This is a bad month for those of us who work tirelessly toward the goal of ensuring that certified aircraft maintainers are recognized for their knowledge, skills and abilities. We have lost an individual who often would stand and push his employer–the FAA–to do “the right thing” in regulating aircraft maintenance processes or procedures dealing with the individual mechanic. Standing up to a government-run bureaucracy is not for the weak, and sometimes you need all the strength you can muster to withstand what comes back at you.
Bill O’Brien, retired FAA national resource specialist, was the kind of person who could do all of that and more. He contributed many of his ideas freely in his monthly article in Aviation Maintenance Technology and in his many presentations to maintainers around the country. There is a long list of companies that specialize in general aviation that have also benefited from Bill’s knowledge of the FARs and what they needed to do to stay airworthy. He conducted hundreds, if not thousands, of IA renewal seminars around the country.
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