4th Annual NW Regional AMT Skills Competition

4TH ANNUAL NW REGIONAL AMT SKILLS COMPETITION

Andy Dodson | Spokane Community College

Another year brings more opportunity for aviation maintenance students from colleges around the Northwest Region to showcase their skills as they compete at the NW Regional Aviation Maintenance Competition. In keeping with WAA’s continued efforts of aviation related education and awareness, this year’s competition is bound to entertain and educate the general public, while providing a challenging series of maintenance related events.

This year’s competition will host 28 of the best students from the following Aircraft Maintenance Technology Schools: Big Bend Community College, WA; Clover Park Technical College, WA; Everett Community College, WA; Lane Community College, OR; North Idaho College, ID; Spokane Community College, WA; South Seattle Community College, WA.

The competitive events are designed to test the skills and abilities of AMT students through a series of aircraft related maintenance tasks that are typically a part of the education and training that ultimately leads to an FAA Mechanic License. They range from seemingly simple tasks like securing bolts and turnbuckles with lock wire, to flight critical tasks like rigging flight control cables and push rods. Each competitive event is 30 minutes in length, and designed to examine the essential skills an aircraft mechanic is expected to master in order to ensure aircraft are maintained in an airworthy condition. It is not possible to include all of the basic maintenance tasks a mechanic must master in a single day-long event.

This year’s competition will focus on ten important maintenance tasks:

AIRCRAFT BRAKE ASSEMBLIES: Competitors will remove a brake assembly from the wheel strut, remove and replace the brake linings, inspect the rotor for wear limits, and then reinstall the brake assembly.

FLIGHT CONTROL CABLE RIGGING: Competitors will use a tensiometer to inspect the cable tension on a mockup Boeing 757 flight control system. They will ensure the system is rigged properly as they perform a functional test of the control system.

ELECTRICAL TROUBLESHOOTING: Competitors will be challenged to test several electronic components and isolate the exact location of the electrical fault using a multimeter and schematic wiring diagrams.

RIGID FLUID LINES: Competitors will fabricate and route a rigid fluid line to meet exact installation dimension specifications and limits.

PRECISION MEASUREMENTS: Competitors will use various precision measurement tools on several aircraft engine components to determine if they meet manufacturer specifications, and thus be returned to service.

SAFETY WIRE AND TURNBUCKLES: Competitors will secure various fasteners configured in several patterns and access points with lock wire.

WEIGHT AND BALANCE REPORT: Competitors will weigh an aircraft on a set of three digital scales, and then use the weight data to calculate a current weight and balance report for the aircraft.

Each competition team consists of 4 persons, working together to complete a maintenance task, much like what happens in maintenance facilities throughout the aviation industry. Team members are first or second year Aircraft Maintenance Technology students currently enrolled to earn their FAA Airframe and Powerplant mechanic licenses. With this certification they will be authorized to maintain, repair, service, and inspect fixed-wing and rotary– wing aircraft.

These students represent future aircraft mechanics, whose profession demands a high degree of skill, knowledge, and integrity to provide safe and reliable aircraft, at any hour of every day, support a variety of air operations, such as business, recreation, public transportation, cargo, fire fighting, air ambulance, search and rescue, just to name a few. The event is sponsored by Alaska Airlines, Mesa Airlines and Aviation Technical Services, Inc from Everett, WA. Thank you!

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE DISCOVERY DAY

SUNDAY, FEB 24 2019

For most people flying is an exciting adventure. It’s a fast and efficient way of traveling for both work and pleasure. Thousands of people do it every day all around the world. However, the flying part is only a portion of the story. What goes on behind the curtain, in the hangar, is the real magic. Have you ever wondered “who keeps those big, complex air machines flying every day, and what does an aircraft mechanic really do?” Have you ever wondered “what does a career in Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT) look like?” If you have, you’re the exception. Most people don’t give it a thought.

In an effort to educate and increase awareness about aviation maintenance as a career, a consortium of eight Aviation Maintenance Technology Schools in the Northwest Region, called the Fighting 147, is sponsoring an “Aviation Maintenance Discovery Day” during the NW Aviation Conference.

The event will include several interactive aviation maintenance activities designed to allow the general public to experience “hands-on” what an aircraft mechanic does on the job. Instructors and students from several AMT colleges will be on hand to demonstrate and coach anyone who wants to get involved in a variety of fun and interesting aircraft maintenance activities, such as: weighing and aircraft, rigging a flight control system, designing and testing a simple electrical circuit, securing a bolt with lock wire, and more.

AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE DISCOVERY DAY is for everyone, young and old. If you like aviation, then you should stop by and discover something new, maybe something you’ve never given a though about. February 24, 2019 | Showplex Exhibit Hall AMT DISCOVERY AREA