Flight Safety: No laughing matter

Another post about License Aircraft Engineers if u don’t mind. What to do, not many people know about us. Even some flight stewardess said “huh? What do they do?”

Me, being (soon-to-be actually) one of the LAEs, and also a blogger, of course i would take the opportunity of blogging to spread my words and make the world hear me, feel me, understand me, and most importantly: REMEMBER US AS LICENSE AIRCRAFT ENGINEERS.

Flying is not a funny business. But do you know that flying is the safest of all modes of transportation? You don’t believe me?

According to the US based National Transportation Safety Board in a survey couple of years ago, it stated that your chances of being killed in a motorcar accident is 1 in 5,000. Malaysians know that very well as come festive season, we always have statistics of death by motor vehicle topping each other every year.

The US survery also noted that if you decide to travel by train, the odds are reduced to 1 in 40,000. In an aeroplane, it varies from 1 in 400,000 to 10,000,000 depending on the REPUTATION on the airline. (MAS reputation = GOOD ;P)


Effects when baggages are unevenly loaded into the plane.

Just like your car, maintenance is the key to transportation safety. In reality, the maintenance guys of aircrafts are not like your next door mechanics. The difference being that we are not usually in greasy overalls and we don't allow you to sit and watch us until we get impatient and hit you with either a spanner or a humongous bill!

For your info, LAEs have uniforms to wear too. Like pilots, we have white shirt, black trousers, and 3 golden bars on our shoulder (3.5 bars for Foreman). But then again, that wont happen until i grad. Thus for now, as a trainee engineer, i'll stil be wearing greasy overalls haha!

Aircraft maintenance is professionally done. It involves serious no-nonsense approach. Prior to every flight, the maintenance personnels conduct a thorough visual inspection on the aircraft, checking for dents, damange, or cracks on the body and and oil leaks from the systems. Once found, we'll start cracking our heads like opening a durian!

Think think think! Accurate and fast decisions have to made immediately. Notify the Lead Engineer/Foreman about the problem, and inform the airport staff the time needed to delay the flight. Better be quick, because Malaysians are never patient when it comes to paying RM2000-4000 for a ticket hahaha! They expect quality, true?


Looks like an aborted take off. Tyres will automatically puncture when overheat.

Also, after 3-50 days, the plane's surface controls are thoroughly checked. This includes the landing gears, brakes, various fluid levels as well as the oxygen system.

On top of that, every eight months, the internal control system, all the emergency equipment and the hydraulic system are carefully checked. Of course, if your see emergency equipments being deployed during a flight, it's probably time to call your family and the insurance agent! LoL...

*Extra knowledge: The air inflated-slide during emergency use can be fully inflated in just 6 seconds (it's very huge). And it is inflated using nitrogen.


Bird strike on the engine. It must be an ostrich to cause that dent!

Every 12-17 months, the maintenance crew do an even more detailed check, using devices to probe for wear and tear, corrosion, and cracks in components that are not visible to the eye.

Most importantly, after every 3-5 years, the aircraft is taken apart for a major overhaul. Major overhaul means stripping the planes until it is naked. For easier understanding, strip off your clothes, your skin, your hair, your muscles, your organs, but only leave your skeleton. Get it?

This entails the removal of major components that are life expired and replacing them with newer ones where applicable. Kinda like doing plastic surgery, except that the final outlook will still be the same.

Never feel scared while flying alright? The guys maintaining your flight are well trained and experience. And no aircraft manufacturer sets out to produce a faulty aircraft, because it doesn't kill a maximum of 5-6, but a minimum of 100-200 people.

Don't u feel more comfy in MAS' flight, rather than Aasia's?

Chill, sit back, chew kacang, and watch the in-flight entertainment while enjoying your aircraft meal ok? U'll reach your destination in no time and it's gonna be all fine.