mechanics (former co-workers and friends of ours) to take over from us.
MAY 31ST — ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! At the stroke of 7:00 AM on the morning of May 31st the gun went off. The new operator’s contract started and the old one’s ended. Our resignation letters, that we previously submitted were in effect and we became employees of the new company. Time to change shirts, literally. We were required to change uniforms so the incoming company would know who we were. We operate on a roof-top helipad that can accommodate two aircraft. We also have two roof-top hangars where they can be kept. The exiting company scheduled their pilots to come in to ferry the two aircraft away, but they were late and when they did get there they took considerable time pre-flighting the aircraft and getting out of the way. The incoming aircraft were on their way in staggered by ½ hour. We were supposed to daily them, service them and get the med crews in them and get them on their way to their new bases. Four of us mechanics had never even seen these aircraft before. We had briefly trained on the new company’s paperwork and the online documenting procedures but now, here it was in action. As I mentioned earlier, we were going from two EC135’s to three EC135 and an EC145. I had gone to the EC145 factory school 14 years prior to this but didn’t really have much hands- on experience with it. I was lost. This chaos went on for what seemed like an eternity, then it was done. We were back in operation with different aircraft and all of the suits were gone. A couple of experienced mechan- ics from the new company stayed behind with us for a few days to babysit us until we could walk on our own. Then we were alone. To be fair, we did have a lot of support from headquarters for records, parts and administration but we were really, “Home Alone”. Over the next few weeks we were faced with learning
to navigate the new company’s policies and procedures on our computers, get to know our aircraft and put out fires as they popped up. One of our duties is to provide an on-call mechanic 24/7 that can be contacted, at any time the pilot has an issue. The primary, on-call mechanic will be on call starting Monday morning through the next Monday morning. During the week and during the normal workday, the aircraft are maintained by the assigned base mechanics. The duty mechanic is responsible for after hours and weekends. Shortly after starting the new operations, it was my
turn for duty. I will forever refer to this week as hell week because I was called back in five of the seven nights that I was on duty. I was going crazy because this was a new contract for my new employer and the hospital and minimizing down-time is always a goal.
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I felt like I was under the magnifying glass with my new employer and I had to do a good job to justify my position. One of the AOG’s involved our EC145 (no personal hands on experience) with an engine oil leak (no personal Ariel 2B2 training at all). I came in at 10:00 PM to start troubleshooting the leak. Not unlike most operators, this company needs to be informed when an aircraft is taken out of service so support can begin. I felt like it took me way too long to report the out of service correctly. Everything is done on my company-provided and programed laptop computer. Now, getting into the engine manuals online was no easy feat for me and finding the specific trouble- shooting procedures for oil lines I couldn’t identify was nearly impossible. I was stressing out and not getting anywhere with returning this aircraft to service. The point of this story is that I had this wave of guilt
come over me. There was also panic and frustration but mostly guilt. I have been an aircraft mechanic for almost 50 years. I have been to approximately eight helicopter and engine factory schools and have over 15 years EMS field base mechanic experience. What was my problem? My problem was that I allowed the whole thing to get to me. I questioned my own qualifications and training. I focused on every detail that I didn’t know instead of relying on the experience that I do have. Our new company interviewed and screened each one of us and they determined that we were qualified to maintain their aircraft on the new program. Why did I feel like a poser?
Dedication — the self-sacrificing devotion and
loyalty to a cause, enterprise or activity. Yup, that was it. Like most of you, I take my job seriously. I have
always taken pride in my positions and I have always strived to be the best mechanic that I could be. Because of my years and my experience, I have always had answers for problems as they arose. My confidence hasn’t been tested in quite a while. I felt guilty for: • Not knowing all of the company procedures that I needed to perform prior to working on the aircraft.
• Not wanting to call someone after-hours to ask for help.
• Not knowing the aircraft or engine that I was trying to repair.
• Not knowing the computer and the programs that I needed to reference.
• Taking the aircraft out of service and depriving the program of providing the community with its services.
• Taking a job, from the new operator, that I wasn’t feeling qualified to do.
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