Hangar Happenings #4

In Hangar Happenings # 2, I talked about the beginnings of the construction on the new bathroom. Here are some updates to the amazing new bathroom!

The original bathroom access was walled up to make a new wall for one toilet stall. 

The original door to the bathroom is now covered.

A wall was placed inside the toilet area to separate the sentinel shower from the new bathroom. The original space was large enough that shelves were in there and they were used for personal food storage, encouraging an abundance of rats. The sentinels will eventually have new lockers placed in a new common area to replace the dilapidated and water damaged old ones.

Leopold adding a wall between the
Sentinel shower and the new bathroom

After the walls were put up, Leopold placed new tiles.

The walls were plastered and painted.

Matthew placing plaster on the concrete.

Matthew setting up the ceiling fan/light.

For a new sink, Kevin found an old rusted Craftsman tool cabinet. Matthew removed the bottom drawers and cut a hole for a sink.

 Kevin painted it a shiny new red color.

 

 Matthew found someone to put in new cabinet doors.

 Matthew even came up with the cool idea to use old sockets for handles!

Finished product

Kevin is in the process of welding the doors and Wane will paint them. We will soon have an amazing bathroom!

Hangar Happenings #3

What a busy week we've had at the hangar! In the first blog about Hangar Happenings I talked about the Caravan inspection that is going on. What I didn't mention was that the inspection was an inspection based on calendar time. Since the calendar inspection was completed, the airplane has flown 15 hours in the last 3 days. That means the caravan is now due for inspections based upon flight hours. This inspection is mostly focused on the engine.

Things are getting busier for me as well. There is an audit coming up the beginning of February. A third party auditor will come in to inspect everything in the hangar - from parts to planes. They want to make sure that we hold ourselves to international aviation standards. This is good because it ensures that we stay on top of things and forces us to evaluate ourselves and change if need be. But for me, there is much work that needs to be done in the parts room. I am now going to go into the hangar three times a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until the inspection is complete and I have been assigned temporary assistants!

Nancy working hard on the hardware.

Fidele working hard to label all the O-Rings.

Do you remember the construction from last week? Well it continued this week. While Leopold placed bricks in the bathroom (more photos to come later), Kevin and Matt did some demolition. One morning I was in the office staring at a wall and within an hour, the wall was gone. The room I am in is going to be the new parts room and the old parts room will become the new office.

The wall that forms the office for the moment.

 

Thor...ahem...Kevin at work.

I still managed to do some work even with the distraction.

Matt made sure all the wires discovered weren't active.

All of this was done in an hour! 

Kevin told me that today all of the top part and side came down, and all of the rubble was cleaned out. Also, the new two stall bathroom is almost done. All the tile is in, and the toilets will be installed on Monday. I will get to see the final product soon. And so will you!

Hangar Happenings #2

The last Hangar Happenings talked about the inspection on the Caravan. Well, now I am going to talk about construction! Right now, MAF has an administration office all the way at the other side of the city from the hangar where the pilots and mechanics work. This year, one of the many goals is to focus on improving team building. An easy (and also cost saving on rent and transportation) method is to combine the two offices. After much talks, planning, drawing, erasing, quoting, and staring, the decision has been made official!

The project began with cleaning up the "attic" space which will become the new offices. The next step was to fix up the bathroom. They tore up the old tiles that will be replaced and cut concrete for new pipes. They placed new pipes and new walls all to make two separate bathrooms. At the moment, one toilet was able to handle all the biological needs of the workers. But with all the administrative staff joining the staff at the hanger, an additional toilet was needed. Also, with the changing of a few walls, we will be able to recuperate some space for a more effective work flow in the maintenance and pilots offices. THEN, we will be able to build the offices in the attic. All of these things so far have be accomplished with our hanger employees (or our husbands).

I am super excited to see all the changes and improvements that are coming our way and I hope to share with you all the excitement!

Letting the dust settle after breaking up tiles

Matt in action, cutting concrete for new pipes

Wane (Juan-eh) cleaning up the tiles he busted up

Wane breaking concrete with a hammer
and chisel for new pipelines 

Digging out the old pipes and placing new.

Two pipes for two toilets

Matt getting all his anger out...

New doorway for the remodeled bathrooms

Matt and Leopold cementing the wall

He is a hard worker! This was all in one day.

Hangar Happenings

Right now, the caravan is having a 12-month, 200, 400 and 1600 flight hour inspection all at once. Since I work at the hangar as a parts room specialist (not a real title, but it's catchy!), I get to help in my own way(s) - searching for parts, ordering more parts, keeping inventory on things used, and looking up information for anyone asking. I feel so useful right now! So in my eagerness to express how I get to be a part of my first "inspection," I took some photos of the guys working this week. Enjoy!

Kevin just finished replacing some worn spacers on the Caravans flap

Garth is waist deep inspecting the landing gear

Brett is upgrading the brake system

Kevin tightening something before re-installing the flap

Matt installing an access panel after the flap has been installed.

The inspection continues

Lovely!

Check out one of Kevin's custom built maintenance stands