Original subtitles

(film reel rattling)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Here in this modern supercharger plant,

the manpower shortage is being solved by training women

to do almost the entire job.

Let's take a look at the machining jobs

these girls are doing.

This work gives you a good idea of what a girl can do.

Hands starting machines, hands pulling levers,

hands grimy with oil and grease,

hands doing intricate jobs,

hands working for America.

Women's hands.

From machining to shipping,

women have so efficiently played the dominant role

in making this turbo supercharger

that American aviators today are able to fly higher

and faster than their enemies.

These girls are proud to have a share

in making possible aircraft performance unequal

anywhere in the world.

Woman power comes through for victory.

(dramatic music)

(upbeat radio music)

(car honks)

(upbeat radio music)

(uptempo music)

- My name is Adela. I'm from Chicago.

I grew up in Little Village

and I absolutely love Little Village.

It's a whole bunch of Mexicans and Hispanics

and Latin Americans.

I just, I love our communities down there

where we're just very soulful.

(uptempo music)

(worker speaking in foreign language)

- We always have this rivalry in Chicago,

the North Siders versus the South Siders,

even though we're all Chicago.

I like to say whenever I'm on the North Side

that the North Siders can smell a South Sider. (chuckles)

They can always tell when we're not from there

and same thing with a South Sider,

we can tell right away when you're not from the South Side.

When I was younger I was a restless sleeper,

so the only thing that would get me to sleep

would be car rides.

And my dad loved going to Midway

and watching the planes take off and land.

I remember, I believe I was maybe four years old,

we would stop by a local neighborhood pizza spot,

grab some pizzas,

park by Midway and just watch the planes.

I was very amazed on how airplanes

just take off like nothing and land like nothing.

Like if they're feathers,

even though it's this big, manmade, massive thing.

And I always wondered like how they got fixed

or how they worked

and that always stuck by me up until like

I didn't know what to do with the career.

And then my dad found AIM

and I was like, yes, now this is how it works.

So AIM Chicago is an aviation maintenance school.

So it teaches students all about the tricks

and trade of aviation maintenance.

Our school is located on the South Side,

which is very convenient for a lot of people.

It's also bringing a lot of life to back of the yards.

That is the community that it's in.

(students chattering)

- [Student] Yeah.

- We wanted to bring you all in here

to make a special announcement to you all.

And with that said, I'm turning it over

to Dr. English. - Yeah, right. Thank you.

I appreciate that, Isaac.

Appreciate it.

So this year's Aviation Maintenance Competition Conference

is right here in Chicago.

Now that's awesome.

And United Airlines has said we wanna sponsor a team

and we would like it to be all women.

AIM has never had an all female team

compete at the aerospace maintenance competition before.

And much less sponsored by, you know,

a big name like United Airlines.

And so what they've done is asked for the two of you

who have had experience in competitions

to be the team leaders

and for us to find four more female mechanics

who'd like to be part of that competition.

I'm gonna be honest with you

about why I'm so passionate about you

and proud of what you're going to accomplish.

If you raise your hand and say, "I'd like to do this,"

and that's this, less than 3% of all certified

aircraft technicians are women.

But I don't know if it ticks you off

as much as it ticks me off that this has been

a industry hidden from Phoenix, right?

When you are better technicians than we are

and yet 97 out of 100 technicians are men

and we're here to break that.

And so, you all are here to show how it's done.

- Believe in yourself 'cause you know it.

I know you know it.

I know we can beat them in this too.

So I can't wait to see all the lovely ladies

that wanna be on the all women's team.

So I can't wait.

Well, I don't have any children, but I do.

These are my babies.

They're learning everything they need to know

to take care of themselves.

I really honestly feel women are more mechanically inclined.

So I think it's perfect for women

'cause we're very meticulous and we're multitaskers anyway.

So this is precisely what this job consists of.

Some of these young ladies where they come from,

it's just not heard of you working,

let alone being a mechanic.

Like I say, our cultural backgrounds just does not even

go down that road of being a mechanic,

let alone the breadwinner.

(siren wailing)

The good old Chicago streets.

All of us go through our trials

between just trying to get up every day

with no sirens, no bullet holes in your house,

just making it to where you have to go on the buses,

not getting shot, not getting hit.

It's a lot of different things that these young ladies

have to kinda maneuver on a daily basis just to get here.

Like I say, just sometimes making sure they have food.

You understand?

They have families.

(tense music)

- Personally, if I had a job

that I could take care of my parents financially,

I would be set.

I don't have to worry anymore.

I wouldn't have to color all my gray hairs

that my mother likes to give me. (chuckles)

Let's say, for example, if my mother needs

to go to the doctor or if she doesn't have money

for fixing her truck to get around,

it would really be a big relief.

- One time I came into the house

and I saw her with her sister walking to the computer,

the tower was assembled.

(Adela chuckles)

I said, "What the hell?"

I asked her what's going on?

She say, "Dad, we put one disc"

and we could not remove the disk.

So one disc was inside to the tray

and they, her sister push another disc into

that is the reason why it doesn't came out.

So, they disassemble the whole tower

and tried to rescue this.

Yeah, a lot of troubles with her.

- Good enough? - No.

Your license here.

- Mm-hmm.

- She is gonna be a airframe technician.

She's gonna be working with her hands

so that's gonna be amazing for her.

- Okay. Bye, pa. (speaking in foreign language)

- Yeah, the requirement. - Okay.

(Adela speaking in foreign language)

They've taught me to be a hard worker.

They've taught me to not only

are you working for what you want,

but also respect the people

that are there to help you out.

I think the American dream for me

is finding opportunities and chasing those opportunities

even if they're not available to me.

I'm in an industry where women aren't known

for being mechanics.

I'm a minority. I'm a Latina.

I'm supposed to be, by the status quo,

I'm supposed to be at home learning how to cook.

I'm supposed to be in an office job

with, you know, professional clothes.

Or some people expect that I would fail

and work at a factory 'cause I didn't finish school.

But it's interesting the progress that was made.

Obviously it's not a lot.

We should have a lot more progress but we're getting there.

I mean, you know, those women are powerful

and they're really inspiring.

- My Adela, the one who always let the boys know

that they are not as good as her, that Adela.

If Adela gets something wrong,

I actually have to go check to make sure

that it's not a typo (chuckles)

'cause she's always right.

She's one of the smartest young ladies I know

and if it's time to do a project, it's done properly,

timely, and in order.

So that's what I love about her.

Yes.

And that's how I know.

I've had all the girls as students, let's just say that

and the skies is the limit for Rebecca.

