What LAEs do?

Today, last week of the month, and I am off because NO Saturday activity in METC. Haha :) Too tired to update yesterday, so decide to drop something for your viewings today. Hmmm, what I got for this week? Well, for some of you out there who don't know what I am studying currently, I think this is the time I have to explained myself. I have gone through some of my working experience this week as I was attached to the Production, Planning and Control (PPC) Department in MAS. (to j-kimL, you wanna know where I have been disappearing over the week?)

So here it goes ....

Briefly about PPC ...

PPC is responsible to plan for all the aircraft maintenance according to the Approved Maintenance Schedule (AMS) in MAS, including MAS aircraft (MH) and third party aircraft. Lots of paperworks to be done, namely a few, IRC, WPL, task cards, CC Card, Quantation Reports, Routine / Variable Routine Tasks List and the list goes on and on. Imagine for a B747 - 300 (HZ-AIR), an Arab Saudi aircraft, the numbers of paperworks required can eventually reached up to 15 000 pieces for HMV. Wow ... Papers and numbers!!!

Saudi Arabia B747 - 300

I learned about all the related maintenance documents. There are hundreds of legal documents involved and all information must be recorded in the computers. Then, I met some overseas LAE, the people like Mr Frank, Mr Troy (Melbourne), Mr Mervin (HK), Mr Md Ali (Bangladesh), Mr Martin (Ireland) and a few local MAS LAE such as Mr Chew (ENI) and Mr Siew (Airframe). They all look serious when it comes to work, but if you have the guts to approach them, they will never hesitate to teach you. Very much depends to your communication skill. They are willing to give advice if you have shown interests to learn. That's the rule!!

Tired of doing all the "paper shuffling", I have to try something new so that I will not go home empty-handed. For the last day, I made my initiative. I have asked the LAEs to bring along when they were doing their tasks. I observed the mechanics installing the cabin floor board and removing the wing stringer due to corrosion. However, nothing is more interesting that this one:

Hangar Line Production 6 - My collegue, Yong Hua, was there. Coincidently, his cousin, Mr Siew was the LAE on duty for B737-400 (9M-MMJ), where the aircraft was scheduled for CX Checks. Grab the changes, Keith ... Yes, I did. After finishing my work at HPL 8, I went to Yong's place. Manage to learn something related to my field - Avionics trade. I was taught to perform functional check of the DENY function of the flight deck access system alongside with Yong by Mr Siew. Too technical to understand? Well, firstly, you must refer the manual and then you will know the correct procedures and all the ups and downs of the system. Quoting, " ... pilots will be able to deny function of the cockpit security access system by outsiders ... " will tell you the actual purpose of this system. This is one of the example of what an Avionics LAE should do - trouble shooting and functional checks of aircraft system. Glad to learn something. I am really looking forward for more new experience with aircraft maintenance especially concerning with Avionics trade. ("grease monkey", Avionics the BEST!) Haha (",)

MAS B737 - 400

The credits should go to Mr Siew and Yong, for their willingness to teach me along the tasks. A big applause and thanks you to them. For Mr Siew, he will be going for Engine trade QA Oral tests on Monday.

Wish him all the best!