Remembering the Forgotten Mechanic

C650CPT

Well-Known Member
Yet another Poem, this one comes with a deep appreciation for Aircraft Mechanics. I started my aviaiton career as a helicopter mechanic. We have this poem professioanlly reproduced, matted and framed, it hangs in our passenger waiting area of our corporate flight department. We want them to know and understand what our mechanic means to us as flight crewmembers.

Remembering the Forgotten Mechanic

Through the history of world aviation
many names have come to the fore
Great deeds of the past in our memory will last,
as they're joined by more and more.

When man first started his labor
in his quest to conquer the sky
he was designer, mechanic and pilot
and he built a machine that would fly
but somehow the order got twisted,
and then in the public's eye
the only man that could be seen
was the man who knew how to fly

The pilot was everyone's hero,
he was brave, he was bold, he was grand,
as he stood by his battered old biplane
with his goggles and helmet in hand.
To be sure, these pilots all earned it,
to fly you have to have guts.
And they blazed their names in the hall of fame
on wings with bailing wire struts.

But for each of these flying heroes
there were thousands of little renown,
and these were the men who worked on the planes
but kept their feet on the ground.

We all know the name of Lindbergh,
and we've read of his flight of fame.
But think, if you can, of his maintenance man,
can you remember his name?

And think o four wartime heroes,
Gabreski, Jabara, and Scott.
Can you tell me the names of their crew chief?
A thousand to one you cannot.

Now pilots are highly trained people,
and wings are not easily won.
But without the work of the maintenance man,
our pilots would march with a gun.
So when you see mighty jet aircraft
as they mark their way through the air,
the greased stained man with a wrench in his hand
is the man that put them there.

Anonymous
 
When I was a lowly freshman at Riddle, I had a buddy who grew up in NY who was a senior mx/avionics major. He once said to me, "Don't piss me off or I'll rig your elevator backwards."

Ever since then I've had the utmost in respect and appreciation for mechanics.

FL270

P.S.: 650, good trip back?
 
At the retirement party for my dad and the other pilots who had retired that month everyone got up and thanked their families, friends etc. Dad was the only one to thank the mechanics. He said that, as pilots, they trusted that the mechanics had done their jobs, and done them well, on face value and that if they hadn't he - and the other pilots - probably wouldn't have been there celebrating 28 - 30yrs of service.

I try to keep the same mentality.
 
I think mechanics are awesome!!! without them (among others) - we'd be riding horses, hoping to get a few miles further each day...

My cousin is an airline mechanic - fairly fresh outta school...and I know he's hoping to get into the major airlines to work on some of the big jets...any contacts on here for that? haha
grin.gif
 
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