Now my age is gonna show,

I call Rebecca my Punky Brewster. (chuckles)

She's the sweetest, smartest,

attentive young lady I know

and I definitely know that this field is so for her.

She can go anywhere, any place.

(uptempo music)

- My name is Rebecca. I'm from Chicago.

I'm 19 years old and I'm currently getting

my airframe and powerplant license.

I moved down here when I was around eight.

I actually swam for HF for their club

when I was from, I wanna say since I was like seven.

So I was about like 12, 14.

It's rare to find another city like Chicago.

Within Chicago it's so many different things you can see,

so many museums, you have a lake,

it's a city within a city.

Our food top tier, I can't go anywhere else.

So I really do love it.

Besides the snow.

So a little bit about my family. (chuckles)

- Fly, I got plans to go to Jamaica, Ireland,

Liberia, when I save up enough money.

- Okay. - You wanna get there?

- You know I do.

- So, I've lived with both of my parents my entire life.

They divorced when I was younger.

My dad, he comes from the country Liberia in Africa

and my mom, she was born and raised in Chicago.

- Now I grew up on the South Side of Chicago

around the Morgan Park area.

And it was pretty rough,

you know, gang bangers and drug dealing and stuff like that.

I roared with the wrong crowd growing up,

so I knew when I had children

I didn't want them to deal with that.

- Everything wasn't always perfect

but my parents always made an effort

to put their kids first no matter what it was.

My dad, he broke his back

to make sure his kids were taken care of.

And my mom, she always pushed reading on me.

I hated reading growing up.

She was like, "You need to read."

That's something important everybody has to read.

And so she would make me read to her every night. (chuckles)

- She hated it and I knew

30 minutes a day is all it would take.

And they play all day and you know, they didn't have phones

and the technology when they were growing up

and I'm not with it anyway.

So, I'm like, "You're gonna read.

You wanna play? You gonna read first.

You can't do anything until you read."

And so, they thought they would just sit

and pretend to read that timeframe

until now let's talk about what you read.

And then it's like uh-oh. (chuckles)

Yeah, not only talk about it, let's see how you picture it.

How can you picture that in your mind?

- It's rare I've seen my father ever take a sick day

and he will be sick as a dog

and he will work his hardest no matter what.

And vice versa with my mom.

Like they're both extremely hardworking people

and I take heed to that,

especially when I feel like I can't go anymore

or I feel like this is too unbearable, I can't do this.

And then I look at it full spectrum

and I look at like how far are my family's come

and it's like they can do this,

no technology, no help at all.

It's like do I really struggle with this

or is that just my mind wanting to stop

because it doesn't like being uncomfortable?

- Yeah, you got a really good foundation.

- Yeah.

It's funny how time flies.

- [Yawfis] Oh darn it.

- When you're having fun, right?

She's all grown up.

- Mm-hmm. - Yeah, that's good

and you played it real good.

So I'm proud of you.

- [Rebecca] Thank you, mommy.

'Cause I did a lot of sports growing up.

I used to wrestle, I used to play water polo,

I used to play basketball.

So I'm kinda accustomed to being the only female in the room

and having to just freestyle, get to know people,

make connections and just enjoy the space.

I didn't know of any females

who were in the mechanic industry

until maybe about like a year ago.

And I felt like it just helped me realize

this is something I really wanna do.

- I work in a male-dominated field

and I know how tough that can be.

So, she tough though so I'm not even worried about it.

I'm worried about them

that think they gonna mess with her. (chuckles)

- [Grandmother] Me too, me too.

- I think it's amazing that I'm one of the few women

who get to represent female mechanics in this industry

and I feel like it's just an amazing opportunity to have.

- To be that pioneer is amazing.

One of the first and to be so young.

- I enjoyed everything from the planes to the people.

Aviation is an industry where

so many things happen every day and nothing's the same.

You know, every day is something new.

- She comes in just full of energy, full of life,

wanting knowledge, craving it,

and how can you not give it to a person

who yearns for and who wants it and actually learns it

and gives it back to you so you know, it's well received.

- After being chosen for this team,

I discovered we were sponsored by United

and United also has an all female team called Chix Fix

and they're extremely talented.

When I saw them last year, they were dominating a lot of it

and I was like man, to get a chance to work with them,

that's a top tier experience.

(ambient music)

- So today we had the United Chix Fix team

come to our school and take a tour.

Our AIM team was at school as well in the meeting

and we got to take a tour, we got to talk to them.

So, this is our shirt wall.

Basically shows the steps that we have to take

to getting our A&P.

So, the first exam we take is our general

and then we receive our blue shirt

and then we go onto our airframe

and then we receive our red shirt

and our last one is our beautiful powerplants.

- Yeah.

- And once we receive that,

then you know, we got our A&P.

- One of the PC-6, that was my engine

and we were in a group and so we had like a week,

two weeks to take it apart,

make sure we did everything

with accordance to the maintenance manual.

And then we put it back together,

and had our instructor check

and make sure we didn't do anything wrong,

we did everything accordingly.

And so after that he'll grade us.

So I got a 90, 90 something on that project.

- [Instructor] All right. (group cheering)

- We are the magic that happens out here.

- [Group] Yeah.

- It feels really nice to see

just the excitement that they have.

And it's the same excitement that we have

when we show up to school every day.

I like riveting.

I like riveting a lot.

- Yeah.

- [Adela] I'm excited to see kind of

what this year's team brings.

(group chattering)

- [Dana] Ladies, ladies.

Are we ready?

- [Team Member] It's study time.

- I'm captain, I'm Dana Eads.

I'm a shift manager, Denver Maintenance,

but I just now got the senior manager role here in Chicago,

which I'll start February 5th.

(group applauding and cheering)

Thank you.

Chix Fix has been a very special group for United Airlines

and to be able to sponsor a female team from a school

is really an honor for us.

And we really are excited about it

because we were in your shoes at one point

and now you're gonna be taking over our spots

and my coach here is Laura

and I'll let her talk about herself and her experience.

- My name is Laura Spoler

and I'm the coach of the Chix Fix team

and I have 38 years in the industry.

In my position now I'm currently

a aircraft maintenance supervisor based in Orlando

and we work heavy maintenance.

- So the idea of Chix Fix came

when I was watching a competition in Orlando

for the aerospace maintenance competition.

And I looked around and I noticed there was no women there

and my vice president of maintenance was sitting next to me

and I made a mention to him,

"There's no women here.

We need to change that."

I was out in San Francisco

and I was able to meet the managing director, Bonnie Turner.

And I kinda pitched my idea, told her what I saw,

what I thought, and she ran with it.

