Boeing’s elite repair team travels the world

They’re like first responders, but their patients aren’t people. Their patients are airplanes.

When an airline needs to get a damaged aircraft back in the air, it makes one call: to the Boeing Co.’s airplane on ground team.

The team is made up of elite mechanics who repair problems like those sustained during a tail strike, where the rear of a jet strikes the runway, or when an aft pressure bulkhead fails, or a luggage cart rams a fuselage or wing.

“We go out and support the customer, especially if it’s something that’s over their head,” said Michael Carpenter, a manager for the team.

The job starts with a survey. A small team can be called to go assess a damaged jet at a moment’s notice. The survey can take four or five days to complete. After the survey crew returns, they line up a full team to go back again with the parts and tools they’ll need to complete the job.

When they get to the aircraft, team members work in two 12-hour shifts to fix the jet as quickly as possible.

“We work nonstop,” Carpenter said.

Since a Boeing aircraft can be damaged anywhere, the crew can be called to remote areas where conditions aren’t ideal.

“We’ve had to stay in tents at an airport” in East Africa, Carpenter said.

When the generator went out, the temperature hit 100 degrees. They had to use mosquito nets because of the bugs. With other teams in the vicinity, Carpenter used earplugs and eye patches to sleep.

“That was the best shower I’ve had when I got back,” he said.

Carpenter’s longest assignment lasted 56 days in Thailand. He returned about 15 pounds lighter. But that’s not the most grueling stint in the group’s history — one took 120 days.

Of course, before signing off on an endeavor like that, an airline has to take the jet’s age and insurance into consideration. Often, the wait for a new aircraft can be too long for an airline.

Many airlines and maintenance, repair and operations companies, have their own ground teams. In fact, Boeing sometimes ends up bidding against repair operations for the work.

“That’s one thing the AOG prides itself on: meeting its deadlines,” Carpenter said.

To do that, the team has to be well-orchestrated when on an assignment. Each member knows the process — what duties he or she is responsible for and then what to do next.

Boeing’s airplane on ground team consists mostly of highly trained mechanics, as well as about a dozen workers with electronics and avionics experience and five or six people with composites experience. Some mechanics have more experience on certain models or different sections of the aircraft, Carpenter said. And the team also has its own planning and tooling people.

“When our mechanics aren’t out in the field, they’re working on the (production) floor,” he said. This helps keep the workers sharp.

Airplane on ground mechanics in Everett work on all of the company’s widebody jets — 747s, 767s, 777s and the new 787s.

Carpenter started his career at Boeing 21 years ago, at the age of 18, on the 747 line. He joined the aircraft on ground team in 1996 and has been a manager in the group for five years.

Managers like Carpenter look for Boeing workers with a minimum of five years of production experience with the company. Team workers tend to be self-starters and problem-solvers by nature. Typically, a floor manager recommends a mechanic for the position.

“I think people that are in AOG like the customer interaction and the variety of the work,” he said.

And there’s a lot of satisfaction to be gained from fixing a mangled jet.

But the life of an aircraft on ground worker isn’t for everyone.

“You miss birthdays and holidays,” said Carpenter, who by some coincidence seems to get called away for almost every Thanksgiving.

“It’s never the right moment,” he said. “You have to have a supporting family with what we do.”

The average trip for a team worker takes about two weeks, he said. And the average team member is on the road 120 days each year.

Carpenter, who is married with one child and another on the way, feels anxious if a few months go by and he hasn’t been on the road. The 39-year-old said his wife knows he enjoys his work; after all, Carpenter met her on an assignment in Brazil.

“It was a very good assignment,” he said.