China and the 2010 Maintenance Skills Competition

What does pride and knowledge, coupled with skill and integrity look like? In aircraft maintenance the answer to this cannot be defined to a single description. This is because Aircraft Maintenance Engineers and Aircraft Maintenance Technicians come in all different shapes and sizes, colors, religions and nationalities. You can look across the aircraft maintenance community and see examples to this question. One such place you can look to is China. And upon a closer look you can look at Lode Technology Co., Ltd.
This past March 16 – 18th, 2010 in Las Vegas NV at the AMTSociety’s 3rd Annual Maintenance Skills Competition there were 25 teams of 5 AME/AMTs each that competed against each other in 5 different categories. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Hy14Um-GQ One such category was the MRO/OEM Category and in this category a team of Lode AMEs stood tall and proud. There were many challenges to meet head on in this exciting competition and thanks to Lode Technology Co., Ltd. the potential the Chinese aviation community offers to the world was evident. The fact that the events to be competed in during the MSC were a broad grouping of examples of every day maintenance done on aircraft around the globe were a challenge to all those entering the competition caused all 25 teams competing to form a tactic to use the best skill sets they possessed. The Chinese team met these events head on and performed with honor. This team captured 3rd Place in the MRO/OEM Category behind Continental Airlines who came in 1st and American Airlines who came in 2nd. Considering these teams had previously competed in the MSC and this was Lode, and China’s, first entry in this premier competition for highlighting today’s AME/AMTs speaks volumes for the Lode Team. The MSC doesn’t promote one group of AME/AMTs over another. The MSC simply uses time to determine who receives 1st, 2nd or 3rd Place Plaques. The ability of the Lode Team is evidence of why they are so successful and it is also proof of what the Chinese aircraft maintenance community is capable of. With only three years of the AMTSociety sponsoring the Maintenance Skills Competition we have become an international competition. And thanks to Lode Technology Co., Ltd. China was the first international team to enter the MSC, followed by a team from Australia. With China’s leadership by entering this premier competition the MSC has been elevated further within the aircraft maintenance community. Lode has indicated that they will return to the 2011 MSC and this should set the standard for other Chinese companies entering the MSC because the standard is very high! For further information on competing in the 2011 MSC contact Ken MacTiernan, AMTSociety Director/Chairman MSC at [email protected] , (817) 253-2192.