November, December of 2017

we gathered some female technicians

from all over the United system,

had a meeting, kinda decided who was gonna be on the team.

The biggest thing is what is our name gonna be?

So then one of the ladies was like how about Chix Fix?

That's my email address,

so that's why it ended up being Chix Fix.

- My name is Katrina and just like you guys,

I'm an AIM alumni from Houston, Texas.

Then I got my A&P there

and I also, like you guys, competed in a school team

for AIM Houston.

- Katrina was an original Chix also.

We met her pretty much right out of school

and she's also a Marine.

And so she was the first young lady

that I ever met that was a Marine.

And I'll tell you what, she's impressive and I love her

like she's my daughter.

- I currently live in Denver.

I work for United in Denver and it's a really good time.

Like this team has been going for quite a few years now

and this will be our last year doing Chix Fix.

So you guys are kinda special to us.

- [Team Member] Yes.

- We would like to help you as much as we can

and kind of guide you in the right direction and give you-

- This year will actually be our last year.

We are gonna retire the Chix team.

And it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing.

It's time to move on.

It's time to incorporate a mixed team.

- Bonding checks are really important

because if it's not bonded correctly,

the antenna is not gonna work.

- What stood out to me the most today was

it was their passion and it was how chill it was.

- You don't have to stay where you start,

you can move wherever you want out of town.

(group laughing)

Wherever you want.

- It was just, I'm here to make sure

I can be helpful for you guys.

And that's how they came.

They came in a very calming, it was very friendly.

It was almost like a sisterhood and I really appreciate that

'cause they didn't have to do that.

- I really appreciate the variety of roles

that you guys have

because when I first came here I was like,

well, I wanna do it, but like what can I do? (chuckles)

You know, like where will I fit in at?

And so-

- You might be thinking, why will you have 750 technicians?

There might not be any need for me, you know?

That's so opposite though.

We have a lot of senior technicians right now

that have been with the company for a long time

and they're not ready to retire.

And so, we need new people to come in

and take those positions. - Yeah.

- This is a really good time for you guys.

There's a lot of space opening up

and there's a great need for A&Ps right now.

- Today was really empowering for me

because I don't know, I've always liked

being surrounded by women

even if they aren't in the aviation field.

But since today we all were in the aviation field,

it just felt so nice.

And then just hearing how far they've come

and how young and how old they were.

You know, it just made me think

that I could really do anything.

- I'm just very happy and proud of this

'cause I tell everyone about you guys, you understand?

No, it's real women mechanics.

Tell them this is what you're trying to be.

Here's our future A&Ps.

- [Team Member] Absolutely. Yep.

(Adela laughing)

(uplifting music)

(airplane sputtering)

- [Micah] This is the one we're gonna fly in.

- [Madison] Ooh, she's perfect.

- I'll let TK, our maintenance guy,

he'll tell you all about it

but I'll tell you a little bit.

600 horsepower radar motor.

You tell me you hadn't done the powerplants yet.

You'll get a little intro.

- [TK] The safe thing is at least one blade per cylinder.

- [Madison] Okay.

- So we got nine cylinders,

we wanna pull it through at least nine times.

Now me being superstitious like I am,

if I have nine cylinders, I'm pulling it through 12 times.

- Now I'm going to school to fix airplanes.

I love it so much.

It's my favorite thing in the world.

And I originally wanted to be a pilot when I was a kid.

I wanted be a fighter pilot like you, you know?

Who doesn't?

But as you can tell I'm a little short.

I'm 5'1", you know?

I'm almost legally blind here.

So those were not in my cards.

So, what's the next best thing? A mechanic.

I'm Madison.

I'm from Renick, Virginia

and I'm a student at AIM Norfolk.

When I was a kid, like I wanted

to be on planes somehow some way.

I was probably 10 years old,

I used to tell people I'm gonna be on planes one day.

I'm gonna be on jets, I'm gonna be on helicopters.

Like just wait, I'm going to be there.

- So this is what you wanna do for a career?

- Yes. - Right?

- I've known since I was like 10 years old

that this is what I wanna do.

The average age for mechanics is significantly higher

than in most career fields.

So it does give younger people a really big leg up

because not only are they understaffed,

but also these people are getting ready to retire.

So, they need people.

(gentle music)

- She's fully aerobatics.

This one is built by North American.

It was one of the things that propelled our pilots

to greatness in World War II.

- [Madison] Was Snoop your call sign?

- Yeah. Micah "Snoop" Lenox.

All right, we're gonna do a quick walk around.

Okay. - Again, you gotta earn

your right to sit in the backseat

about pulling that prop through

like we talked about earlier.

- Oh, I gotta pull the prop through.

- You gotta pull it.

- Oh gosh, I've never pulled a prop before.

- [Micah] Yeah.

- [Madison] It's a day of firsts.

(Micah chuckles)

- Pull up below that. That's one.

Then I'm gonna pull mine, that's two.

(uplifting music)

Three.

All right. 12.

(uplifting music)

First grab those and pull them down to the floor.

(uplifting music)

Keep pulling, keep pulling, keep pulling.

Yeah, there you go.

That mic goes on the left side.

- On the left side. - Yeah.

(uplifting music)

- [Companion] How do you feel right now?

- I am so excited.

Like this is probably one of the happiest moments

of my life right now.

I've never been strapped into a fighter jet before.

This is, there's so many straps in here,

but I am ecstatic.

- I get to do hopefully a barrel roll

and I get to also help fly

this fighter jet with Snoop.

He's actually gonna let me have controls.

Ah!

- [Micah] Clear drop.

(propeller whirring)

(engine sputtering)

(uplifting music)

Nick four, reach top four, flaps are up.

Prep test set.

Ready to go. Are you ready to go?

- [Madison] I'm ready to go.

- [Micah] Awesome.

(uplifting music)

- [Air Traffic Controller] (indistinct) It's UNICOM.

Pass through traffic, 645 (indistinct) departing

one, zero light traffic, pan through.

(uplifting music)

(aircraft sputtering)

(uplifting music)

- And we're up in the air.

- This is so cool. (Micah laughing)

(uplifting music)

- Here we go. We're gonna try it.

All right, now start picking the nose up.

Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up.

Now roll, go left, left, left.

Nice job!

Hold it up. - Oh my gosh!

(Micah chuckles)

(uplifting music)

- [Micah] Perfect! (chuckles)

(uplifting music)

- That was awesome! (chuckles)

(uplifting music)

- [Micah] Nice job.

- Thank you. - You bet.

(uplifting music)

- That was amazing. (Micah laughing)

That was amazing.

