Amanda Hill doesn’t fit the typical profile of an aviation mechanic: She’s young — now 32, she graduated with her A&P/IA certification 13 years ago — and she’s a lot more interested in the wires and electronics that keep a plane flying than its gears and mechanics.
We sat down with Amanda to ask about her journey to working on avionics in the Wings of Hope hangar.
Have you always wanted to do this?
Yes and no. I love aviation, and I really wanted to be a pilot. That’s the first thing I thought I wanted to do. But I also love working on things.
I went to an airshow (as a teen), and I walked up to my very favorite — best, in my opinion, designed aircraft ever made — and that was a B-2. I walked up to the B-2 and there was a pilot, so I asked him questions: How do you work without a rudder system? How’s this work? And he said, “I don’t know. I just push a button.”
And I thought, I don’t want to be you. Because I have no desire to know what it’s like to fly. I want to know how it works — and not just design one, I like hands on. I didn’t want to be an engineer at a desk designing something; I wanted to be physically involved in fixing the problems.
Airplanes are cool, the designing is cool — but what I love is fixing problems, fixing broken things.
Why avionics?
Most mechanics can’t stand wires. I remember at A&P school, we had an aircraft that was all taken apart. Years ago, all wires in an airplane had to be white — you could not have colored wires in an aircraft. So I looked into this jet and the interior was pulled apart and there were thousands of white wires everywhere. Most people said, “I don’t want anything to do with that.” And I thought, “That looks like a fun puzzle.”
How unusual is it for an A&P/IA mechanic to also be skilled in avionics?
As an A&P/IA mechanic who loves working on the electrical side of the aircraft, I’m an odd duck.
You’ve got electrical people who don’t want to work on the mechanical side and mechanics who don’t want to work on the electrical systems. I’ve found that there are very few mechanics who know both.
I love both sides of it.
How has understanding both the electrical and mechanical sides of aviation helped you?
When somebody calls and they say they have an issue — when I run up my engine, I’ve got this noise in my headset that won’t go away — I’m able to ask: Did it happen during a mag drop? OK, you’re introducing noise in the engine which is back feeding its way into the aircraft so look in this direction.
I’ve had so many people on the avionics side sit around me during those conversations and ask, “How did you know?” Well, if you knew how the engine works, you know what might be causing the issue. But because you’ve never learned the engine side of it, you don’t know what you’re missing.
There’s a huge gap. They can wire it, but once it interfaces with the aircraft, they’re lost.
You work in the Wings of Hope hangar one to two days per week. What are you doing the rest of the time?
I’m an on-call avionics person. So when there are radios to be installed or issues on an airplane, I go to where the airplane is.
I’m also contracted with four other maintenance shops. We have a lack of avionics technicians in the world right now. These shops are stuck with airplanes that physically can’t leave because their wiring is not done.
I work from home a lot. I bring projects in, and I set up a table in my living room. And that actually works because I can be home and work — and take care of the kids. I have three kids — ages 2, 6 and 8 — and my husband is a pastor. I’ve got a little setup for the kids so they can help strip wire and play with wire. At least two out of my three have an interest in something very hands-on.
I’m also a professional photographer on the weekends.
What do you like about working at Wings of Hope?
I always wanted to be involved in aviation and missions — but it’s never worked out in my favor. I tried for some different overseas opportunities, and it didn’t work out. Working at Wings of Hope is a way for me to do what I want to do with aviation and missions.
I love what we do here.