Like old times

Did a shift swap with "B" for tonight's night shift. "B" had a wedding to attend so would be rude to say no really. But man did he ever know how to pick a day to swap. Moment I got in I noted my name was heading the board for a A330 engine change!!! Ummmm, so that means I am in charge... Now I've done many many engine changes on many aircraft in the past. But then again since all the good'ol boys left and I was relegated to taking out trash and sweeping floors, I really haven't done anything close to that level for almost a year. Not to mention previously I was never incharge, just, in management speak, empowered. So its a lil different knowing now the responsibility rests squarely on your shoulders.

TBH, it was nice. A lil scary but nice. I mean it wasn't something I had never done b4. So from a technical stand point it was reasonably familiar territory. Had 1 snag where I asked a guy to pull some circuit breakers and explicitly told him to do it in the order written in the manual. And I even asked him again once he had done it if he did it in the order stated. He answered yes. But of cause he didn't. And thanks to that 2 other poor fellows were drenched in jet fuel as most of the fuel tank emptied itself when we disconnected the fuel line. Had that idiot just done as I instructed him very little drama would have occurred. Now I am not the sort of person to breathe down the necks while some one does a job. If I ask you to do something and you say yes. I am going to believe you. Because if I don't, I wouldn't even have bothered to ask you in the first place. I might as well do it myself if I'm gonna keep second guessing you. There were times during the engine change I had to reel myself in. I still had the military mentality in me. If I am still going, then I don't expect you to stop either. Had to remember this was civi street and not everyone can work intensely for 12hours without a 5 minute break or a drink.This was my only real problem. Organising who went on breaks and when.

At the end of the engine change, I was scratched, bruised, aching, sweaty, hungry, tired, covered in dirt, but loving it. Doing that engine change reminded me again that I don't hate my job. Quite the opposite. I love it, every knuckle scraping, back breaking, hydraulic drenched moment of it. I simply hate the company I work for. It was an even bigger honour for 1 of the mechanics to approach me after the job was done to tell me he had actually enjoyed that nights work. As he never felt pressured that someone was constantly breathing down his neck to get the job done. That he has never had a more enjoyable engine change, ever! Made my day as this is what I was aiming for if I ever made it to a certifying engineer. Running a happy, easy going work force, which produced top notch results.

On a side issue, since we still have not been paid our 8 mths back pay, "B", "J" and myself had started a picket line. Stating we would not certify any aircraft till we were paid properly. So all the work on the engine change had to be signed by the supervisor who spent the whole evening in his office. I just popped in at the end of the shift and lumped the paper work on his desk, then handed over to the next shift and off home. LOL.