May 24, the birthday of Charles E. Taylor, the man who built the engine used to power the Wright Brothers first airplane, is designated National Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Day. Aircraft maintainers, students, companies and organizations around the United States celebrate this day to recognize the dedication of the men and women who keep our aircraft safely flying.
This year I was invited by Snap-on Industrial to celebrate with them in Atlanta, GA at the Delta TechOps AMT Day celebration and it was no small event! I had the chance to talk with numerous Delta technicians and personally thank them for the job they do each and every day.
According to one of the event organizers, Delta began observing AMT Day for their technicians in 2008. The event began at 3:00 a.m. on May 25th and went to 8:00 p.m. so that employees on each of the different shifts had an opportunity to attend.
This year’s show in Atlanta was the largest one yet. With over 50 different companies participating, the technicians were able to take advantage of special pricing on tools and services they could use at work or home and many vendors provided prizes at their booths. You literally could buy a house, a car, a motorcycle, or any tool you could think of at this event.
Delta supplied lunch for everyone including the vendors which totaled over 9,000 employees with 300 vendor guests. Delta senior leadership was seen mingling with the attendees.
How did you spend national AMT Day? I hope you were able to celebrate.
Ron
