PUBLIC SERVICE | POLICE
By Frank Lombardi
Say Thank You to Your
Maintenance Staff
The next time you’re doing your preflight and marvel at the com- plexity of your craft, think about all of the parts that go unseen,
which must work harmoniously for hours
on end without fail. Lucky for you, your
maintenance staff is intimately acquainted
with all those parts. They have to be, if we
are to provide airborne law enforcement
day-in and day-out, and return safely to
earth without an afterthought.
Before they can put their tools to work
as a combined airframe and powerplant
mechanic, they must first acquire at least 30
months of collective practical field experience, or learn their job skills during at least
1,900 hours of training in one of about 170
schools certified by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). Either way, after
completion they must then pass a written,
oral, and practical exam, much like a pilot
does, before finally earning their A&P
license. Each mechanic must then maintain
at least 1,000 hours of work experience
every 24 months, or take an approved
refresher course in order to keep their
license current. Although not required,
they can advance their certifications by
taking courses in avionics and radio equipment as well.
Today’s rotorcraft mechanics might be
more appropriately called ‘maintenance
technicians’ since they must be proficient
in a multitude of areas. They must have
the insight of a cryptologist in order to
understand and interpret the many Federal
Aviation Regulations (FARs), Airworthiness Directives (ADs), Technical Service
Bulletins (TSBs), and numerous other
documents. They must be skilled with a
wrench in order to remove and replace
a faulty engine part one day, and equally
skilled with a multi-meter and soldering
iron in order to fix a scratchy radio the
next day. Modern avionics and mission
equipment of a police helicopter can be a
godsend to a pilot, but when they malfunction, they can create an electrical nightmare
for the maintenance staff. In today’s digital
environment, mechanics must possess
near hacker-like skills to troubleshoot the
aircraft’s many electronic signal processors.
They must be perfectionists to an exacting
degree when they tighten fasteners to certain torque values and measure tolerances
to hundredths or even thousandths of an
inch. Think of that whenever you let your
altitude fluctuate plus or minus 50 feet.
The next time you’re on an extended
search thinking about how uncomfortable your cockpit seat is, remember all the
positions your maintenance techs contort
their bodies into, in order to remove or
replace parts, or even just to get a good
look at something during their daily aircraft
inspection. You will find them working
through the uncomfortable summer heat
for hours at a time on a ladder servicing
the rotor head, where I’d swear it’s 10 to 15
degrees hotter just a few feet up from the
hangar floor. Even in the bitter winter they
are dependably outside running engine leak
checks, again on ladders, this time under
the dangers of the spinning rotor. If their
job does not involve 24-hour shift-work,
you can bet someone is standing by on-call,
waiting for that phone call asking for help
with an unscheduled maintenance item.
Essentially, our helicopters defy gravity
by virtue of a fine balance of mathematical
equations. Each component works for a
very specific reason, and if a critical one
fails, the results can have obvious far-reaching consequences. It was once said
(hopefully somewhat tongue-in-cheek)
“Mechanics like pilots who fly their craft
so that components reach their full service
life … As a pilot, you are neither feared nor
envied, but merely tolerated.” I’d be willing
to bet that whoever said that was specifically talking about police aviators, as it would
seem like we have an uncanny ability to
break things better than most. And if your
organization employs its own in-house
maintenance staff, then there probably
exists a special bond between those who fly
‘em and those who fix ‘em. Once you share
meals and laughs with the people who help
ensure your safety, it is something you don’t
ever want to part with.
Our maintenance crews spend their
days diligently inspecting and maintaining
the integrity of our aircraft. I admire their
resilience when they complete a required
inspection, then work on an unscheduled
item, and finally close their toolbox only to
have us fly the next aircraft into yet another
inspection. They do this everyday, because,
after all, it is the nature of aviation. They
knowingly and routinely accept this level
of dedication and perfection required to
keep us flying and free from harm. I speak
for the entire flying community when I say
they do a fantastic job. Thanks guys.
