Yes, you read it right. Instead of recording a video like everybody does, i’ll just stick to writing merely because i am not confident enough to appear online.
Ok, let’s begin.
1.
This is the first meme that caught my attention. It’s actually a very good meme. I had a warm laugh. In fact, i feel bad that i laughed.
To be honest, aircraft return to gate is one of the nightmare especially for maintenance crew. The aircraft may be already lining up on runway, strolling through taxiway, or even already took off, but they need to come back to gate urgently. There are several reasons, but most of the time this happened due to technical glitches.
However, passenger died on board also a no-joke matter. There wil be jobs awaiting such as replacement of cabin air filter, carpet or seat cover, but that will depend on nature of death of the passanger.
Handling the ‘return to base’ scenario is usually thrilling and brings adrenaline rush, because as a maintenance crew, we are responsible for many things. We need to do a very quick (yet detail) assessment and decide whether the aircraft is fit to continue flying or not.
Yes, airplane still can fly with minor defect provided that they are checked, recorded, and documented. We will refer to a set of documents named MEL (and/or CDL). If MEL permits, then the aircraft can continue flying. Otherwise, we have to rectify the defect first before the aircraft can be back roaring on to the sky.
The fact that the aircraft already left the gate and return, means that they already past the schedule. That’s why engineer handling the situation need to be sharp and precise because we don’t want to delay the flight futher because this will upset the passanger more.
I think i have wrote a lengthy essei on flight delay. You may read it here.
2.
This is another good meme. I would say doing CB reset is not wrong, especially when the aircraft is still on ground. Nowadays, aircraft employs fly by wire technology. There are a lot of computer working simultaneously. Because of that, pilot may experience a spurious and intermittent defect which can be solve simply by rebooting the system. This is done by resetting the specific CB in accordance with maintenance manual.
However, we still use TSM for troubleshooting purposes. A good engineer will not deviate from procedures. In fact, all of our work are governed and regulated. We never carry our work blindly. There will always be a procedure and process to follow. Many time, TSM will be so precise that rectification can be done by following the 1st suggestion. However, in remote cases, the defect is beyond the scope of TSM. This is the situation where your skills and experience will come into test.
***TSM: troubleshooting manual***
3.
This meme brings many debate over the internet. Yes, we use duct tape to ‘fix’ something. Duct tape is approved remedial especially for temporary repair. Hence, when you see some guy climbing over to the wing or engine, sticking some shiny tape, please do not fear. They know what they are doing.
4.
This is also a funny meme. Squawk code 7700 refers to emergency. During flight, in the event of emergency, the flight crew will either declare ‘pan-pan’ for urgent situation, or ‘mayday-mayday’ for distressed situation to alert the ATC. In addition, they will also put ATC code 7700 to alert all the control tower nearby that they need priority and assistance.
Apart from code 7700, we also have code 7500 for hijacking or 7600 for radio communication failure. This coding uses a system called ATC Transponder. Modern day ATC Transponder is equipped with Mode S discrete signal that tells the contol tower their location, vector, altitude level, and airspeed. For those who didn’t know, squawk code is 4-digit code assigned by the control tower for that particular aircraft, so that their movement can be identified easily on the ground radar.
5.
Ehem *giggle*
Okay, i will try not to be bias on this. First, i won’t say being a pilot is easy. I have a tremendous respect for them.
My instructor in collage once said, the manuals are like bible, which we have to follow word by word. Of course he is a christian although i doubt that he is a practising one.
To be an engineer, we have to be comfortable with these manuals; the AMM, ESPM, SWPM, ASM, WDM, TSM, IPC, SRM, ISI, TFU, SB, AN, AD, and many more. Hence, i won’t brag that we know everything about the aircraft, but when they are on the ground, we know them better than anyone.
There is a lame joke told by captain to us, “Kapal pun takut dengan abang“, because quite frequently, a defect will disappear when we reset a CB although the flight crew has done the same CB reset, twice!
jokaicrest 
Paduuuu
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