United has some splainin to do…

[derg]

Speaking as someone who signed up for a maintenance job. I realized I was okay at troubleshooting or chasing problems, but actually turning wrenches and fixing the physical components I sucked at, especially on hard to get to jobs. I still remember being told to safety wire the pineapple valve, I was like dude, I can’t even see the thing and you want me to safety wire 7 different points on it? That alone took me three hours, just for a CDI to come by and laugh as he cut my safety wire saying try again.

Having people with some mechanical inclination and talent to physically perform the tasks to a standard will be hard if not impossible soon. Too many kids want to hit it big as YouTubers

Quickly too.

 

[derg]

I've got a buddy higher up in IT at GE aircraft engines; his work right now is involved in building a VR headset system to enable AMT's to both learn GE engines and to use while actually working on them. The concept is to allow the AMT to "see" the next step(s) while actually hands on with the engine. The thing supposedly will orient to the engine and explain steps as you go. My buddy thinks it's promising, GE is putting a whole lotta cash into it...

I was in a meeting a few months ago and basically said why don’t we create fully interactive, full scale flight deck renderings and visually walk a student through the flows.

Send a student a Mixed Reality VR seta few weeks before the training starts and you’ll save FTD and simulator time for heavier training events.

“Hmm…”

 

[BobDDuck]

I was in a meeting a few months ago and basically said why don’t we create fully interactive, full scale flight deck renderings and visually walk a student through the flows.

Send a student a Mixed Reality VR seta few weeks before the training starts and you’ll save FTD and simulator time for heavier training events.

“Hmm…”

I worked on a project related to that. It doesn't work well in the VR world without tactile feedback. What does have a lot of potential is AR googles that "show" you a flow pattern as you do it in a mockup or sim.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

You can’t make this level of dumbass up.

View attachment 77093

God dammit, you beat me again!

 

[Bob Ridpath]

And then there’s a video by my layover life CA at United, where he takes his crew out during a London layover. The girl FO looks like she’s 22. He points at some random ass tower on a hill and tells her that’s the Eiffel Tower. And that you can see the Eiffel Tower in Paris from London. And for a minute, she actually falls for it. Imagine being second in command of a 757/767 and not having command of basic geography.


The dawn/era of the new kids is here…

It's hard to get old, isn't it, while the world changes around us?

 

[Roger Roger]

I was in a meeting a few months ago and basically said why don’t we create fully interactive, full scale flight deck renderings and visually walk a student through the flows.

Send a student a Mixed Reality VR seta few weeks before the training starts and you’ll save FTD and simulator time for heavier training events.

“Hmm…”

The Eskimo has a VR goggle lab at the training center. That’s how I started learning flows. It’s still an immature product and as the Duck pointed out the lack of tactile feedback is a downside but it has a heckuva lot of potential.

 

[killbilly]

I worked on a project related to that. It doesn't work well in the VR world without tactile feedback. What does have a lot of potential is AR googles that "show" you a flow pattern as you do it in a mockup or sim.

I'm not familiar with the tech at its current state but I would think the haptic tech has come along enough to get at least some of that? No?

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Alaska is investing in pilot technology to attract and retain world-class pilots - Alaska Airlines News

As we’re hiring hundreds of new pilots at Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, we’re ensuring everyone is up for the task and meets our high standards. To help with this, we’ve invested in new technology to expand our training department.

news.alaskaair.com

 

[Roger Roger]

I'd submit that the military has an enormous pool of them.....magnitudes larger than the military pilot pool. But I'm sure plenty of them are very ready to stop turning wrenches or reading oscilloscopes when they leave too

The thing right now is that if you leave the military with a clean record and some sort of aviation mx skill, there is a ton of industry that will snap you right up where you won’t be working night shift fixing lavs for 15 years or have the company outsource your work to Costa Rica or China like all the big boys have done with a lot of their heavy checks. Space, energy, infrastructure, etc….if you have a record of showing up on time, sober, doing safety critical work in accordance with written procedures, they don’t care that it was airplanes and not power plants or rockets or industrial cranes.

