Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the blog of an aspiring aviation management professional. My name is Jay Dankoff and I am a senior at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti Michigan. I am majoring in Aviation Management and minoring in General Business (I may also attain a second minor in Psychology). My intent is to focus my career efforts on advancing and improving safety in aviation at the operational level. How operational safety came to be my focus is an interesting story that is worth telling.

                 There are probably not many aspiring aviation professionals that say they want to become an aviation manager, much less an operations safety manager. Piloting or designing airplanes are far more attractive and obvious choices. Unlike many aviation professionals, I have not always had a fascination with aviation or flying. In fact, a little more than ten years ago, I had never even considered aviation as a possible career field. This is most likely due to the malady that has always affected my life, the need to have a sense of purpose. The first purpose that I chose champion was environmental stewardship. Growing up in southeast Michigan I spent nearly all of my free time hiking, fishing, camping, and exploring the woods. Both of my parents were hard working professionals so, the woods and lakes really raised me. Nature’s simple beauty and complex relationships had always fascinated me, and had spurred my interest in the sciences. Accordingly, I began to study environmental science when I first got to college. My studies, however, were quickly interrupted by the attacks of September 11, 2001. I was in my dorm room that morning, and watched the buildings fall on T.V. I was shocked, sad, scared, and angry. So I did what any overly confident twenty year old young man would do, I joined the military.

                Now, my family did not have any military members in it and I had almost no idea how the military worked. I did know a lot about the water, having spent many hours in boats and fishing, so the Navy seemed a smart fit. After taking the military job placement testing, the placement specialist told me that I would be a good aircraft mechanic. I was surprised to hear that the Navy had airplanes, but accepted the position because I could be deployed relatively quickly. Once I got started working on airplanes, I absolutely loved it. This job required scientific understanding, muscle, skill, and attention to details. I quickly became qualified in many areas and amassed many responsibilities. I loved the demanding environment of wartime aviation, and the reward of knowing I was accomplishing the important mission of defending the Constitution of The United States Of America. I was going to be in Navy aviation until they would not let me anymore. That was, until another interruption happened.

                One night, while doing one of the many dangerous jobs related to maintaining an aircraft, I was seriously hurt due to a machine failure. There had been a small explosion that had sent a large piece of metal into my face at very high speeds. I had suffered a shattered nose, damage to my right eye, a fractured skull, and trauma to my brain. My next two years were spent in inpatient and intensive outpatient neurology, ophthalmology, physical rehabilitation, speech pathology, psychology, and brain injury clinics. Meanwhile, the military had conducted an investigation into what had happened to me and found some things that were disappointing. The investigation report stated that there had been four other sailors that had been seriously injured by the same machine within the past few years, and that there were other incidents that had gone unreported. This meant that had the known incident reports been analyzed more quickly, and had these unreported incidents be reported, my injuries would likely have been mitigated. An article outlining these events was the cover story of Mech magazine in winter 2005-2006. Mech magazine is an aviation safety magazine published for Navy and Marine Corp mechanics by the Naval Safety Center. I was subsequently retired from the military due to my injuries, and gained a newfound interest in safety management systems.

                Though recovering from the effects of my injury is long and ongoing, I have come along further than expected. I regularly hear from people that they “really never would have guessed that I had experienced a head injury at all”. My story does have power, it has moved me, and has moved others as well. Last year, while at a safety seminar at the Great Lakes International Aviation ConferenceGreat Lakes International Aviation Conference Homepage, I thought to ask the keynote speaker Dr. Tony Kern how I might be able to have the greatest impact on operational safety in aviation, career wise. His reply was something like, “Send me your information, and we will talk about it”. I sent the information, and he hired me as an intern safety consultant at his firm Convergent Performance. With Convergent Performance, I have been going to flight operations and sharing my story with the maintainers, managers, and pilots. The story helps people realize just how dangerous all the things we do as aviators are, and helps them be open to some more progressive safety behaviors and thoughts.

                An old adage says, “A smart person learns from his mistakes, a wise person learns from other’s mistakes”. I hope to help many other people be wise.