That was the most fun I've ever had in my entire life.

(aircraft sputtering)

Not to brag or anything,

but like I said, I was pretty good.

So. - Born to fly.

- Yeah. He said that in the sky.

And I did a roll all by my, all by myself.

(Micah chuckling)

It was amazing.

Let's do it again.

(both chuckling)

I feel like I'm on a high right now. (chuckles)

- [Companion] So awesome.

- My adrenaline is through the roof.

I may have been a little bit nervous

going into the first roll

'cause I've never done that in a plane before.

Then I was like, all right, I'm cool.

I got this. I can do one now too.

And we did not get stuck upside down.

That was my biggest fear going into it,

is that I was gonna pull back too soon

and we were gonna get stuck upside down, (chuckles)

but we did not. (chuckles)

Like, (Micah laughing)

I'm ready to go skydiving now. (chuckles)

(dramatic music)

- The aerospace maintenance competition has 27 events

and they range in anything from electrical troubleshooting

to fuel tank entry, to even vacuum loading.

- We're gonna show you the way that we know best

and if you need to edit it, modify it, swap people around,

whatever you need to do to make it fastest for you, do that.

So safety wire is basically a stainless steel

or an in canal wire that we use to wrap around

the head of a fastener and it creates a pulling

or tightening effect on that fastener.

And then we attach it to a structure or another fastener

so that when aircraft are moving, they have vibration.

And with that vibration, those bolts can back off.

The safety wire keeps it in a pulling tight direction.

So even when it's vibrating

that wire keeps it from backing out and losing a fastener.

- I love safety wire.

I can do safety wire to sleep, wake up,

eat it for breakfast and keep them on going.

- More than one event has safety wire in it.

So training for that can help you better at multiple events.

- And we want the fastest time possible,

but we also want you to be safe and you want to finish it

because every safety you don't do is a penalty, right?

When I was training

and they were showing me how to safety,

they said, "You wanna make music."

(metal thudding)

That's how you know it's good (metal thudding)

is that it's ting, ting, ting, ting, right?

And then you just pigtail it,

pigtail will be smaller and then you're good.

- Not all the structures on the aircraft are metal.

Some are actually composite.

And so when we have something like that,

we need to learn how to remove the damage.

And then what we're gonna do to repair that damage.

Composite is number six.

On orientation day, take note of ply orientation.

And when it vacuums down, you have the heating pad on here.

It heats up that potting compound

and it creates a structural repair, right?

So you have 15 minutes to complete the event.

The faster you finish, the better your score will be.

These are your layers, like here's your peel ply

and I have an acronym that I will teach you

so that you know the layer, the stack for the layers.

I have PBS.

So I've got my peel, my bleeder,

and my separator already stacked.

- [Team Member] You will want them

12, 12, 3, 6, 9 like.

- So today we worked with Adela and Alicia

on the composite repair.

And so, we trained each of them on their individual steps,

things to look out for and how the procedure goes.

And more on understanding why we're doing what we're doing.

Because if you understand why you're doing repair

and kind of the steps involved,

then your outcome will definitely be better.

If you ask the judge, can we move?

- Which one of y'all are said judge.

- You. - Oh, okay.

- Hello Judge. How's it going? - Hi there.

Thanks for coming to my event here.

Still fine event. I did it myself.

- Can we move around? - Yes, you can.

- Okay.

- Oh yeah, blank it in then the.

- They said, "Engineers, technicians, students."

Ready, set, start. Go ahead.

- Put over.

The composite repair is one of my favorites.

I don't know if it's

because I last year practiced it so much

that like I know like the back of my hand

or if it's kind of just when I competed it,

I really felt connected to it.

But definitely composites,

that's the one I'm excited for this year.

Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.

- All right now one person grab the scissors

and cut the little holes,

the other person is pressing it down.

- [Team Member] Yeah, yeah.

- Oh, there we go. - You got it.

You got it.

- [Katrina] Say I'm good.

Are you good?

- I'm good. - And call time.

- We can't call until it's a mute, right?

- If it's still hissing, that's a penalty.

Yeah but very good. Good job.

- In my dreams, I'm dreaming about this competition.

We've been practicing once a month.

We got to go to Houston for a week

and you know, had that one-on-one with the ladies.

(plane whirring)

Okay.

Safe for entry and then.

- If you have to verbally say

that the meter reading is good?

So not just say frantically. - Okay.

- [Team Member] I'll close.

- Yeah. - We need to take a look

and make sure it's clear, right?

So that it... You put like four screws in or so.

If one of you snugs it up tight,

it'll be easier to put the rest of the screws.

- [Adela] The outcome that I want out

of the aerospace maintenance competition, obviously a win.

(chuckles) I love to win.

I'm a very competitive person.

I play sports

and in Chicago, you know, keep that win in Chicago.

(uptempo music)

- Okay, so whenever you remove and replace the slide,

you have to do the safety checklist.

- Observer inspector

and you're the observer and inspector.

- Short slide arm.

So what I do is I say disarmed.

- Disarmed. - Disarmed.

- And they do a check.

- So what, here it goes. (lock thuds)

The yellows mean. - Oh, I see.

- Oh, I see. - Okay.

- [Team Member] Drop it down but don't let it move.

- Yeah, don't let it move out of place.

- [Team Member] Okay.

- Roll that jam nut back.

You can just leave it there. It's tight now.

- Okay. - Okay.

- [Team Member] Go.

- Safety trigger tech one, tech two.

- Tech one, tech two.

- [Team Member] Supervisor side maintenance.

- 6442.

- 6442.

- R1. - R1.

- Door left.

- Door left.

- EWR. - EWR.

- Area free and clear. - Area free and clear.

- R&R slide. - R&R slide.

- Disarmed. - Disarmed.

- Go.

(tense music)

- Towards the floor.

- Interior is lock in.

Now locked in.

(tense music)

- Disarm. - Disarm.

- Unlock. - Unlock.

- Ready to remove. - Pull up.

- Unlocking.

(tense music)

Done.

One, two, three.

(tense music)

- [Team Member] Okay, verified.

- Okay, verified.

- Verified So my next step is gonna be

I'm gonna remove the safety pin

and then we're gonna push the lock through.

- How'd they do? - I'm good. Done.

- Okay. Good.

(tense music)

I'm good. - All right.

- All right, she won't mess up.

(tense music)

- I'm good. - All right.

Bustled in.

- Disarmed, disarmed. - Disarmed, disarmed.

- Correct. - Yep.

(tense music)

- [Group] Time.

- [Team Member] 4.49.

- [Team Member] Wow!

Is that like a new low score?

