Team FedEx LAX
AMTSociety's 2013 Maintenance
Skills Competition Winning Team
By Ronald Donner
Ronald Donner
has spent his
entire life devoted
to aviation and
he holds FAA
certificates as an
A&P;/IA, and a
Commercial Pilot
with Single and
Multi Engine
Land, Instrument
Airplane and
Glider ratings.
4
June 2013
I
n March of this year 23 teams of aircraft maintenance technicians competed against each other in the friendly
competition known as the AMTSociety
Maintenance Skills Competition. This
international event represents general
aviation, military, MRO, commercial aviation, and education sectors with teams from
Australia, Canada, China, and the USA.
FedEx has been a strong supporter of the
Maintenance Skills Competition with teams
from Memphis and Indianapolis, as well as
allowing the use of two Pratt & Whitney JT9
engines for competition tasks. In 2010 Mark
Collins, an AMTSociety director and maintenance manager at FedEx LAX, approached
LAX management and explained the benefits
of allowing FedEx on the West Coast (LAX) to
also participate. The opportunity to become a
member of the 2011 team was posted requesting volunteers for the team from the Los
Angeles District. Each year thereafter LAX
FedEx has sent a team to the AMTSociety
Maintenance Skills Competition and this
year brought home the Snap-on sponsored
William O'Brien Award for Excellence in
Aircraft Maintenance.
Edited for length here are the stories of the
individual AMTs on this year's winning team.
Paul Germain - Team Captain
Little did I know that my dad, Hank
Germain, who was already in the aviation
business, would soon be shaping my world
into a love of aviation. He started with a
small air freight airline in Burbank, CA,
called The Flying Tiger Line as an A&E;
(airframe and engine license as it was known
then) mechanic and eventually retired
as a 747 captain. Amazing from A&E; to
747 captain! When I graduated from high
school the decision was made! I would
go to Northrop Rice Aviation Institute of
Technology to get my A&P; certificate. I held
Aircraft Maintenance Technology • www.AviationPros.com • www.AMTSociety.org