Born in Tehran, Iran on the 28th
of Mordad,1321 (Aug 19, 1942), last of four sons and one daughter to the
parents Mohamad-Ali & Dolat , both natives of Rasht, Gillan province of
Iran.
Completed elementary and high
school in Tehran and graduated from Alborz high school in 1962.
1963
traveled to the United States and attended Montana State College in pre-
engineering curriculum, in 1964 transferred to Northrop institute of
Technology (NIT) in California, Aviation Maintenance School and in 1966
obtained FAA airframe and power plant mechanic licenses. In 1968
graduated from Northrop University receiving Bachelor Science Degree in
Aircraft Maintenance Engineering.
1968-1969:
Joined “Ronson Hydraulic Engineering” in California as Test Engineer
assigned to the group developing United States navy deep submersion
rescue vehicle (DSRV) hydraulic power package.
1969-1982;
Joined Iran Air engineering & maintenance division as a service engineer
and assumed various positions in the aircraft maintenance department
ranging from supervisory to the director of maintenance. During this
period completed ground school type training courses for maintenance and
inspection release authorization for all aircraft in Iran Air fleet
which included:
DC3, DC6, Fokker F27, B727,
B737, B707, B474, &A300 airframe & systems –engine, electrical,
avionics, taxi and engine run up.
Most of this training was
completed at the manufacturer’s training facilities and aircraft
production assembly lines at the Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, Fokker, Rolls
Royse, & Airbus. Completed aircraft accident prevention training courses
in Stockholm University in Sweden, and attended management training
courses in the USA, American Management Institute and Tehran center for
management in affiliation with the Harvard University.
During employment with Iran Air
visited and worked closely with some of the major carriers in the Europe
becoming familiar with their maintenance organizational structures for
handling and planning of aircraft maintenance requirements such as
British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM & Air France.
While assigned to the Iran Air
line stations maintenance department, was responsible for planning and
setting up some of the domestic and international line stations.
Assisted with the “on the job training” program for the new hires and
local technicians for handling of Iran Air flights. Planned for spare
parts inventories, tooling and equipment required for each individual
station’s particular needs. Worked at the European stations in; London,
Paris, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Geneva and Istanbul as maintenance
representative.
Assumed responsibility of F-27
Project manager was responsible for transfer of the Oil Company’s F-27
fleet maintenance operation and performance from KLM to Iran Air in
Abadan with all Iranian technicians. In order to accomplish this, had to
be trained and receive type licenses from Dutch civil aviation
authorities and KLM quality control department for maintenance release
and operation of Dutch registered aircraft.
Next worked at the main base as
senior manager aircraft services /Director of maintenance, directly
responsible for all major checks of Iran Air fleet in the hangar and
maintenance of flight line in Tehran, plus providing support for all out
station’s maintenance needs. Had administration and management control
of over 850 technical staff from 23 different nationalities working
around the clock 7 days a week. This also included direct
responsibility for managing the maintenance and inspection requirements
of the Royal fleet & all VIP flights. In 1978 received the Royal Medal
of Honor and accumulated several certificates of appreciations for
excellence from various dignitaries in the country and Iran Air
management including the Chairman.
1982:
Moved back to the USA and joined Global International Airways in Kansas
City, Missouri as Director of Maintenance and technical advisor to the
chairman of its parent company, Aviation Leasing Group (ALG). Controlled
and managed all in house and contract maintenance requirements for the
fleet of over thirty- B707, B727, & B747 aircraft world wide,
responsible for the material management and all technical stores-
purchasing and inventory control. Directly responsible for setting up an
electronic system for control of aircraft records and spares parts
inventories.
From 1985 to 1998 while
working for ALG and it’s subsidiary operations as Senior Vice President
Technical Services, handed all technical requirements for the company
‘s inventory of over 100 jet aircraft which were leased to various
airlines worldwide for compliance with the contractual requirements
for the condition at pre delivery, during operation by the lessee and
after return from lease.
During this period directly
handled and was involved in setting up over 12 new startup turnkey
operation airlines in various part of the world including the USA, South
America, Africa, Middle East and Russian States. Some of the tasks
included training of flight and cabin crew, maintenance and ground crew,
preparation of manuals, setting up required maintenance facilities,
technical record keeping, stores and etc. in accordance with the local
aviation authority’s rules and regulations.
