Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Amid all the bad news, an item of Airline Humor from Mechanics

The whole local scene is pretty dismal with the city needing a new police chief, and a new mayor if you think about his actions of heading for vacations in Africa and then Iceland after a few days in the city, then off to Las Vegas. You might remember how the Mayor returned after a huge deployment of LAPD officers at likewise huge expense to the city (= taxpayers) and angrily contradicted the messages sent out by his subordinates after the Michael Jackson memorial event at Staples Center, taking the side of AEG for not seeking any reimbursement to the city.

The Mayor was around for a bit to blast the firefighter's union because of a mailer sent out to tell residents of reduced services as a result of the city's handling of the budget, while the hiring of more police to reach 10,000 officers is still being pursued. He didn't like the mailing, but then he's out of town so often that contract talks just can't happen until he's around, leaving the mess to just continue a little bit longer, getting the city deeper and deeper into a hole.

Had Chief Bratton stayed on, it might have been uncomfortable for him as a political ally of the Mayor, to tell his officers that they were going to be facing reductions as the budget realities bring that result closer and closer. And that scenario has to be something that Bratton did not want to deal with.

But the item to see now is KFI 640-am radio reporter Steve Gregory's blog entry http://kfiam640.com/pages/stevengregory.html
"Makes you wonder...... " Sunday, 08-16-2009, 5:40pm PT, that gives you a look at how a situation in the airline industry is handled. As he points out, having a college degree is expected to fly an airliner, but only a high school diploma is needed to fix one.
(Reproduced below in case the blog entry linked happens to change.)

From Steve's blog:

Sent to me by a friend who flew with me on the inaugural LA flight of the Qantas
Airbus A380 double-decker jet...

After every flight, Quantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way, Quantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

Remember it takes a college degree to fly an airliner but only a high school diploma to fix one. Reassurance for those of us who fly routinely in our jobs.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget



A couple of things to take from this: College isn't for everyone and people with degrees aren't automatically smarter than others.

Technical/vocational jobs are nearly all pushed to the side in favor of a conventional College track in LAUSD, and in many other districts. Some of the dropout problem could be attributed to the absence of providing things that are important to learn, and that address more areas for student learning to engage them in the educational process instead of further alienating them.
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After all, isn't the idea of high school to prepare the students for being successful in life? And this doesn't always seem to be what they are doing in schools. The one-size-fits-all "college track" does a disservice to many students who could benefit from some meaningful choices.