Change is the only Constant

If that old saying fits anything perfectly, it’s aviation. I graduated from A&P school in September of 1994, and in my journey in aviation, I’ve seen many things change and evolve, from aircraft, to record keeping, to in-flight entertainment, to training, to company policies, and on and on. When I trained in A&P school, we worked and trained with older aircraft—some from the first half of the 20th century; a Cessna 150, Cessna 310, a Mitsubishi MU2, and even an Ercoupe. All of the gauges were analog, and all of the controls were cable- or pushrod-driven. The engines we worked with, both recips and jets, were all mechanically controlled.

My first actual aviation job came around in 1995, and it was assisting with an inspection on a Westwind Astra jet owned by an oil company. Flight controls are all mechanical. Later on in 1995, I got into Part 121 when I started working for a company that installed an in-flight entertainment system in an aircraft of what was then Continental Airlines. This system and the technology that made it possible were beyond just an in-flight movie; it included games, aircraft-to-ground telephone service, and a number of other features that weren’t possible just a short time before.

In 1997, I went to work for a regional airline that operated Beech 1900s, Embraer EMB 120s, and ATR 42s. The 120s and the ATRs were a step or two up in technology. They had a couple of electronic displays— Cathode Ray tubes—that would display flight environment information. Still, pertinent aircraft system information was shown on analog gauges, the attitude indicator ran on an electric gyro, and the pilots were alerted of problems with little indicator lights. All flight controls were cable-driven or hydraulic, and all engine controls were mechanical. Back in those days, aircraft maintenance manuals were kept on microfilm, and we had to use a special viewer to look at them. Aircraft records were all on paper.

“There have been many, many changes in the aviation industry since i got into it back in the mid ‘90’s. In this industry, change is, indeed, the only constant.”

In late 1998, the company started operating a marvelous new jet. All kinds of new (for 1998) tech with this one. The flight environment information was shown on what was termed a Primary Flight Display, one on each side of the cockpit. Next to that was a Multi-Function Display that could show the parameters of the various aircraft systems. And in the middle was another display known as the Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System display that would display the engine operating parameters, landing gear position, spoiler position, roll, pitch, and yaw trim position, cabin pressure, APU operating parameters, and one area was dedicated to displaying system fault and failure information to the crew. The various aircraft systems were controlled by a pair of computers, other computer-stored system faults, and even the engines were controlled by computers. The engines are basically ‘plug-and-play’—there was no mechanical linkage between the cockpit and the engines. This was a huge leap from the old EMB 120s and ATR-42s. Also, aircraft maintenance manuals were on a drive that we could access with a desktop computer. Maintenance records were still on paper, but they were also kept in a computer system.

In 2019, the company I worked for, now known as ExpressJet, acquired and started operating new Embraer EMB 175s. Another leap in technology. They also have the five main displays in the cockpit, but they were LCD displays instead of CRT’s. This aircraft no only had computers to monitor the system parameters, but they controlled most of operation of the aircraft from flight controls to engine operation, all the way down to applying the brakes; almost all of the systems were *something*-by-wire.

All manuals are now stored and updated electronically and accessed with computers. Maintenance records are still on paper but also electronic, and systems are being put into place to even make logbooks electronic, eventually doing away with the paper ones.

Yes, there have been many, many changes in the aviation industry since I got into it back in the mid ‘90’s. In this industry, change is, indeed, the only constant. I can only feel excitement about what new things await us in this field.