Various Boeing Training Programs
Vinyl Repair Program
As airplanes are delivered to customers, they reside on the flight line outside the factory. Though the plane is complete at this stage, there may be minor cosmetic flaws throughout the interior of the aircraft. These could be from manufacturing imperfections, or from possible damage as people move through the cabin during inspections, rework, or tours.
The vinyl crew’s job is to flag any of these problems and repair them. So, if there’s a rip in a vinyl seat, they must repair it so it looks brand new or replace the seat if the damage is too extensive. Or, if an overhead bin is damaged, scraped, or marked, they must get it back into pristine shape for the customer. The role is a mix of technician and artist. They must learn a great deal about materials, which materials to mix how and when, and what solutions will work in a given situation.
My role as an ID on this project was to follow them out to airplanes and observe their work for each of the more common situations a vinyl repair person would encounter. I would document the workflow, material mixing and application, context around a given repair, and photograph before, during, and after the process. All content was packaged into classroom training, presentations, videos, and hands-on exercises and labs.
Factory Paint
I worked as an ID on this project. My role was to document all the procedures and safety protocols for the paint crew responsible for painting plane sections and large parts prior to construction. This area had different sections for large parts such as fuselage, wings, rudders, and for smaller parts.
Working across all three shifts, I observed each process flow and documented procedures. I captured context through interviews with painters, and specifics with photographs and video. All content was packaged into classroom training, presentations, videos, and hands-on exercises and labs.
Tool Control Program
This was a rather straightforward project that detailed all the tool control procedures for the flight line. Any tool left on the airplane can potentially damage equipment or otherwise pose a risk to operations or personnel. As an ID on this project, I documented all procedures for flight line crew to follow when checking out and taking tools onto a plane, including specifics on returning tools and addressing lost and damaged tools. All content was packaged into online and classroom training.
Paint Hangar Safety Program
Decorative airplane painters have a lot of information to keep track of. The training program I helped develop for painters was between 500 and 700 hours depending on the role. Safety was covered throughout, but leadership wanted a program developed that specifically focused on safety in and around the hangars.
As an ID on this project my first job was to capture the documented safety information in all training and operations materials. With that, I set out to interview leadership and painters specifically around safety issues they dealt with and thought were most important to cover. From there gathered any missing procedures or context to fill in the gaps. Then I spent time in the hangars photographing every aspect of the safety content being presented. I packaged all training materials into a classroom training course.
