Who were Charles and Bill?

Today is AMT Day.  The house of representatives set the date on May 24, to honor the birthday of the first hired aviation mechanic, Charles Taylor. Even though the Wrights designed and built their aircraft, they enlisted the machine and tooling expertise that Charles provided.  Later Charles again became a full-time mechanic to Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz. The Vin Fiz was a Wright Model EX pusher plane that was to make the first transcontinental flight. A story which can be read in this book my H.R. DuFour.

Charles was to ensure that the plane with ready to fly after 75 stops of which there were 16 crashes. Without fanfare or delay, Charles dutifully repaired the aircraft.  In the end, only one piece of the original aircraft was usable, a portion of the rudder. Due to family concerns, he never returned to work for the Wrights.

Charles, which is true of most mechanics and technicians today, did his job seeking no fame or glory.  In fact, the world would not have heard of Charles Taylor had it not been for an FAA Inspector named Bill O’Brien who worked in AFS 300 in Washington DC.  He wanted a way to honor senior mechanics with 50 or more years of quality service. He worked hard to create the award that recognizes A&P who worked in aviation proudly without error for more than 50 years. I am proud to say my father earned his Charles Taylor in 2011. 

Another contribution was that Bill also could tell a story that made us think about the responsibility each of us had to work on aircraft. He spoke with passion and conviction that the rooms were silent when he talked, except the occasional roar of laughter.

One story that I remember well was of a young mechanic working at the local hanger back east.  The customer was someone that the mechanic knew well and came into the hanger with his little 6-year-old daughter in tow.  The customer looked worried because he knows that it had been a few years since his plane was on the hanger because of his financial hardships of late. The mechanic told him that he would look over the aircraft and told the owner “go to lunch and I will give you a report after.”

Well, the years of neglect had not been kind to the old airframe.  The mechanic told the owner that there needed to have some inspections done to the landing gear and engines and there was some corrosion and cracking in the wing area. The owner said “I don’t have the money right now, so I will take it back and let you know later. The mechanic understood the money problem and closed the aircraft back up.

The mechanic clocked out at 4:00 and the owner returned to the hanger shortly after.  The mechanic came home and turned on the evening news as was his habit. As the screen turned on and the voices could be heard the words plane crash. Running back into the room it was a moment before the camera panned to the smoking wreckage and he immediately recognized the Cessna Vermillion Red on the trim of the aircraft. At the same moment, he heard the words “two dead” over the TVs speakers. His heart sank as he fell back onto the couch.

Bill O'Brien on left with Lorence Bessette

Bill pointed out that mechanic was in the clear with the FAA because he, the mechanic did not write anything in the log book.  The Bill did make it clear to all in the room about the responsibility we had to our customers the pilots and the passengers who take the aircraft into the air after we are done. Every Mechanic, IA, and Avionic Technician in that room all got the point of the story.

Bill had a great way of speaking both with supreme seriousness and with a lot of humor. So, when I think about AMT day, I also think about those that taught me about the importance of our job and the responsibly we have to do it right.