Many corporate operators have a single Director of Maintenance (DOM), Crew Chief, or mechanic that oversees the maintenance of their aircraft. They perform most of the day to day maintenance requirements. When they have a large inspection or alteration, they typically have that work performed by a repair station or other Major Repair Organization (MRO). However, many times the small to medium sized jobs like troubleshooting and minor maintenance up to small inspections that are well within their scope of capabilities and facilities require more than one mechanic to get the job done efficiently. It is common practice to hire Full Article
Workers Comp Independent Contractor or Employee
A past article in a National Business Aviation Association quarterly publication addressed whether flight departments should use independent contractors. While the article’s focus was on IRS tax issues, it raised some very relevant issues that apply to workers compensation. Namely, when is an independent contractor considered an employee, and how should a company treat that contract employee from a workers compensation standpoint? Every state has its own litmus test, however a good start in understanding how to classify a worker can be found on the IRS website (www.irs.gov) under Tax Topics. Topic 762 entitled “Independent Contractor vs. Employee” gives a Full Article
Why We Train
As a professional pilot for over 30 years and retired US Airways pilot I have a great deal of admiration for the professionalism demonstrated by the entire crew of US Airways Flight 1549. The three-minute flight following the bird strikes, subsequent wet ditching, and rescue, the crew performed the duties for which they were trained but hoped they would never have to use. They were both lucky and unlucky. They were unlucky in that it happened to them instead of any other flight that departed La Guardia that day. They were lucky in that they were departing a familiar Full Article