1998
to present: Joined FAA (federal aviation
administration) as an aviation safety Inspector assigned to the
airworthiness group for the Northwest Airlines certificate management
office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Responsibilities include verifying
the aircraft are maintained in an airworthy condition, meeting all
Federal Regulation requirements and Northwest Airlines maintenance
program requirements. In order to accomplish this frequent inspections
are performed of maintenance facilities and aircraft around the world.
Married to “Nina” in 1966 when
she was a student at the California State University in Los Angeles,
studying for her B.S. degree in business administration.
Have one daughter “Bita”
graduated from California State University in Irvine with a Degree in
music and political science and have a grandson
“Kamran” age 4.
PART: 1
On several occasions in the past
I was asked by our dear
friend Abbas Atravash to write
a brief summary in a non technical terms for all
EXIR readers, explaining in general terms what an
FAA inspector does , and what an average day at work is
like.
After careful consideration for
putting this in writing in a format that everyone could follow I decided
to make brief introductions to FAA under:
-
WHO THE FAA IS
-
WHAT FAA DOES
-
HOW THE FAA WORKS
WHO
THE FAA IS
By 1926 aviation industry and
its leaders came to realize that the airplane could not reach its full
commercial potential without Federal Government action to improve and
maintain safety standards. Congress passed the Commerce
Act and charged the Secretary of Commerce with fostering Air Commerce,
issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilot, certificating
aircraft, establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to
air navigation.
In 1958 with the introduction
of jet airliners and increase of passenger traffic and events of series
of midair collisions, congress passed the Federal Aviation Act. This
legislation transferred all civil aviation functions to a new
independent body, the Federal Aviation Agency and later on
in 1966 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with sole
responsibility for developing and maintaining a common civil-military
system of air navigation and air traffic control, and safety rule
making, under the Department Of Transport (DOT).
Today
FAA mission is to provide the safest,
most efficient aerospace system
in the world.
WHAT FAA DOES
During its evolution FAA had to
expand and spread its oversight to many areas of aviation by
establishing various organizations for specific functions and
responsibilities.
Mainly;
|
◊ Airport Environment
◊ Air
traffic
◊ Aviation Counsel
◊ International Aviation
|
And few others
◊ Aviation Policy Planning
and
◊ Aviation Safety |
Today
FAA Vision is to improve safety and efficiency of aviation,
while being responsive to its
customers, and accountable to the public.
Part:
II
What
I Do for FAA:
Introduction to
ATOS:
With the increase of numbers of
airlines operating in the USA and expansion of their fleet sizes, FAA in
1998 completed and implemented a new scientific method of surveillance
of the major air carriers which is referred to as “Air Transport
Oversight System (ATOS)”.
ATOS is sophisticated electronic
data base based on System Safety principals and trend monitoring. ATOS
looks at each individual operator for having the proper management
control and resources available in place to meet all the requirements
under which it has been certificated. Furthermore, that the carrier has
a self monitoring system through its own internal audit system for
measuring its own performance and well being.
Under ATOS, there are number of
functions and job tasks (attributes) which are required to be full
filled by each individual operator in order to stay healthy and operate
safely.
ATOS functions are referred to
as “elements” that so far it has been determined to exceed 90 elements
and may change as new discoveries come to light. For example some of
the elements that exists today are: the crew duty time reporting,
handling of maintenance discrepancies, engineering modifications,
fueling of aircraft , training of pilots, training of mechanics,
passenger’s carry on bags, passenger boarding, cargo loading, emergency
equipments, etc . ATOS verifies and looks at each individual element in
two areas:
(a) Safety Attributes
Inspection (SAI) (b) Element
Performance Inspection (EPI)
Under the SAI, depending to the
priority and its importance, each element gets to be reviewed by a team
selected by the Principal Inspectors at certain intervals for how the
operator manages and controls that particular element and whether the
contents of operator’s manuals for that particular element meet all FAA
rules and regulations. Each inspector may get assigned to more than one
SAI during each quarter. To conduct an SAI, teams will follows a set of
check list and reports all findings for entry in the ATOS data base.
