Page 58 - World Airnews Magazine May Edition 2021

ADVERTORIAL

THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF AVIONICS

ENGINEER

INDUSTRY CHANGES TAKE TIME

When thinking about jobs in aviation many instinctively According to Petras Kaukėnas, the whole aviation industry is not
turn to pilots and flight crew, but in reality there are thousands of changing too fast.
career opportunities for specialists in many fields – from ground “To introduce new models of aircraft or new systems into
control to engineering, to communications. the aircraft can take up to 10 years or even more,” explained
Jet MS, a global provider of base and line maintenance services the avionics engineer. “But anyway, the aircraft avionics system
for business and regional aircraft, opened doors to a career technologies are moving forward and new aircraft have advanced
avionics. Diagnostic systems are improving too and modern
in aviation industry for hundreds of people in maintenance, aircraft can reduce workload of determining issues significantly.
engineering and other fields. Some positions are pretty self- For example, aircraft parameters and status can be monitored on
explanatory and clear, while others might raise a few questions. the ground anytime, even when aircraft is in flight.”
One of such lesser known specialties is avionics engineering.
Petras Kaukėnas, avionics engineer at Jet MS, talks about the
position, what it takes to join avionics field and about his time at 2020 IN AVIONICS
the company. “Pandemic forced the whole aviation industry to slow down and
maintenance and engineering fields are not an exception. Aircraft
BECOMING AN AVIONICS ENGINEER were flying less frequently during the pandemic, so less heavy
Avionics engineers are responsible for maintenance on aircraft maintenance project were needed”, said Petras.
autopilot, communication, navigation and electrical systems. “Regardless, we have noticed that business aviation began
Petras Kaukėnas explained what is needed in order to become recovering pretty early in the year and even saw growth. People
one: “To become avionics engineer you must pass EASA (European who have never flown private chose to travel while minimising the
Union Aviation Safety Agency) Part-66 exams and gain experience number of contact points experienced during regular passenger
in aircraft maintenance. Also, you must pass aircraft type theoret- flight procedures.
ical and practical training for a particular aircraft model. The final 2020 also brought a greater need for remote work. While some
step is to finish on-the-job training and apply for a licence.” Jet MS departments were able to switch to remote operations,
avionics and mechanics, technicians and engineers had to stay
TROUBLESHOOTING AND CLOSE COOPERATION put. In our environment, the only thing what changed is work
culture. Wearing masks and hand disinfection became new
Working as avionics engineer requires careful planning and task normal.”
management. “Prior to the aircraft arrival we prepare a plan, in
what order tasks must be done”, said Petras Kaukėnas. “Usually 2021 PREDICTIONS
maintenance tasks, requiring Engine and APU run-ups in the
beginning of maintenance, are done. Also, troubleshooting, “As global vaccination gains momentum, travel restrictions will
requiring aircraft to be outside the hangar, are performed. Later be lifted and with that hundreds of aircraft that are currently
on, tasks, which require aircraft to be fully operational, are done grounded will return to operations. MRO services will be in high
and components, requiring to be sent for repair or overhaul, are demand for both civil and business aviation,” said Petras. “Markets
removed. vaccination results are great, should see begin recovering in Q2.
Close collaboration with mechanics is required, because we And as for Jet MS, we are putting a lot of focus on sustainability
don’t want to stop each other works for a long time. Later on, and are experimenting with the reuse of scrapped aircraft
inspections in various aircraft zones are performed. After those fuselages as decorations or for learning platforms, and optimising
inspections are done, non-conformities are repaired. Then our processes with LEAN system.” Q
assembly, testing and release to service are done.”
Like any other work, there are some challenges Petras has to
face. “Complex modifications are one of the most challenging
jobs. Especially when there are several modifications in the same
project and those modifications are related with each other,”
he explained and added: “But every task can be completed
successfully. Most important at this job is strictly following
manufacturer’s and our organisation’s procedures.”

CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE OF TEAMWORK
“Despite passion and knowledge being extremely important skills,
if you want to be a valuable specialist, being a team player is an
essential skill too. There is nothing that a good team can’t do.
If an aircraft is released on time, it is precisely because of good
teamwork,” claimed Petras Kaukėnas.
Jet MS provides a variety of maintenance services and avionics
engineering is one of them. “It is impossible to provide full
maintenance package without mechanics or avionics engineers.
Both are equally essential and company can’t run their business
without one of these services,” said Petras.

World Airnews | May Extra 2021
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