PLANE TALK
HISTORY OF INSPECTION & AUDITING IN AVIATION
BY ROGER BEEBE
CRAFTSMANSHIP In researching this subject it was readily evident how little historical information had been kept concerning the history of this important facet of aviation industry safety. Sandwiched between the exacting work of designing aircraft and the excitement of actually flying aircraft the sphere of the inspection and auditing has not been well recognized or documented. As the first real flyers, the Wright
brothers were bicycle enthusiasts and their early designing and engineering work to develop a flying machine reflected this influence. The framework for their early prototypes was constructed of bicycle piping and silk fabric. Their role as designers and technicians is also reflected in the fact that they made a number of modifications to their flying machines to allow them to fly safely. No one was checking their work, they depended on their own and other craftsman’s skills. The first mechanic to apply his skills to aviation was Charles E. Taylor, an American mechanic, who went to work for the Wright Brothers in June 1901. He was paid $18.00 per week and was a real leader in the field. He helped to build wind tunnels, airplane engines, gliders and entire aircraft. When one of his early
engines failed Taylor completed the first aircraft maintenance task. Despite his early successes he was found near penniless in 1955. The American aviation industry, in recognition of his great contribution to the early roots of aviation, raised funds and installed him in a private senior’s home. When he died on January 30, 1956 at the age of 88 he had no family so he was buried in Folded Wing Mausoleum dedicated to aviators. Today the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a special award named in his honor. The first licensed Air Engineer in Canada was Robert McCombie who received License No. 1 on April 20, 1920. He worked very closely with Roland J. Groome who held Canada’s first Commercial Pilot’s License. Both McCombie and Groome were working in Regina, Saskatchewan at the time.
Those times were the time of craftsmanship. Both these individuals expressed it. It was expected that each mechanic/technician was a skilled craftsman who inspected and thereby certified his own work. This tradition of self inspection carried on until the advent of the First World War. The demands for parts interchangeability and mass manufacturing lead to the first organized inspection systems.
INSPECTION Technicians found jobs as aircraft and component inspectors in the military production systems. Airworthiness Inspection delegates were created, a tradition that carried on over the Second World War. Inspectors had discrete tasks to accomplish; measure parts, inspect for workmanship and so on. The technology in both aircraft manufacturing was changing as was the complexity of the aircraft systems. The effect of the Second World
War on aircraft maintenance safety was felt into the nineteen seventies. When I joined the Ministry of Transport (later renamed Transport Canada) in 1975, we still had maintenance inspectors working there that had been Airworthiness Inspection Division Inspectors during the war at aircraft and component manufacturing facilities. The regulatory system in civil aviation manufacturing and maintenance was very much continued on from the 1940-1945 period. Resident government inspectors at facilities were still commonly employed doing the same sort of job they did in over the last 30 years. Much regulatory compliance was simply accomplished by the fact everyone seemed to know everyone else in the industry and workmanship pride was the watch word. However, a general move was
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DOMmagazine.com | august 2016
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