Under the EPI, principal
inspectors assign each individual inspector to one or more elements
during a certain period. Inspector are expected to perform several
inspections at various points independent of each other in accordance
with that check list and confirm if the operator is complying with the
rules and following its own procedures and processes as prescribed in
its manuals. For example an inspector assigned a EPI for ‘carry on
bags’ will make observation at various airports and passenger departure
points and make sure that the operator follows a required set of rules
and procedures at all points not just one or two locations. The same
applies to the maintenance inspector that gets an EPI assignment for
the airworthiness of an operator’s aircraft they will follow the element
check list and looks at several aircraft operated by the same operator
at various times and locations and reports all non compliance findings
in the ATOS data base.
Depending to the severity and
number of findings reported by each inspector for the same element, the
ATOS data base will raise a warning flag for the attention of the
principals, which will be followed with an intensive investigation by
the FAA office in charge of that particular certificate.
My
Job:
I am an ATOS aviation safety
inspector for maintenance and avionics specialties assigned to the FAA,
Northwest Airlines Certificate Management Office (NWA-CMO). Northwest
Airlines (NWA) is the 4th largest passenger airlines
operating in the USA with fleet of over 400 airplanes. My primary job
function is to carry out routine surveillance of the carrier for all
maintenance work accomplished on its fleet. I also get assigned to
perform SAI and EPI for the carrier. Each quarter I get assigned by the
office to perform certain number of SAIs and EPIs according to the ATOS
data base reports. Some of my assignments will require extensive
traveling to various domestic and international locations where NWA
flies and performs its own maintenance, or has contracts with other
organizations for handling of its aircraft maintenance major checks, or
repairs of the engines and components. At some locations major portion
of my inspections are conducted at nights or on weekends when the
airplanes are on the ground and scheduled for maintenance to be
accomplished. My prime concern would be to make sure that the
technicians doing the work are adequately trained and familiar with type
of the job they are to perform and have the right paper work on hand
for the instructions of how to perform the job with the right tooling.
For any SAI or EPI inspector must do advance preparation by
reviewing and familiarizing himself with all the regulatory requirements
and operator’s specific manuals applicable to that particular element,
this may take of several days of an extensive research and intensive
review and interview time.
All aviation safety inspectors
are mandated by law to promote safety and for that safety inspectors
have been granted access rights/privileges to all US airports, and all
US registered aircraft including aircraft flight logs, all maintenance
records, pilot and mechanic licenses etc. On routine basis I conduct an
en-route inspection of the NWA and other US air carrier flights in the
cabin and cockpit on some of the domestic and international routes. For
a cockpit check, I normally join the flight crew as an additional crew
member by occupying the observer seat in the cockpit.
As maintenance inspector I make
sure that all previous discrepancies reported in the aircraft log book
has been properly rectified and the technician performed the work used
proper method and manual references for doing the work and the log book
has the proper released sign off. I also make sure that there are no
obvious defects present on the aircraft by doing a preflight walk around
inspection of the interior and exterior of the aircraft including all
cabin emergency equipment.
Prior to departure I verify
flight crew licenses and their medicals for currency and proper
equipment rating for the type the aircraft they are operating. I also
make sure that flight and cabin crew properly conduct their preflight
checks and those flight crews use the right check lists. On the ground
during preflight operational check of the aircraft systems I verify
along with the crew that there are no malfunctions presents. During
flight while on the radio I listen and make observation for crew
communications with the air traffic and ground stations and also that
the crew is following FAA regulations for flying at certain altitudes.
During flight and after landing I make sure that all aircraft systems
are functioning properly and all malfunctions/defects or incidents are
documented and reported by the crew before they leave the aircraft.
All FAA inspectors including
myself are mandated to investigate and follow ups on all safety and non
compliance issues when we discover them during our routine work for
detail evaluation and necessary corrective actions. During an
investigation which may involve one or more entities that have been
certificated by FAA flight standard offices such as the pilot, mechanic,
repair agency, airlines, aircraft owners/operator etc we make an
evaluation for the nature of the problem and determine the severity of
its consequences and probability of its reoccurrence. Based on the
evaluations outcome we will make decision for a final action form a “no
action” or suspension or permanent revocation of the certificates or
impose a civil (financial) penalty. Of course the violators have the
rights to challenge our decisions in a court of law and a team of
aviation experts.
