What Do Aviation Mechanics Do During Mountain Week?
This article continues our mountain week series. Take off with our helicopters here or read about how to keep passengers safe and happy.
While the pilot orientees were landing on and taking off from steeply sloped runways and landing on ridges during mountain week, what were the airplane mechanic orientees doing?
Well, they weren’t sitting around playing bean-bag toss (except, that is, when the pilots couldn’t fly due to weather). On the first day, Caleb Nasiatka, Josh Rauch, and Whit Palmer, the mechanic orientees, performed a 50-hour oil change on one of the airplanes. But when there weren’t maintenance issues or projects, “we were there to serve the pilots,” said Caleb.
Every day when the pilots returned from flights, the mechanics would do post-flight inspections with them. These inspections look for damage and whether maintenance is required before the aircraft is again flown.
“It was super cool to have that community where we’re able to, for those 10 days, help them every opportunity and just watch airplanes on the ground fly at cool airstrips,” Caleb remarked.
Airplane Mechanics as Ground Crew
The mechanic orientees also acted as ground crew. They measured the pilots’ wind speed and learned that, in the mountains, weather and wind conditions can change quickly!
Several times, Caleb gave the pilot a wind report, but when the pilot turned for his final approach, it’d be different, so Caleb would have to radio him again to say that the wind had changed or that was variable.
The mechanics also measured the pilots’ angle of approach as they landed. The mechanics radioed the information to the instructors so the orientees could correct the angles if needed. “It was cool to help them with that. And to meet the people who let JAARS use the airstrips up there in the mountains for all these years.”
Learn more about the history of the airstrips and the people who live there.
Why Do Cargo Drops?
Caleb helped with cargo drops. He flew in the Helio Courier, strapped in the back, with the door off. It was an unforgettable experience in such a little aircraft as he tried dropping packages onto a target while the plane flew in circles at 80 mph.
Sometimes pilots and/or mechanics will have to drop medicine, food, and radios to missionaries in the rainforest, and this training equips the pilots and mechanics to do this overseas.
The mechanics’ training was pushed to the next level during bush week, where they had to fix an aircraft in the middle of the JAARS woods.
To be continued …
