Hello, everyone. Benny here. Similar to my previous monthly posts, I'll be going over my initial thoughts and observations from whatever specific events(s) I came across. This month's post is pretty much about my "job"/mentorship. Once again, if you want a more descriptive paragraph about my mentorship duties, please refer to my Mentorship Log. Other than that, let's get started.
Some people ask me what do I do at an airplane museum. My usual response is that I clean airplanes, bombs. machine guns, and guns. Well it turns out that most of the bombs at Planes of Fame are shells ,disarmed, and hallowed out, the machine guns are all replicas, and the guns are all either demilled (permanently inoperable) or airsoft guns. With that the only things left that are authentic are the museum, the planes, the people, and well, anything that is not a bomb, machine gun, or gun.
Though I can easily go in-depth with the types of planes that are in the museum and how I clean them, today I am going to focus on the people I work with. The people I work with as a whole are pretty nice people. Most of them are veterans and are pretty chill talking to you about any topic (except their own personal lives). I can divide the people I work with into multiple categories: dosents, detailers, restorers, managers, veterans, visitors, special guests, senior citizens, youth, the owner, etc. Some of the people I work with fall under multiple categories, which means that they can fall under pretty unique subcategories. With that, lets continue on.
The Dosents - The Tourguides
Dosents are the most knowledgeable people in the museum, having to memorize the producer, famous flyers, service history, armament, speed, armor, development, range, and multiple aspects of a plane for multiple planes. Though they are the most knowledgeable, depending on what other categories they also fall under, they can be either extremely friendly or extremely ignorant.
The Detailers - The Cleaners
Detailers are pretty much the people whose job is to conserve a plane. Conserving can mean many things such as dusting, cleaning, polishing, etc. Detailers make sure that a plane doesn't get dirty and monitors a plane if it needs to be repaired.
The Restorers - WHERE ARE THE PARTS!!!
Restorers are pretty much the people who restore the planes and widely versed in the components of individual planes. Restorers have a wide range of tools to use at their disposal to fix a plane from riveters to belt grinders, but suffer from the lack of spare parts (due to some of their planes being one of a kind) or waiting for unique/museum/fabricated parts to fix a plane. Thus, what happens a restorer the most in restoring a plane is not the labor, time, or tools, but the parts for the plane.
The Managers - The Boss
The Managers are pretty much the people that run the whole show. Their job is to make sure that everyone is working at their best and communicates constantly with everyone. All volunteers agree that of all the people they work with, the managers are the ones that they respect the most.
The Veterans - The Original But Kickers
The Veterans are pretty much anybody who has prior military service. Veterans duties in the military vary from mechanics to pilots, to your average soldier to Navy SEALs. Most of the veterans are patriotic and aren't afraid to speak their mind. Talking about their military service with them can be very tricky as some have them have been mentally scarred during their service while others spent their days working and drinking.
The Visitor - Surprise
The Visitor is pretty much the bloodline of the entire museum. He or she can make the difference in a museum flourishing or failing. Visitors are pretty unique and come from a variety of backgrounds. Thus it is important to appeal them in anyway possible and help them make the most of their experience.
The Special Guests - Jack of the Various Trades
Special Guests are pretty much the people who give a museum new life when everything else has been overused. Special Guests, whether they be a veteran, a writer, or a businessman, give visitors a another reason to visit a museum. Though writers or businessmen are usually their to promote a product, they can be extremely friendly if you catch one by themselves and can go into pretty long discussions with them on various issues.
The Seniors - Whirlpool of emotions
Senior are pretty much anybody who is at or above the age of 50. Being the oldest, seniors are the wisest people of the entire place. Their wisdom comes from the various challenges and events that they faced in their youth and are firmly entrenched in what happened at the time. Their emotional state can vary depending on what they've been through, but overall, they're pretty friendly to talk to and shouldn't be dismissed.
The Youth - Physically strong, Mentally weak
Youth is pretty much anybody below the age of 50. Being the youth can come with its pros and cons. The first pro is that being young, the youth don't tire out as quickly as the seniors, meaning that they can do more work. Being small, the youth can also reach places of an aircraft that the seniors can't reach normally. The first con is that being young, the youth can be seen by the seniors as idiots. Not cleaning a plane properly, running into propellers which has the possibility of starting the plane (Planes of Fame suffered its first fatal fatlality/death because of this), tiring out easily if their below 13, etc.
The President - Not what you expect
The President is pretty much the guy that owns a huge portion of the museum. Though I have never met the man, you would be surprised to know that the owner is Steve Hinton, a famous air racer whose won various competitions from Unlimited to Reno. Though he's drastically different from the stereotypical image of a museum owner I have in my head, I guess that's what makes the place unique.
That is pretty much all the people I work with. With that, I bid a farewell to all. Take care everyone.