What I learnt from that!
Well after an extended absence on the blogging front, here is the latest offering. The title nods to a famous and now out of production in-house publication, mentions in dispatches to the first correct identification of the publication.
Life has been hectic to say the least since the start of this year, I have:
- Taken 22 flights, to such diverse locations as Tirana, Sofia and not forgetting Glasgow;
- Had almost 40 nights in hotels the length and breadth of Europe;
- Driven countless miles and endured many hours on the UK’s rail infrastructure.
So why have I spent such a time generating a carbon footprint to shame any major CEO, business is doing well, from my perspective, people are spending money, grudgingly, but they are looking at their business plans and are making the decision that the time is right for the new aircraft/route/facility/airline or AOC*. (* delete as applicable)
As the saying goes travel broadens the mind, have I learned anything, the answer is a resounding yes! One of the projects is to act as the interim post holder for airworthiness and maintenance for a flag carrier, not one of the majors! This carrier is based in the Balkans, they have an aircraft undergoing scheduled maintenance in another Balkan state; the question was asked of the provider, how much of the check is complete? The answer came back clearly; the check is 85% complete, awaiting the components you had robbed for the fleet. Great, we arranged for the components to be provided, and I pitched-up to arrange for the aircraft’s collection and to host the Regulatory Authority of the Carrier. How mistaken were we!
I arrived at the maintenance facility in the middle of a snow storm, 25 cms fell; to find that there a significant number of, more than 10, NRCs still open and that the maintenance facility is waiting for some advice from the OEM on some corrosion and a crack, on a big bit of aircraft structure, not good. When you calm down, what you see is that they were both right and wrong; they were right in so much as they answered the question “how much of the check is complete?” of the scheduled cards it was indeed 85%, or thereabouts complete. The question should have been, “how much is left to complete, including NRCs?” I am so used to including NRCs when asked to provide an estimate to completion; I made an assumption that everybody else did the same!
Aviation speaks a common language, but we have all learned it in different ways, we all use vocabulary in different ways, some ways that were not envisaged for the words and we use slang. I shall be using, on this project in particular the final statement from a military briefing mnemonic:
- SMEAC – Situation, Mission, Execution, Ask Questions (from the floor) and finally CHECK UNDERSTANDING
Needless to say the aircraft is not departing with me, I am heading home tomorrow, the aircraft sometime so!
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
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