I feel like it is.

- Impressive. - You ladies will get it.

Now it's gonna be your turn. - So now.

- Yes. - Yeah.

- Make sure-

- And do it slowly and surely. (chuckles)

I didn't know what to think

because that was an event

where so much was happening at the same time

with three people and I was like, wow.

Like I can't wait to get to that level one day, you know?

Right now I am doing my best.

I'm being slow, but as quick as I can.

But I wanna get to their level of expertise.

- I want one.

- I even said lift the door.

- [Team Member] Yes.

- [Team Member] I want one with all of them.

- Oh!

- Yes!

- [Demonstrator] And then we're gonna separate these wide.

- Our altimeter is going up

and it's gonna go up to 10,000.

Just a second for it to get there.

- [Host] Come on down.

We gotta get a little bit more energy than that.

Clap it up.

Yeah, come on.

Tell us what your position is one more time

so that the students can write it down.

- My name's Stacey Rudser.

I'm an FAA-certificated airframe and powerplant mechanic.

I serve as the president

of the Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance

and I've been an A&P technician since 2009.

I wanna see women embraced

for the critically important piece that we play.

I want to see women not just tolerated,

not just accepted.

I want them championed and mentored

and built up to where they can reach

the highest levels of success.

Like Evie Garces at American Airlines.

She started as an A&P mechanic in her toolbox

and now she's the vice president of line maintenance

and she's only going up from there.

Please welcome Ms. Evie Garces,

VP of Line Maintenance from American Airlines.

(audience applauding)

- Hearing Stacey speak, I can't help but think that

we have a room full of tech ops personnel

and that the majority are women, right?

So that's not what I entered the industry into 25 years ago.

In New York City, you have the ability to choose

the school that you wanna go to in high school.

And I remember reading a catalog

that had all the high schools in there

and Aviation High School one of the schools that was listed.

So I applied for the school and I got in.

So at the age of 14,

I was actually taking a one hour subway ride

from Manhattan to Queens

and started the journey of high school, normal high school,

but also getting my airframe and powerplant license,

which is what allows you to work and maintain aircraft.

Coming from a Hispanic background,

being an aircraft mechanic as a woman is not something that,

you know, is accepted with open arms.

I still remember my mom saying like,

"Really? Is this what you wanna do?"

I did well.

Started working for an airline,

got picked up by American Airlines and the rest is history.

- You see pilots, you see flight attendants,

you even see ramp service agents and gate agents

and all these wonderful careers in aviation.

But maintenance happens behind the scenes.

It happens at night, it happens in hangars.

By nature, aviation maintenance is an invisible career.

What we are trying to do

is to raise awareness about the career.

It's a vibrant and viable career field for everyone.

- And we need aircraft mechanics

and we know that this job can change people's lives

and they're not even aware of this.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- Thank you.

And then this year is a brand new thing for us.

They're the first all-female competition team.

- The Aerospace Maintenance Competition,

you know, started over 10 years ago.

The biggest benefit of it is to make sure that we showcase

to the next generation.

Rosie the Riveter the first one.

So that people that maybe have the interest

see a career path

and see what you actually do in the trade.

It's a good feeling when you fix an airplane.

Like I say, I could still tell you the first day

that I was able to sign airworthiness

for an aircraft, right?

It's like I fixed it.

Like wait, they trust me to fix it, first of all,

but I fixed it, you know?

- She's just she's so amazing.

She's a first generation like I am.

She's a minority like I am.

She's a female like I am.

Like I wanna be up there.

Like I can see myself up there

and Andy's like, "Well, go tell her, go tell her.

Go tell her that you're taking her job and stuff like that."

I was like, "No, I'm not gonna do that."

Like one, that's embarrassing and I'm scared to do that.

And so I went up to her, you know,

Andy formally introduced us

and kind of behind the scenes he was like,

"Man, it's 'cause you remind me so much of Evie,

like your spirit, your drive."

I told you from the beginning, I'm coming for your job.

I will be up there.

I will be up there. - I wanna turn it over

to another woman, that's my goal.

That's my goal. - Please do.

- So I need you to climb up the ladder quick.

- That's my ambition.

That's all I've ever wanted and frankly.

I don't know what came up or how I got to it,

but I was like, "You know what, I'm coming for your job.

I want your job. I'm gonna be up there."

And she said, "Please take it."

- [Evie] Now I can do it, I can tell you

you can definitely do it.

(tense dramatic music)

- I am nervous.

We got to see the floor a little bit today.

Kind of the behind the scenes, which was nice.

You know, just going through

kind of the whole construction of it,

seeing all the MRO people,

it's bringing back memories from Atlanta.

Oh, it made me so excited.

I don't know if it was nerves from like the next two days

or if it was the coffee kicking in that I had midday.

But I feel good.

I feel nervous as usual, but they're good nerves.

- Tomorrow is the first day of the MRO convention.

So, that is when all, I believe it is 93 teams,

all of us are competing against each other.

But I am on edge, a little on the edge of my seat

but then the other part of me is like

whether I want it to, it's gonna come tomorrow.

You know, like I'm gonna have to do it,

I'm gonna have to get it over with.

So I'm excited.

(dramatic music)

- [Participant] Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Yes, yes, yes.

Here.

I got you, I got you.

(tense dramatic music)

- We're at the AMC here in Chicago at McCormick

and I just did those leading edge core piece event.

- First event, I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm just gonna follow

everything that I have practiced so far.

But being with Adela, especially her being our team captain,

I was pretty calm about it.

- And the judges said that we did really good.

He really liked how we folded the edge of the GORE tape.

'cause that helps in the event that we hit something,

I wanna make sure they're tight or not too tight but.

- There was a lot of people.

I didn't expect it to be that big and that crowded.

(Adela speaking in foreign language)

- [Team Member] I think we've got this.

- Ah! - Oh.

- [Adela] No, on this side, on this side.

- Sorry.

Seeing my teachers walk around

and especially seeing Chix Fix just walking around

and being next to us during the events,

it helps me calm down.

Done. - Done? Great.

Nine minutes, 42 seconds.

- Ooh, not so bad. - You guys did a good job.

- Thank you.

- Definitely an experience, I can't wait for tomorrow.

- [Participant] But I have, I actually really like.

- You got your first one down.

- Yeah. - Can I get that?

- Oh one o'clock I am doing the safety cable box,

the blood box that we call it with my teammate

and former teammate Rebecca.

- And safety wire is like my ultimate favorite event.

I like how much strength, especially hand strength

and skill to be able to wire

those two pieces of wire through the bolts.

- We got this. - Ready.

