Above:
39
years of fun behind a wrench and an oil leak. Hit the image for a
bio.
Stated intent of this page
HOW DOES YOUR COMPANY
DEAL WITH EXPENSIVE MISTAKES MADE BY YOUR
TECHNICIANS?
Boeing Commercial Airplanes took a huge forward leap in this
area.
More later.
PUSHING
THE ENVELOPE TOWARD PERFECTION
It was in March, 1979. My supervisor gave me the terrifying news. A
family of four was killed in
an airplane
I had just put back together the day before. It's every aircraft
technician's nightmare, and it happened to me.
Piper
Cherokee 180 of the type I performed a 100 hour inspection and
oil
change on prior to the family perishing in it the next day
I walked through
the hangar door. My supervisor found me and said "Bob, you know
that plane you
inspected and serviced Saturday?"
"Yea", I said
with an instantaneous sinking feeling in my stomach.
He continued, "A
guy, his wife and two small children were killed in it after leaving
here on Sunday".
I was
speechless. He studied my reaction. I didn't even know what
to think, let alone what to
do. I remembered making a big mistake during the job, but I
didn't think it had damaged the aircraft's engine. It was all I
could think
about for the next few days. Any small mistake can result in
expensive machinery breaking or people being killed. Nothing less
than perfection can be allowed. What in the world was I
thinking when I chose
this profession?
Any technician
hearing the news that his repair went bad knows the feeling. It
doesn't matter if it is like this case, or if it's a Cummins QSB in a
hay bailing machine. You
might as well swing a baseball bat at my rib cage. Just run that
sword right through me.
People who are
not professional technicians
probably don't fully understand the effect news of this type can have
on a tech, even
if it wasn't a quadruple fatal aviation accident. An engine
failing in a commercial fishing vessel right after a tech was into it
is no different than a tech sending an airplane spiralling down and
ending up as a smoking hole in the ground.
Commercial fishing boats in the
Pacific Northwest go out in dangerous seas, and if the engine fails at
the wrong time, like in the mouth of the harbor entrance with 10 to 12
foot breaking swells nearby, there's a good chance that some of the
crew will either die in the water or be killed as they are getting
slammed into a rock jetty.
A bad
result is the complete antithesis of what your purpose in life is.
On that
quadruple fatal aircraft accident I did something wrong during the
service visit. It haunted me for days.
A whole family perished probably because of my mistake.
Unimaginable.
Our hangar was next
door to the district F.A.A. office. I expected a visit from
them. They have law enforcement powers. They could arrest
me. My
supervisor told me they would be over to talk to me. More on this
one
later.
No
technician wants this to happen on the machine's first trip out from
his
disassembly and reassembly.
It
happened to me in 1979. This is a nightmare scenario.
THE PROFESSIONAL
TECHNICIAN'S IMPERATIVE
When it comes to
the world of mistakes, professional technicians come closest to mistake
free job performance for obvious reasons. No other option
exists. The consequences of
forgetting just one task in a complex assembly procedure involving
hundreds of separate parts are beyond unacceptable. The
professional technician will not survive very many omissions of
required tasks before having to change employers or professions.
In the case above, it could mean a prison sentence.
Every job must be a masterpiece of perfection. No gray
area here folks. It's either right or it's wrong. Every
tech who takes
pride in a job well performed has the intent of doing just that.
It's that simple. Period.
AVOIDING DISFUNCTIONAL PERFECTIONISM
Striving for perfection can be a noble goal. But
perfectionism can be a disfunctional trait too. Human behavior
specialists know this. It can result in severe performance liabilities
and degradation. In the worst cases, it can lead to excessive
compulsions that debilitate.
There has to be balance and discipline. In the end,
the job still has to end perfectly. Any lesser goal is
unaccepable. It's an unfortunate dichotomy that the tech has to
balance and be aware of; you must progress as quickly as
possible, but you must do so perfectly. The goal must be highest
so that you can "fail in style".
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