If an aircraft is compared to a racing car, with the pilot as the racer, the aircraft mechanic is as important to the plane as the auto mechanic to the car. As with motor racing, the teamwork of mechanic, pilot and aircraft defines the competitive ability. Here we profile three aircraft mechanics.
Chen Minghui: a midnight call
As usual, Chen Minghui and his mechanic team worked on the last plane of the day after it taxied into the hangar at 10:30 p.m.. Half an hour passed before they finished the maintenance work and covered the aircraft.
The whole team had been working for a good 15 hours. On the truck that took them back to the barracks, they looked exhausted. They hurried to wash so they could sleep as soon as possible.
Late in the quiet night, Chen’s phone rang.
“Prepare aircraft number 6 before 4:30 a.m.,” said the caller.
On hearing the order, Chen rose with a start. As the leader of the mechanic team and an honored commanding officer, he had already led his team through major drills and practices. Another opportunity had come to test his team.
Chen immediately ordered every team member to attend a briefing. At 12:40 a.m., they entered the hangar to install ammunition, update navigation data and fuel the aircraft. They finished the preparations nearly an hour ahead of time. It was bitingly cold, but they all stood quietly by the fighter jet instead of waiting in a warm room nearby.
“No one spoke, but we could feel we were a team,” Chen said.
At 4:30 a.m., the aircrew came to the hangar. The atmosphere grew tense as time ticked away. At exactly 6 a.m., the aircrew started their engines and the mechanics watched them disappear into the sky.
The mission was successfully completed at 10 a.m. But the mechanic team had to begin their daily work. Almost 40 consecutive hours passed before Chen and his team returned to their barracks. Chen said that last year his team had accomplished 10 similar missions, but with different numbers of aircraft, times and weather conditions.
|