(tense music)

- I'll grab the right screwdriver.

- [Adela] This one?

- Right. - Your right?

- Yeah. - Okay.

- The blood box event FedEx safety wire box

is in itself an adventure.

It's crazy.

- [Host] Start.

(tense music)

- [Adela] Starting on the right.

They just pop out.

(tense music)

You know what, shoot, I think I messed up.

- [Rebecca] It's okay.

- [Adela] I'm gonna have to turn it off.

- [Rebecca] Why?

- [Adela] Because I can't get it from here.

- [Rebecca] We messed up putting the cannon plugs in.

We were a little delayed in the plan

that I had originally set.

And so I'm like, in those moments I was like,

I have two choices.

I could either get really frustrated

and just be completely off my rocker and off my game

and just let that small problem affect the big outcome.

Or I could get back on my toes.

What is something that I could do in this moment

that will help my time instead of hurting my time

'cause I've already been hurting it?

So what are some different ways I can look at that?

- Everything comes with time,

experience comes with time

and mistakes are important.

And no matter what, like nobody wants to make a mistake,

but if you don't make a mistake, you're not learning.

- [Rebecca] We needed to complete.

I saw the U-bolts were hadn't been started on

and I saw Adela was doing the three bolt,

it's this three bolt safety on the cannon plugs.

- [Host] FedExers, five minutes 40.

Five minutes.

- [Participant] Yeah.

(tense music)

- Chix Fix is such an amazing team.

It's, you know, very well-known in the industry.

Not only it being their last year,

you know, on top of that,

they're also sponsoring this girl team.

So, I would say just that interaction,

the fact that like we get to live out

these last moments of them being Chix Fix with them.

And so, I think that that has been the greatest experience.

- [Participant] All right, girls, yeah.

- Time.

(spectators cheering and applauding)

- [Judge] No penalty.

No penalty.

- You got real. - Hey thanks, man.

- Mentoring the AIM Chicago team

has been kind of an eyeopener.

These ladies are a lot of fun

and they all have their unique personalities

just like we do.

And it's kinda nice to know that they're gonna be the ones

that are coming into the industry next.

- So, I just participated in what they would call

the click lock challenge.

And so, that's when it's a total of six stations.

And so, one through five is the standard procedure

on how you would do it.

And so, on the other side you'd have

the business advertising their product

and how it would be simpler.

So I had to do both within 15 minutes.

- There it is. Nice.

- Okay.

(tense music)

- I would use that big socket.

- Okay. - You gotta torque that too.

Torque it.

There it is.

(tense music)

Just pull it, yep.

Nice. Okay.

- It's not. - You're good.

You're good. - Okay.

- What about this one?

Now pull time.

- [Rebecca] Time.

(Angelica clapping)

- Thank you.

- All right.

You feel better? - Yes, I do.

- Okay, deep breath. You did great, all right?

- Okay. - So yeah, you end up going to be 11.42.

- Okay. - It's a good time, all right?

- All right. - You did good.

- Really nervous. - You did it

with extra time to spare.

That's so much better than last year.

- Yeah.

- Right? - It is.

That is true. - You're so good.

- Yes. - You're so good.

- Yes, you really helped

'cause I was getting nervous at the end.

- I know you were. - At first I was like, no,

I'm not gonna finish it. - No, no, no, not on my watch.

(group laughing)

- So, I didn't know what to expect this year.

I know when I did last year,

I wasn't able to finish it.

Even though they gave us 15 minutes,

I went over because I was just in my head about it.

I couldn't get it done

and this year I really wanted to do it

because I knew I could finish it.

And so this year I approved it

and it was just like an amazing experience.

It's like I finally got what I worked so hard to get, so.

- That's what we're here for. - Yes.

(sentimental music)

Fuel tank entries, me and Adela was super nervous.

I hadn't touched that event yet.

So, going in I was very nervous

as to what our time would be

even though we had 15 minutes.

- [Spectator] Let's go, ladies.

- [Rebecca] Chix Fix went right before us too.

(spectators cheering)

We got this, girl.

(spectators cheering and clapping)

- [Team Member] Three, two, one.

- [Team Member] Yes.

(spectators cheering)

- And man, they got it in like three minutes

(group cheering and applauding)

- Yeah! - Yeah!

- [Judge] At any point-

- [Rebecca] We were just nervous.

I knew I didn't wanna drop a bow.

I knew going in we had to be steady.

And the moment I heard Adela do her call outs,

I was on point with the ground

and you know, getting it down.

- [Adela] We had so much fun doing that.

And the fact that she's tall,

she was able to get those screws

and I'm short and I was able to do what I did around her.

- [Rebecca] Making sure we got every bolt

and making sure we retied and retorqued it

or at the proper measurement

so we wouldn't get any time added on.

- [Adela] Okay, I'll get it right now.

(tense music)

- [Rebecca] We got that event like five minutes.

(spectators cheering and clapping)

- [Adela] That actually didn't show like this.

That's bad.

- Yes. - Look at these muscle.

- And my arm, my arms hurt so bad.

- You did good. - My one arm.

- [Judge] We gotta get a bench for you.

- It reminded me of when I was young.

You know, it's exhilarating

and it's a lot of fun to watch them

because they're going through what I went through

and it brought back some memories.

And so, I'm really happy for them

and I really encourage them to not give up,

keep doing what they're doing,

and I'm just happy for them, I'm proud of them.

(sentimental music)

(crowd chattering)

- Slow is fast.

The team events, I love working together with a partner

and helping each other out.

- Confirm.

- Yep.

- Begin.

- Supervisor Heather, tech one Aria,

tech two Cary, Inspector Heather,

supervisor slide maintenance.

(tense music)

- 6441.

- [Group] 6441.

- L1. - L1.

- IHH. - IHH.

- [Team Member] Area free and clear.

- [Group] Area free and clear.

- [Team Member] Removing and replace line.

- We're removing and replacing line.

- Disarmed. - Disarmed.

- Disarmed. - Disarmed.

- No (indistinct), switch sides with me.

Switch sides with me.

Bring my paperwork please.

- There you go.

Okay. That's all.

(tense music)

Go ahead. It's all yours.

I'm pulling the bars down.

- [Cary] And the bars coming down.

- Okay.

- Press (indistinct) control.

(tense music)

- That's a verified. - Yes.

- I'm gonna put it in a pocket, that's another verified.

And then we're gonna check that

and we're gonna just scoop in and verify

and then- - Five.

- Check in the pocket. - Verified.

- We got it.

Date's good. - Verified.

Take that box. Take that box.

- Verified.

- Let's go, let's go.

