Real-Life Communication
Communication skills are important for aircraft painters. For example,
if you are painting a flap, you have to communicate with the mechanics to
ensure safety. The mechanics have to ensure that that particular part of the
airplane is deactivated. Perhaps lock pins have to be put on parts of the
mechanism or fuse plugs have to be pulled.
This is to make sure that
no accidents occur while the painter is working, such as another person activating
the same part of the plane for other maintenance or repair. While you're painting,
you may notice other repairs that need to be made. You will also have to communicate
these repairs to the appropriate people.
"Communication is really important
to an aircraft painter because you are not just an individual employee working
on your part of a project, insulated from everything else going on around
you, but you are part of a department who are all working together to ensure
the safety of personnel around the aircraft," says Joe Dough, a professional
aircraft painter.
You are an aircraft painter and you are painting
the engine of a 747. The engine is so big that you can stand in the mouth
of the engine painting it. Suddenly, you hear a cry below you to get out of
there. The next thing you notice is that turbines of the engine are moving.
You only have a few seconds before the engine starts.
You jump on to
a bunch of empty paint containers just in time. You bruise your legs, but
luckily nothing else is seriously damaged. As it turns out, the pilot accidentally
left the key in the ignition and a maintenance crewmember accidentally turned
it on while cleaning the cabin. Your manager wants you to write an accident
report on what happened and recommend how an accident could be prevented in
the future.
Here are the facts you need to put in your report. You
went to work at 8 a.m. You received a work order to paint the engine. You
told the mechanics, flight control, your manager and the maintenance people
that you were going to work on the engine. Then you heard a cry and leapt
off the engine. To write a proper accident report, it is best to leave out
any unnecessary exaggeration.