I’m sure many of you have noticed movies that replicate the patterns, plots, themes, and scenarios of the blockbuster shows. Today’s predictable formulae might involve guns, car chases, government conspiracies, and of course the 2 minutes of sexual this-or-that, never mind the plot. Another subtle pattern you’ve likely noticed is the role of the supporting hero; you know, the one who comes up with that tantalizing bit of information that seems to break the logjam of suspense. A long running favo...

I was once in Miami and a friend shared a story. He works in a Repair Station there that performs maintenance on aircraft, and has frequent FAA visits. It seems one day an FAA Inspector expressed concerns to him that he had doubts some Repair Station Technicians and Inspectors could competently comprehend English as contained in Quality and Maintenance Manuals. The person responded; “Then why did you issue them A&P and Repairman Certificates?” It is, after all, the FAA’s responsibility to determ...

For those of you involved in Airline Reliability Programs, and particularly for those who attended my session titled “Deferrals Per MEL and Airline Reliability Programs” at the 2013 ASA Conference, I want to give you an update on efforts to revise key FAA Advisory Circulars.   In 2005 there was an accident involving a Turboprop which crashed into a department store garden center shortly after takeoff from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT). The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot of the c...

Don’t you hate it when you go out shopping for a product, try several stores, and make your purchase, then discover that someone else had the same product for a lower price? The truth is I was likely conditioned to assume that only those stores I tried could offer that product at a price I thought competitive. Perhaps those stores had culled my favor by being the biggest, or what I thought was the only source of the product. Regardless, the seasoned shoppers among you would tell me that my proce...

Governmental Agencies provide a host of services including, but not limited to Certifications and Inspections. Certifying Fish, Meat, Airplanes, Repair Station Applicants, Aircraft Parts, Health and Sanitary Inspections, Air Traffic Control, and Hospitals comprise just a short list of those services. Most commonly, the continuance of business relies on those certifications, services, or inspections. This brings us to the current ‘sequestration’ environment. In the media we see rising alacrity am...