Hit 10,000 flight hours last month and it felt weird

I was doing a routine check on a 737's APU at my shop in Phoenix when I glanced at my logbook. Add it up and I'm at 10,347 hours of flight time across 22 years. Never really thought about the number before but it hit me hard. That is 10,000 hours of vibration, pressure changes, and praying the bolts hold. I have seen three engine failures, two bird strikes, and one landing gear collapse in that time. The weird part is I still get nervous before every shift. Does anyone else keep track of their hours or do you just let it pile up?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo61220d ago

Respectfully, that number is just a number and nothing more. I've got more hours than you and never once felt the need to count them up like that lol.

jamie_smith15d ago

Ha, fair point but I think your missing something. I started tracking my hours after I kept showing up to shift feeling like I was always behind everyone else. Turns out I was way overestimating my skill time and shortchanging myself on the boring foundational stuff. It's like budgeting money - you can guess how much you spend on coffee but when you actually write it down you realize its double what you thought. Then you can actually fix it instead of just hoping.

elizabeth90020d ago

Laughing at people for tracking their hours is just gatekeeping with extra steps. Not everyone wants to guess.