Transcript
Lacey Scoggins
Along with the great work-life balance that Transport Canada provides, the goal of maintaining a safe transportation system for the travelling public gives me great job satisfaction at the end of the day. I'm Lacey Scoggins, I'm a civil aviation safety inspector, airworthiness here in Moncton, New Brunswick for Transport Canada.
David MacDonald
My favourite day at work was out in Lac du Bonnet doing an inspection. It was a beautiful sunny day, working by the lake and looking at airplanes outside. It’s hard to ask for any more than that. My name is David MacDonald. I am the Civil aviation safety inspector for airworthiness. I work out of the Winnipeg office. An airworthiness inspector is assigned to several companies to look after that are aircraft maintenance organizations, or air operators.
And we look after ensuring that the companies remain regulatory compliant to Canadian aviation regulations. We issue aircraft maintenance engineer licenses and review those applications, issue flight permits and answer queries from the general public.
Lacey Scoggins
We split our time between doing these service tasks and also going out into the field and doing inspections on the enterprises that we maintain. Working for Transport Canada has always been a goal for me. I started in Atlantic Region here as an apprentice aircraft maintenance engineer for a small cargo aviation company, and I worked my way up through the company.
I got my M1 and M2 aircraft mechanics engineer’s license. I moved into a quality assurance role. When the opportunity opened up at Transport Canada, it was a no-brainer for me.
David MacDonald
My dad was in aviation, so that's how I got the aviation bug. So, I went to aircraft maintenance engineer school. I did that for about two years. After school, I worked in industry for eighteen years at one particular company. I worked my way up from being an aircraft maintenance engineer, aircraft mechanic into quality assurance position and then quality assurance management, safety management, and that gave me a good foundation of skills to transition into this role.
Lacey Scoggins
Communication skills are extremely important. You're consistently talking with the enterprises that you maintain and creating a welcoming place for questions to be asked. They're not afraid to tell you information because they know that you're there to support them and to help them through whatever they're going through.
David MacDonald
A lot of the job is not just, you know, ticking the box. You need to actually read and understand what you're looking at. Thinking about what it means and understanding what's going on to determine if that activity is compliant or not compliant. If there's something I don't know, I can reach out to a colleague and we do a lot of collaboration just throughout the week.
Sometimes, it's difficult to interpret the regulations to an exact scenario. So, we work together to read the rules and try to come up with a consistent interpretation of what the rule means and how it applies to that scenario.
Lacey Scoggins
When you're an aircraft maintenance engineer, shift work is a big thing. When you come home, you work for the federal public service. The work-life balance really is beneficial. Personally, I have two young daughters at home. They both play hockey. We have a very busy schedule. Knowing that I don't have to be connected to my work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that I can take that time away and spend with my family is huge.
David MacDonald
There's a lot of opportunity for career growth and progression. There's often job postings that come out that we're encouraged to apply for, in different divisions, departments. I myself took some French training last year. That was something that was offered to me and I took advantage of it.
Lacey Scoggins
I can say that I have some of the best coworkers that I've ever had through my career in aviation. We work together so well as a team. It's like a family, you know, that you can go to each other, with questions, concerns, and it's why I love coming to work every day. It’s because I know who I get to work alongside with and ask questions to and deliver a program with.