PLANE TALK
The advent of avionics did not end the role of the classically-trained (aeroengines and airframes) AMEs. They were the senior people and remained so for years.
expanded across Canada and tech colleges can now be found in all parts of the country. The schools or Colleges as they are known today did not have avionics courses as the term was not used. Like the military they used terms like, electrics, instruments, RADAR and communications describe the technical teaching subject areas. The technology in both aircraft
manufacturing and maintenance was changing in step with the complexity of the aircraft systems. This all set the stage for the introduction of turbine power into the post war civilian world. That fact, together with the electronic revolution caused by the war, brought major changes to all later AMEs, including the licensing and oversight system itself. Eventually this led to the Avionics category in the current AME system.
TIMES ARE CHANGING IN
AIRCRAFT ELECTRONICS The 1950s was a time of great change for many AMEs and technicians. The training and experience many of the senior AMEs had was no longer so effective in maintaining the new jet aircraft. Nothing changed in a hurry, because many piston engine aircraft soldiered on for many years. In fact, there are still large piston engine aircraft in service today. The new design, manufacturing and operations emphasis was on the complex turbine powered aircraft, namely pure jets and turboprops. These types of aircraft required new means of control which led to a major use of electronics — a fact which continues today. One of
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the issues airline management had to face was that an electronics education requires a good foundation in science and mathematics, which some of the older AMEs did not have. I lived this experience in both RCAF and later in civilian airlines. The requirement for more formal education in science, mathematics and electronics led to the creation of a new trade — avionics. The creation of the avionics trade led to many interesting and fractious debates in the 1970s and 1980s, until Justice Dubin addressed the matter of licensing Avionics Technicians in his famous report on aviation safety. This issue will be dealt with in the section on AME’s and Transport Canada. The advent of avionics did not end the role of the classically- trained (aeroengines and airframes) AMEs. They were the senior people and remained so for years. Their experience in managing and leading technicians served them and the industry well for many more years, however the workload dramatically shifted, so we went from crews heavy on engine fitters and riggers, to crews that included many more avionics technicians. The radio and navigation component shops continued to be staffed by people who had narrower but more in depth training in such fields as instruments, electrical equipment, etc. This continues today. So, as the composition of the
crews changed, so did the work. On the flight line, more systems troubleshooting was being accomplished by the avionics technicians. The work and training
line between job functions blurred. One major negative on legacy AMEs, aeroengines and airframes, was that the major airlines management did not train them or offer training on the new electronically controlled systems. That moved the system troubleshooting, installation and repair over to the new avionics specialty. This caused aircraft work certification problems in that there was no avionics AME Licence. This had to be addressed in later years — a task in which I played a major role. The nineteen sixties really brought to the forefront the issue of how aviation maintenance work in the airlines would be organized and conducted. The steady advances in the use of electronics to solve mechanical engineering problems continued at a fast pace. Developments in transistor technology and miniaturization of circuitry added to the speed of integrating electronics into aircraft systems. Since many of the older AMEs did not have the necessary mathematical or basic electronics training, something had to happen, as companies really weren’t that interested in re-educating their older workers. What happened was the advancement of the classical instrument, electrical and control systems trades into the new trade called avionics. Regulatory bodies had used specialist licences for radio, instruments and such back in the 1920’s but that approach had faded away in Canada by the 1950’s. To cope, the Department of Transport (later Transport Canada) had
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