FUTURE FACES By Aaron Karp


Alex Atukwatse, Helicopter Mechanic,


Uganda Police Air Wing Curiosity about “cars moving through the air” leads to a career in helicopter maintenance.


SEE


a Uganda Police Air Wing


AW109 land W


HEN ALEX ATUKWATSE WAS A SMALL boy grazing cattle on his family’s farm in the Sheema District of Western Uganda,


he looked up at the sky and was amazed. Atukwatse recalls: “I was wondering, How are cars moving through the air?” That question was the beginning of an insatiable curi-


osity about flight and a love affair with aviation that set Atukwatse on a career path leading first to the East African Civil Aviation Academy in Soroti, Uganda, then to Europe for advanced training, and finally to the Uganda Police Air Wing, where he works as a helicopter mechanic. To gain his current position, Atukwatse had to over- come the high cost of training and he had to travel to


Lithuania and Poland for postgraduate experience. He expresses gratitude for government financing that sup- ported his training and for the instructors at the East African Civil Aviation Academy. “Those instructors are my heroes. I arrived when I


was young and didn’t know anything about working in aviation,” he says. “They really gave us a good back- ground in aircraft systems.”


Finding Joy in Work Atukwatse says he never takes a day of work for granted. “Every time I enter our hangar, it’s a source of joy because I know how much work it takes to get a heli- copter into the air,” he explains. “Our maintenance work


50 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022


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