Transcript
I always knew I wanted to be in aviation. I loved watching the planes fly by. I love the sounds. I love the smells. I love the people. I love the, you know, the energy of aviation. When I walk into a hangar, it just feels like home.
My name is David MacDonald. I'm a Civil Aviation Safety Inspector, Airworthiness. I work in the Winnipeg office in the Prairie Northern region.
So, my background is, I’m an aircraft maintenance engineer. I've worked in industry for 18 years, plus two years in college before that. I grew up with aviation in the family. My dad was an aircraft maintenance engineer. So, as a kid, we would travel a lot. We'd go visit family in the summers. And I loved flying on the dash eight and watching the landing gear come out of the plane. And I always found it fascinating because you could see out the window the gear coming out of the nacelle, I always thought that was cool.
That kind of gave me the aviation bug. I went to school to be an aircraft maintenance engineer. I've always liked taking things apart. When I got into aviation, I found I had a bit of a knack for the regulatory side of things. I was the quality assurance and safety manager for about 12 years. And in that role, I ended up working with various Transport Canada inspectors. Getting to talk with them, it just sounded like an interesting job. The whole work-life balance, travelling, learning new things, working with different companies.
I'm also passionate about aviation safety. I want everybody to come home safe at the end of the night. Just think about every time you step on an airplane – You want to have the confidence that you're going to make it to the next airport safely, and you're going to make it home to your family at night. And, of course, there's a lot of people on the ground at the airline who are fixing that plane, flying that plane, cleaning that plane, servicing it, cleaning the runways at the airport, all that type of stuff. They’re the boots on the ground doing the work. Our job is to make sure those boots are on the ground doing the work and doing it correctly. Following the required policies, procedures, regulations and making sure all of the basic standards are met, so that you can get home safe to your family at the end of the day.
When Transport Canada is out and about doing inspections, they don't always find safety related issues everywhere you go because most companies are compliant and they're all putting your best foot forward, and they're trying to follow the rules and do things appropriately. You're still out having a presence, being available as a resource when companies have questions or people have questions which encourages others and just keeps driving things forward. It's all a benefit.