and overhead bins. They traded out windows. They pulled up carpet. They worked on galleys. They learned how to install business-class seats in as little as February 2015 37 Victory lap Photos: (Far left) Clockwise from center, Boeing South Carolina fabrication specialists Sean Brazil, Mark Hendrix and Trent Hervey, Pit Crew Academy leader Nancy McCutchin, and Pit Crew instructor Carlos Ojeda replace an interior window in a 787 Dreamliner mock-up. (Middle) Clockwise from left: Clint Dunagan, foreground, cabin systems manager, and Ryan Reynolds, fabrication specialist, inspect a luggage bin; fabrication specialists Hendrix, from left, Hervey and Timothy Moxley work on a rear bin; fabrication specialists Ashten Cantonwine, foreground, and Brazil install a window. (Right) Ojeda, left, and Cantonwine install an interior window. sharing in auto racing–themed training that stresses speed and efficiency, just like during a NASCAR pit stop. It’s a very busy place. Last year the center hosted 143 workshops involving 4,400 people, and in 2012 it welcomed another 122 events and 3,800 visitors. Six airlines have enrolled maintenance employees in the classes. Seven Boeing South Carolina cabin-interior specialists, preceded by nine Air Canada mechanics and aircraft maintenance engineers, recently were added to the roll call, bringing Air Canada’s total number of training participants to 70. Each group spent two intense days with Pit Crew instructors. They were taught how to replace interior airplane parts in such a rapid-fire manner that even the most demanding NASCAR driver would have offered a thumbs-up. “It’s all about teamwork, getting it right the first time,” said Timothy Moxley, a Boeing South Carolina fabrication specialist and four-year Boeing employee. “In NASCAR, you might be in first place, you mess up, it costs you a few seconds and you end up in 10th. It’s simplified here. They want it simple. I get that.” The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest governing body of stock car racing in the United States and sanctions races in many states, particularly in the South. In fast-moving sessions, the Boeing South Carolina and Air Canada crews were shown how to replace floor panels
Frontiers February 2015 Issue
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