 

[BobDDuck]

I'm not familiar with the tech at its current state but I would think the haptic tech has come along enough to get at least some of that? No?

Probably. This was about 6 years ago.

 

[Skåning]

That alone took me three hours, just for a CDI to come by and laugh as he cut my safety wire saying try again.

If the “culture” in MX is that bad, no wonder guys with other skill sets bail. I’ve flown with many dudes who were A&Ps and none regretted making the jump.

Just wait for ANC-JFK direct. I’ll be the guy asking for a special.

Flown by HNL based -321 guys!

 

[Roger Roger]

If the “culture” in MX is that bad, no wonder guys with other skill sets bail. I’ve flown with many dudes who were A&Ps and none regretted making the jump.

Exactly what I’ve been getting at in some of my rants about trades in another thread. Lots of knot4s in aviation mx, who would rather just be dicks to the new folks coming in than invest in mentoring them. Plus you’ll live on night shifts and overtime. I loved working on airplanes but I would not make a career out of it if I didn’t have to.

 

[BobDDuck]

Flown by HNL based -321 guys!

Most of those captains were FOs on the 330 operating in and out of JFK.

 

[NovemberEcho]

Just wait for ANC-JFK direct. I’ll be the guy asking for a special.

Nah I don’t work jfk fortunately

 

[derg]

Nah I don’t work jfk fortunately.

...because you're not mean enough to international crews with limited English!

 

[jtrain609]

The Eskimo has a VR goggle lab at the training center. That’s how I started learning flows. It’s still an immature product and as the Duck pointed out the lack of tactile feedback is a downside but it has a heckuva lot of potential.

His name is Jimmy.

 

[CFI A&P]

I'd submit that the military has an enormous pool of them.....magnitudes larger than the military pilot pool. But I'm sure plenty of them are very ready to stop turning wrenches or reading oscilloscopes when they leave too

In the last decade or so, plenty of programs and assistance put maintenance grunts in the cockpit. With that slowing down, staying in maintenance is a hard sell, sure you don’t sleep in a tent listening to AAA anymore, but coming home and starting a family with indefinite night shifts is a non-starter for many. Especially when you look around at other industries that will scoop up a veteran with a clean record and good work ethic.

 

[Kingairer]

I worked on a project related to that. It doesn't work well in the VR world without tactile feedback. What does have a lot of potential is AR googles that "show" you a flow pattern as you do it in a mockup or sim.

Stop, let me off the train! Ill sit in front of the paper tiger and push pictures of buttons!

 

[Richman]

The thing right now is that if you leave the military with a clean record and some sort of aviation mx skill, there is a ton of industry that will snap you right up where you won’t be working night shift fixing lavs for 15 years or have the company outsource your work to Costa Rica or China like all the big boys have done with a lot of their heavy checks. Space, energy, infrastructure, etc….if you have a record of showing up on time, sober, doing safety critical work in accordance with written procedures, they don’t care that it was airplanes and not power plants or rockets or industrial cranes.

These days if you are sober, no drugs, show up on time and can follow written procedures, you will get snapped up no matter your background for practically any job you want.

I had a lighting strike take out most of my 220v at my house. Blew out the ac compressor and my irrigation pump. After getting the AC fixed, I worked on re-wiring the 220v to my irrigation pump. Discarded old stuff, laid new wire in conduit, new box, breakers, etc. Before flipping the switch I called an electrician to come out to inspect it.

He took one look at it and said "you do this yourself?", I said "yup, read how to do it on the internet". He goes "I need a guy, $35/hr to start, and I provide health care. No nights or weekends.".

And yes, he was serious.

 

[HJB]

No one is asking that, trust me.

Plus, total hours aren't directly related to better training performance as there are a litany of other qualitative factors.

I agree, and definitely trust you. I have no idea what goes on behind the closed doors of HR, but things like the hogan assessment, and others like it, are absolute rubbish.