Ed Florek at Henry Hall, the former residence hall home of the Aviation House at WMU
Each time you board an airliner, no doubt you wish good tidings for the people in control of the aircraft, that they are having a good day, and that they dot every "i" and cross every "t" in making their checks.
But what about folks like Ed Florek? If the 2020 graduate of the WMU College of Aviation with a major in aviation technical operations misses some small detail, it might not be such a good day for that aircraft's next flight, be it carrying people or cargo.
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Growing up in Calumet City, Ill., at the southwestern edge of Lake Michigan in what is referred to as "Chicagoland," he was the youngster who took apart the mechanical alarm clock or the family's lawn mower to learn what made them tick. Nearby the Calumet City community of just under 40,000 in neighboring Hammond, Ind., was the century-old Bishop Noll Institute, the private Catholic high school that granted Florek a K-12 diploma in 2016.
Western seemed a logical choice for higher education because of the reputation of its College of Aviation -- specifically its maintenance program. "I have always been interested in aviation," he says. "I had been going to airshows and aviation museums with my family for a very long time. I loved airplanes so I chose a career path in the things in which I was interested." Besides, the Kalamazoo home of Western Michigan University's main campus and the Battle Creek base of the aviation program is not that far away from his origins -- about a 120-mile jaunt east on I-94.
These days, Florek is still "close to home" as part of the AAR Corp. team operating out of Rockford, Ill. -- also regarded as part of "Chicagoland." The enterprise was founded in 1955 in Oklahoma City, renamed Allen Aircraft Radio in 1962, and took its current moniker seven years later when it diversified into the aircraft-maintenance business. In the 2020s, AAR Corp. is headquartered near O'Hare International Airport and employs 6,000 in 20 countries.
"At AAR," Florek says, "I have learned about heavy-maintenance checks and the detail that goes into heavy maintenance on large passenger aircraft. I like the work environment, the company's moral code, and its way of doing business. My goals at AAR are to gain experience in heavy-maintenance checks and a complete understanding of what goes into those deep checks."
Florek's favorite airplane to work on - the Boeing 737 - with the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 underneath
And what experience he's getting -- working on the airframes for some of the big boys in the sky, such as the B767 and the A330. For those who are not aircraft junkies, the Boeing 767 is the wide-body airliner that has been in service since 1982, has been upgraded since then, and debuted its freighter version in 1995. The Airbus 330 is another wide body whose current version came online in 1992.
"There are things about each airframe that I like," he says, "but my favorite is the B737 because everything is within reach and easy to get to. Those heavy checks are very detailed and very thorough. They are a lot of work, but you can really get into the meat-and-potatoes of the aircraft, and get to see how everything works. The workload has kept me busy, and I like to stay busy." For the uninitiated, the B737 is more of a narrow body powered by two jets. It has been produced since 1997 as an upgrade to a previous generation of aircraft.
While Florek brought to Western his own sense of work ethic and values, all of that was invigorated by his favorite class in advanced maintenance practices and troubleshooting. "We got a lot of hands-on time with airplanes that were available to us. In heavy-maintenance checks, the main objective is to take the time to do a thorough inspection of components, something that normal line maintenance and other checks don't get into. These are important to see how the less-often-inspected areas of the aircraft are doing and to check how places -- the ones that take a lot of time to get to -- are doing structurally."
Buster Bronco with his favorite Lawson Lunatic look-a-like!
As far as a favorite instructor or two is concerned, Florek demurred. "I enjoyed my time with all of my instructors because they each had their own experiences from which you could gain knowledge that was applicable not only in college but also in the aviation industry as a whole. Each really helped mold me into who I am professionally. It's how and where I learned about airframes, composites, reciprocating power plants, the function of an effective workforce, and professionalism. They made what they were teaching easy to soak up and they made their classes as fun and enjoyable as possible. To pick just one wouldn't be really fair. Because of them, I was prepared to step into the aviation-maintenance workplace fully prepared and ready to work."
Not so with picking a favorite Western memory. That was pretty easy. "It was the hockey games," he says. "Hands down, the experience and the friendships I made are irreplaceable. Mike McKee's overtime goal to send the Broncos further into the NCAA playoffs was amazing. The Lawson Lunatics (Western students who are Bronco hockey fans) went wild and the whole building seemed like it would come crashing down because of the loudness. Just being able to be a Lunatic for four years really helped me enjoy my time at Western even more." When he returns to "The Zoo," No. 1 on his to-do list will be to reunite with his hockey buddies and other pals at their favorite watering hole -- Waldo's Campus Tavern.
As mentioned earlier, Florek spent some of his youth attending air shows, one of which was the Field of Flight Balloon Air Show in Battle Creek. He met an acquaintance who was studying aviation management at WMU, and it put a blip on his choice-of-college radar screen. The fellow asked Florek about his future plans. "I replied that I wanted to do something involving airplanes because that's just what I wanted to do. He mentioned Western's program and pointed out that it was located right near where the air show was being held. So, I started to look at WMU in depth and really liked what the university had to offer (even not knowing about the Lawson Lunatics).
Florek with his favorite mascot, Buster Bronco
"The availability of 'tech ops' was what I liked the most," he says, "because the flight program was just not in my budget range. Admittedly, as a kid growing up, I wanted to fly them but that just wasn't in the cards. So, I took the next best thing. Being able to do something with airplanes was what I liked the most. It seemed like a good fit because I have always found myself doing hands-on types of mechanical things and enjoying that kind of activity. The avenue I chose is a really good one."
For people like Ed Florek, there is no such animal as a bad day on the job, especially when he can work on making a plane function perfectly -- and safely. Like many others in his chosen profession, the perpetual learning curve required to be a better-than-ever effective technician has been hampered by the Covid pandemic. It has slowed the activities of "MROs" (maintenance and repair organizations), the entities that live and breathe jet engines, landing gears and the complexities of avionics. "It's been a challenge not only to learn the processes of heavy maintenance, but also the concept of keeping aircraft in storage when it's not something the company typically does."
Florek says his long-term goal is "to build a career I can be proud of. I don't want to look back at my life and regret doing or not doing something. With aviation, the possibilities are almost endless. I just want to do what I want to do, and that's work on airplanes. That's the best part of my job. I'm presented different tasks almost every day. I love that challenge."
For people like Ed Florek, there is no such animal as a bad day on the job, especially when he can work on making a plane function perfectly -- and safely.