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Aircraft Painter

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The general consensus amongst aircraft painters is that a bright, freshly painted plane is a truly stunning thing to look at. Knowing that you've turned a beast into a beauty with your own two hands is the greatest reward, according to painters.

"At the end of the job, you're looking at it and saying, 'I did that!' And thousands of people are going to be flying on this airplane and seeing it," says Gary Ainsworth.

Paint stripper Jackie Hewitt agrees. "You start with something that looks terrible and by the time you're done, it looks pretty good!"

Hewitt likes her job. One of very few women in aerospace paint shops, she says it's tough physical labor, but she has no complaints.

According to Hewitt, your fitness will determine the size of your smile in the shop. "I enjoy it," she says. "As long as you're healthy, you should have no problem, but if you're not capable of hard labor, you shouldn't get into it." She says that back problems will be an aircraft painter's demise.

Hewitt adds that if the proper safety precautions are not followed, a painter's lungs and kidneys will suffer. However, she also says that masks and protective layers of clothing make the job perfectly safe.

Ainsworth says the work isn't for everyone. "It takes a certain kind of person to be an aircraft painter -- somebody that likes to work with their hands all the time, that's for sure," he says.

For Ainsworth, who has a background in construction, aircraft painting was just the right thing. He wanted stability and he wanted to work closely with products in a shop. As an aircraft painter, he is in the perfect situation -- there are no travel requirements and he now supervises the shop workers.

When he started, benefits and a hefty income helped to pique his interest. "I'm not saying it's a bad job," he says. "I've done well with it. I've done really well with it."

Malcolm Archer painted for 14 years and is now a teacher and supervisor at an aviation sales company. "I would not push any young person into being an aircraft painter because it's hazardous work," he says.

First, the plane must be stripped, sanded, masked and primed. Finally, if all goes well and the sheet metal is clean and intact, the paint is applied.

Ainsworth explains that there is much more to the painted product than first meets the traveler's eye. The decals, the stripes, the airline logos and all of the fancy additions to the interior are put on at the paint shop.

"When you sit down in your aircraft," says Ainsworth, "all the side walls and overhead bins and ceiling panels -- all that's painted."

Aircraft painting is, during certain parts of the process, a creative task. And it also takes foresight to come up with a design that is appropriate for the layout of the plane, inside and out. "There are a lot of different aspects, like interiors," says Ainsworth.

To a trained eye, a well-painted plane is a carefully crafted work of art. "You look at the size of an airplane and see all these nice layouts. There's a lot of artwork going into it [and] looking at the blueprints. There's more to it than just painting."

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