COVER STORY
AEROSPACE MAINTENANCE COMPETITION
BY JOE ESCOBAR
THE COMPETITORS ARE STANDING BY AT THEIR SCHEDULED EVENTS. THESE AVIATION MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONALS HAVE SPENT MANY HOURS PREPARING FOR THIS MOMENT. THEY LOOK AROUND THE ROOM AT ALL THE OTHER COMPETITORS GETTING READY TO START THEIR OWN EVENTS. IN THE STANDS, A LARGE CROWD HAS GATHERED – SOME ARE FELLOW COMPETITORS WAITING THEIR TURN, OTHERS ARE JUST THERE TO SEE FIRST-HAND WHAT THE BUZZ IS ALL ABOUT. A LOUD AIR HORN SOUNDS, SIGNALING THE START OF THE COMPETITION. THE AUDIENCE CHEERS AS THE TEAMS START THEIR TIMED EVENTS. THIS IS THE AEROSPACE MAINTENANCE COMPETITION!
ABOUT THE COMPETITION The Honorable John Goglia and Ken MacTiernan put together the Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC) each year. Goglia is a former airline mechanic and the ONLY mechanic to have served as a board member on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). MacTiernan is an A&P/IA, airline mechanic and the director of the Aircraft Maintenance Technicians Association (AMTA). AMC is a venue where teams compete against each other in various events to test their skills. The teams can consist of certificated aircraft maintenance technicians, aircraft maintenance engineers and students enrolled in either FAA, EASA, CASA or equivalently authorized schools as well as personnel of any country’s Armed Forces that are involved in the aircraft maintenance and spacecraft maintenance field. Un-certificated aircraft technicians and aircraft engineers employed with a MRO/ OEM company are also eligible to compete. The AMC is where skilled aviation maintenance professionals test their abilities and skills against those
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of their peers. It is a venue that highlights the knowledge, skill and integrity that form the foundation of aviation maintenance. The AMC consist of a combination of technical- and knowledge-based events. Each team is given different events to complete at each stage of the competition. Team members compete at their assigned event as each team deems appropriate to best utilize the team members’ strengths and abilities. Teams have 15 minutes to complete each event. At the end of the 15 minutes, the competitors are instructed to stop if they have not finished. If a competitor completes their event before the 15 minutes are up, he or she may go and assist fellow team members who are still engaged in their respective event. Teams try to complete each event in the shortest amount of time without errors (time penalties are added for errors). The team in each competition category with the lowest combined event time wins that category. The team with the lowest overall combined event time wins the championship trophy – the William F. “Bill” O’Brien Award For Excellence.
Competition categories are: • Commercial Aviation • General Aviation • Military • MRO/OEM • School • Space
2015 AMC WINNERS:
Space Category: 1st Place: Virgin Galactic
General Aviation Category: 1st Place: Flight Options
School Category: 1st Place: Salt Lake Community College Team Yellow
2nd Place: Indian Hills Community College
3rd Place: Utah State
Commercial Aviation Category: 1st Place: Southwest Airlines
2nd Place: Air China 3rd Place: Alaska Airlines
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