Almost one full year has past since I left Kuwait, embarking on a quest to become an aircraft mechanic. Some said I'd lost my damn mind. Some called me their hero. Most probably wondered if I'd actually do through with it and I count myself in that third group. If you know me at all, you know that I've had a great many "career paths" in my relatively short number of years as an adult. If you've ever asked me what I'm doing, or what I'm doing next, you have probably heard a great many more grand schemes of possible career paths, some of which I have not completely ruled out. I still like the pirate idea. And the tree village resort idea. There's still time... I may get to those yet.
As for the choice to pursue my A & P Mechanic certificate (Airframe and Powerplant mechanic for those not hip to the aeronautical industry lingo), I think this one is actually holding water. I am almost halfway through my classes, I have a summer session and one more school year to go. Plus, my written, oral and practical test for both the A and P ratings. It's safe to say that I'm still a beginner. I have no military experience, no aircraft experience, and no mechanic experience. And yet, I volunteered my name for the PAMA (Professional Aviation Maintenance Association) Olympics: a competition among A & P students, sponsored by Snap-on tools.
I wrote down my name, never thinking I'd be chosen for the 5-person team to represent our school, after all, I'm just a beginner. They picked me. I was flattered of course. So, when the coaches informed us that we would have to perform 12 skills from all aspects of the A & P program, including the subjects I have not covered yet, I wasn't really listening. I was thinking about how cool I was to be selected over the obviously more qualified dudes in my class.
"Do you think they picked you cuz you're a girl?" one of them asked.
"Maybe." I said. "Too bad you're a guy. I have a lot less competition."
Two weeks before the competition, we, the Tarrant County College (TCC) team, gave up all social life and extra sleep to spend 12+ hours a day at the school practicing our skills. Or, in my case, to learn a semester's worth of material in a few days.
The weekend before the competition I came down with a fever that lasted from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night. Monday morning I went to school, took my airframe electricity section test (scored a 96) and then went to the doctor. Bronchitis and pneumonia. "Take it easy," they said as they injected a steroid shot into my backside and gave me a prescription for anti-biotics. "Get some rest."
Yeah, right. I did take a nap though. One. I hate naps. Then back to school.
Last weekend TCC hosted the 2010 PAMA Olympics and your favorite faux-redhead took 4th place. Unofficially. Officially, our team won the 1st place team award and one of the guys from our team, who has recently finished his oral and practical tests for both the A & P, took 1st place as an individual. Unofficially, I scored higher than the other three guys on my team and just barely missed the 3rd place prize of a Snap-on wrench set. The results were not published so to not offend anyone, but I've been told from several reliable sources that the crusty old dude instructors were "blown away." They now know me by name instead of just "the skinny redhead one."
And so, it was all worth it. Next year I go for the gold.
These are the skills we were asked to perform within a time limit of 15 minutes at each station:
- Magneto point setting (a magneto is like the distributor on a car)
- Spark pug end replacement
- Electrical resistor values, wire splicing and wire selection charts
- Weight and balance equations (finding the center of gravity and stuff like that)
- FAR research (Federal Aircraft Regulations. The FAA publishes enough rules to fill an entire library. Now, find the one rule that applies to this specific situation... yeah, no fun.)
- Safety wire (Aircraft bolts are tied together with wire to prevent them from coming loose, and if they do come loose, to prevent them from flying off and into the engine or propeller.)
- Rigid tube manufacture (Look as this schematic and bend your tubes to match with the proper hardware fittings.)
- Hardware identification (Part numbers, not just general categories)
- Hydraulic hose manufacture (measure, cut, and install fittings according to a drawing)
- Borescope an engine and report any damage found
- Torque procedures (torque hardware according to size and material)
- Rivet installation (aircraft exteriors are held together with rivets, like nails for a house)
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