500 times in the last 30 years and can be expected to perform for about a week or maybe not even at all......

[Blacksheep]

I felt like that for the past few weeks too. Last Thursday I could take no more, booked a long weekend in a nearby beach resort and chilled out (roasted out actually, it was HOT!) for a few days.

I'm back to my cheerful old self again :)

Until the next time of course :)

[rerackit]

In my opinion, there are two types of people working in engineering. Those who got the job because they happen to live near an airport, or those who wanted to get involved in aviation. It helps to be the latter, but having spent ten years in a hangar, i can sympathise with those who are pissed off with the pressures. I will say though, that when i worked in the hangar i noticed that on many weekends people would bring their families and friends in to look at the aircraft. How often do you go to look at other peoples work places? Ultimate boys toys i suppose. Chins up, you know you wouldnt want to do anything else.

[5-CATS @¿@]

Some interesting comments on this topic, In fact I think a break is all DISGRUNTLED LAME really needs.AeroGURU is right,I think after the 20 year mark the enthusiasm wanes somewhat. I'm curious about wages/salaries at the moment, as I have mainly worked in the regional market, A$ 80 K is fairly normal now for an avionics technician in OZ. Whats it like overseas for the regionals?

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