Hustle in the bustle.

- Yeah. Let's go, ladies.

(tense music)

Let's go, ladies. Woo!

(spectators cheering)

- It's up.

(tense music)

- Relation.

Time. - Time.

- [Angelica] Time.

(team members cheering and applauding)

- Nice save.

Oh my gosh. You did good.

You guys are awesome.

- Boom!

- Boom!

- We kinda do it for each other, we do it for the team.

- It goes little big. Yeah.

Composite has always been one of my favorite events.

I absolutely adore it.

When we were practicing, we were at 10 minutes.

The one time we timed ourselves,

I think we were somewhere around like seven.

So we were averaging between seven to 12 minutes.

Grab the blanket, grab the peels, start putting them.

(intriguing music)

- Ready to go. Okay.

- One step half on then start. - Stop.

- This time around our time was five minutes and 37 seconds.

That was a good ass time.

- Damn.

- The communication was there.

I was talking to her.

I was letting her know what she needed to do,

what I needed to do.

Just kinda what I needed her to do with me

and how to move around.

It was great.

It was a good turnaround and we had an amazing time.

- This is the last event on the day here.

- Okay. Thank you so much. - Thank you so much.

- It's over.

We're done.

(team members cheering and clapping)

It was an experience that I wish

I could go back to again and again.

If I ever get the opportunity to compete again,

I will take that opportunity and go back.

'cause you meet so many people

from so many different backgrounds.

It was amazing. It was fun.

It was just a wonderful experience.

(sentimental music)

- Yeah and I'd like to call up the honorable John Goglia.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- A wonderful event would not be possible

without all of you.

We do it for you.

You provide us the energy.

Give me some of it because some of you guys

and 'cause man, you wore me out the last couple days.

(audience laughing)

But it is wonderful.

I can't say enough Chix Fix

because years ago they brought the energy,

they brought the women to this event.

(audience applauding)

There is a bright future in this business

and it is a future that can help lots of people

move up from where they are.

These jobs are not McDonald's.

These jobs can support families build a future.

We hear a lot about diversity

and some people like to give it lip service.

We like to give it what all of us always do,

give it our best.

This industry is just a reflection of the entire world.

Right? And we can't exclude anybody.

Ken says it best, you know?

The airplane doesn't care

the (indistinct) the person who's turning the wrench.

Doesn't care.

What he cares about is the competency

of the person turning the wrench.

All right, let's treat everybody like human beings,

treat them the way we wanna be treated.

And let's move on.

(audience applauding)

(sentimental music)

- Commercial category.

In third place, let's hear it

for the United Airlines Line.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- United has three teams.

We have a Houston-based team,

we have a Chicago Line team,

and our Chix Fix team,

which is from various stations throughout the country.

It's actually changed my life meeting these ladies.

I was kind of a loner before this

and then really didn't work

with a lot of women at all.

And for us to all come together from all these stations

and everybody have something

so uniquely beautiful about them

and talented and it's just amazing.

(audience applauding)

- Second place in the commercial category.

- [Team Member] Excited.

(tense music)

Let's hear it for United Airlines.

You want to call yourselves out?

The Chix Fix.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- [Team Member] Yeah!

Good job!

- [Team Member] Oh my god!

(audience applauding and cheering)

(dramatic music)

- [Josie] When Chix Fix won and they went on stage,

I was so incredibly proud of them.

I know other people were proud of them,

but I feel personally I was so proud of them

because just seeing them how hard they worked for everything

and how hard and how hard they trained every day

and you know, how good they got at everything.

Just seeing them stand up there together for the last time,

it made me emotional.

(audience applauding and cheering)

(dramatic music)

(audience applauding and cheering)

- [Announcer] Congratulations, ladies.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- [Audience Member] We're gonna miss you.

(sentimental music)

- You know, I feel like we still need them.

I feel like we need people like them in general,

but they're always gonna be around especially, you know,

I know that I can always count on them.

And knowing that, knowing that my mentors won

and that I could see them as winners,

that meant a lot to me.

(audience applauding)

- Oh my god.

We did it!

So glad I'm not wearing mascara.

(both laughing)

- Yeah, yeah!

- [Group] Chix Fix! Chix Fix!

Chix Fix, Chix Fix, Chix Fix.

(group laughing)

- We couldn't have done it without you.

(sentimental music)

I know. (chuckles)

- We freaking did it.

We did it.

Yes, we did.

Yeah, we beat the guys. (chuckles)

We did.

Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

I am so proud of them.

Oh my gosh.

- Ah! - We're second.

- Ah! - Ah!

- Well hopefully, we will get to the point as a society

that we will be recognized as technicians

and not as female technicians.

Just as female pilots, they'll be recognized as a pilot,

not a female pilot.

That you will be recognized for your skill

and not your gender.

- Yeah.

- Chix Fix!

Chix Fix!

(sentimental music)

- Right now I'm at Willis Tower

and it's a United Women in Tech Ops Conference.

We were here last night for a little happy hour meeting

and today we're here for the whole day

for speakers and just networking.

Since the competition I've met a lot of women in United.

I think right now that's all I want to do,

just meet as many people as I can

and hear about their advice and their experience.

Just so I know what I can do in my journey as a mechanic,

soon-to-be mechanic.

- You know, being in aircraft maintenance

is like the world is your oyster.

I love aircraft mechanism for that reason

'cause it has a lot me just to doing things

I would've never thought.

Today we had an event which is called

Women Leading in Tech Ops

and it's an event that empowers womens

to lead with distinction, resilience.

And we provided tools like leadership classes

so they can become good leaders.

I used to be an aircraft technician

and I am originally from Panama.

So I used to go home crying

because people would not understand me

and some of the guys were not very patient.

And there were very few womens that I could relate to

because I was the only woman in a hangar of 170 guys.

The ecosystem has changed a little bit for women,

but we're still not there.

We spent a whole generation making strong womens,

but we didn't teach men how to live with those strong women.

And making that awareness now for men

is gonna really position the ladies

for those big leadership positions

that they might be looking in the future.

10 years ago a woman would be like

a female VP of technical operations.

I don't think that's gonna happen

and we know that can happen now.

We have a lot of women who are CEOs now,

so I think the future is really bright for the ladies

in aircraft maintenance, in engineering

and all these traditional male-dominated careers

because we are creating that environment for them.

So I think it's very bright.

Yes.

- We've learned a lot today, so - Good. - Yeah.

- Good. I'm glad that you're here all of them, yeah.

- Right now after I get my license,

I'm gonna try to get my pilot's license.

If you have a pilot's license and a mechanic's license,

you can do so many things.

