DWH AMTs Doug Dixon (team captain), Alan Fairbairn, Gregg Petty, Tom Townsend and Ken Powell participate in The Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC) at the Maintenance Repair Organization (MRO) Americas trade show in Orlando

We already know we have the best maintenance technicians around, but this week, they had the chance to show off their skills to the rest of the world. For the third year in a row, American returned to the Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC) at the Maintenance Repair Organization (MRO) Americas trade show in Orlando, Florida. American’s teams came from DFW Line Maintenance, DWH Base Maintenance and Tech Ops – Tulsa. DFW Line competed in the commercial division, while Teams DWH and Tulsa held down the MRO division. The teams competed in a total of 26 events designed to test the skills and knowledge required of an AMT. While it’s called a competition, the event is really an opportunity for AMTs to participate with the best of the best while promoting their craft. Still, score is kept. And in the end, Team Tulsa had the fastest time in the APU event, while Team DFW took second. But because American sponsored it, the win was deferred to the highest scoring, non-sponsoring team in the spirit of sportsmanship. Team DFW had the fastest time in the Pratt & Whitney GTF Engine Event, while Team DWH had the fastest time in the Barfield Pitot Static Event. None of those successes were quite enough to capture overall wins, as the competition was fierce, and seconds divided the winners. But our teams represented American with integrity, and we look forward to another competition in 2018. American provided $25,000 in sponsorship to the AMC and more than one million miles for student teams to travel to the competition. We also sponsored a student team in the competition from Tulsa Technology Center. American’s Team Tulsa mentored the Tulsa Tech team, which competed for the first time. Jim Gentry and Glen Phillips, aircraft maintenance supervisors from Tech Ops – Tulsa, served as judges of the APU competition, while Ed Kempa, tech crew chief, San Diego, California (SAN) and Aaron Klippel, line crew chief, SAN judged the Optech 4D event, which was co-sponsored by American. In It to Win It: American Returns to the AMC From left: Michael McGehee, Andy tePoele, Ed Sventor (team captain), John Giglio, Bobby Akin and Tim Lonberger From left: Doug Dixon (team captain), Alan Fairbairn, Gregg Petty, Tom Townsend and Ken Powell From left: David Thorne, Jason Yoder, Dennis Lyle, Brian Mayhall, Alloysius “Alloy” Ramnarine and Tim Sills (team captain) TULSA DFW DWH Ken MacTiernan, AMT, SAN, is chairman of the AMC, which is in its ninth year. He said, “American’s AMTs are the best at what they do. They are always behind the scenes, using their knowledge and skills to keep our customers and crews safe. The AMC provides a world stage for these men and women to put these traits on display for everyone to see.”