So, if you're a mechanic you can fix the airplane

and if you're also a pilot you can take it

on like a check flight.

I don't have any limits.

I'll say that because I know that I can do

so many things with this license.

Even though I do come from a different culture

coming into this community,

I have been welcome with open arms.

So it's been great.

(sentimental music)

- So today I'm taking my powerplant written.

It's one out of my four tests

I have to take for powerplant.

I have to do my written, oral, and practical.

Today is like my deciding factor

on taking my other two tests for powerplant.

Like all my oral questions will be

based off my written questions, whatever I get wrong.

So, the goal is to do very well on this test today

so that we cut our time for taking our oral

and practical portion like in half hopefully.

So, I'm a ball of anxiety but like happy nervous today.

I've done about 12 laps in the parking lot

to get this energy off me but I feel good.

I feel really hyped, very confident in myself today.

(uplifting music)

(bell ringing)

She passed.

(group cheering and applauding)

Gotta go find Dave.

- Yes. So exciting.

- Where's Dave?

84. - Good job.

I knew you could do it.

- She's good. 84.

Jeremy, I passed.

Really. - You did it.

(Jeremy laughing)

- I'm going to relax and rejoice in my passing

and then I would decide to muster up the energy

to start shedding for the next.

Bye.

(uplifting music)

(gentle music)

- It's graduation day.

We are all graduating today.

I'm very excited.

You know, I'm ready to walk that stage with my girls

and you know, all of this has been built up to this.

Obviously I'm still not done,

I still have to take my exams

and I still have to get my license.

But at least I can put like the schooling part aside.

So from our team, it is Alicia who will be graduating.

Rebecca will be here

and then Josie is also graduating on the stage.

I'm excited 'cause my friends that like

I literally started with get to graduate with me.

So I'm like we get to walk the stage altogether.

- [Host] Please stand as we welcome our grads.

(elegant ceremonial music)

Help me join welcome our 2024 graduating class.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- How's it going everybody?

(audience cheering)

Congratulations, graduates.

It's great to be in your presence.

(audience applauding)

At AIM, we believe that if you take metal, rubber,

flammable fluid, shape it right

and get it into the right place

and put enough thrust behind it,

you can fly.

We believe that there's a solution

to the national aviation shortage.

We need more aircraft technicians.

The key to producing enough aircraft technicians

is to look where the industry hasn't often looked.

We know that just about 3%

of all working aircraft technicians are women.

That's not nearly enough.

When I'm asked, "Well, what are we gonna do about that?"

My answer is we have to provide an environment

and role models that encourage women to say,

"I, too, can work with my hands."

So my hat's off for Tiffany Coleman.

Ms. Coleman, would you stand up please?

(audience applauding)

Tiffany Coleman is not only an incredibly skilled mechanic,

not only an incredibly important teacher,

but a role model for all future technicians,

men or women in any brand.

We're here to be in the communities

that we can make a great impact

because I'm so bold as to believe

that the education you've received,

the certifications you are receiving,

the job that you will join next will change your life

and will change the lives of those in the city of Chicago

for the better.

I absolutely push you out of the nest today

and say go get that job.

Make sure you get that certification

and you graduates thank you for being who you are,

thank you for persevering,

and congratulations on your incredible.

(audience applauding)

- Right here.

(elegant ceremonial music)

I'm gonna just put my phone and things underneath my seat.

- You're gonna stress me out.

(graduates cheering)

(elegant ceremonial music)

- [Host] Josie Figueroa-Duran (graduates cheering)

(elegant ceremonial music)

- Rebecca Wilson.

(graduates cheering)

- All right.

- Congrats, Rebecca.

- Thank you.

- Excellent.

- Ah!

(elegant ceremonial music)

- Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

- So awesome.

- Adela Spezzia.

(graduates cheering)

- Congrats, Adela.

- Thank you. Thank you. - All right.

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

(Adela chuckles)

Thank you. - Amazing.

- Thank you. - Oh, so inspiring.

- Thank you. Thank you.

(sentimental music)

- You did it, baby. I'm so proud of you all.

I love you all so much.

- Thank you. Thank you.

- You know we joined at the hip.

- [Adela] Oh, absolutely sir.

- Congrats. - Thank you.

- All right.

- You made it. - I know, right? (chuckles)

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

(sentimental music)

(audience applauding)

- We're gonna cite the Mechanic's Creed.

Upon my honor, I swear

- [Graduates] Upon my honor, I swear.

- [Instructor] That I shall hold in sacred trust.

- [Graduates] That I shall hold in sacred trust

the rights and privileges conferred upon me.

- As a certified mechanic.

- [Graduates] As a certified mechanic

knowing full well that safety and lives.

- Of others are dependent upon my skill and judgment.

- [Graduates] Of others are dependent

upon my skills and judgment.

- I hereby present the candidates for graduation together

with all the appropriate honors, privileges,

and responsibilities that follow.

You may now move your tassels from right to left.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- [Rebecca] All right.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- [Adela] Freaking line.

- [Rebecca] Oh, just wanna make sure.

(audience applauding and cheering)

- [Rebecca] Ah!

- [Attendee] I am in a spotlight with her.

Do you believe that?

- A long like hard journey

But the people that we met along the way,

the things that we accomplished, you know,

we did three competitions together.

Gonna cry.

Definitely worth it.

I am going to miss her stressing me out (chuckles)

the most.

I don't know if you know this,

but yesterday she was stressing me out.

Today she stresses me out,

in the chair she was stressing me out. (chuckles)

Starting to finally, you know,

put those practices that we've had

throughout the whole school year,

you know, getting on that plane,

actually fixing those planes

and you know, seeing the planes take off

and being able to say, "I worked at that aircraft."

- I'm most excited that she's breaking into an industry

that doesn't have a whole lot of women

and how passionate she is about it.

Since she started the program, she's like,

I haven't seen her so disciplined and so focused

and I'm most excited for her

where this will take her in her future.

- Yeah, graduate!

Yeah!

- [Attendee] Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

(sentimental music fades)

(airplane sputtering)

- How's it going? - Hi.

- Hello. - Good to see you.

- [Josie] Good to see you too.

- Congratulations. - Thank you so much.

Thank you.

- Do you know how few people

are both a mechanic and a pilot?

- Yes.

Personally, like one-on-one, like at events,

I don't really know any girl who's

or woman who's a both pilot and mechanic.

It's like so rare.

- Holy cow, here you are.

You're gonna do it.

(airplane sputtering)

- [Josie] I think for me it was all thanks to my mom.

I did grow up with a lot of my culture

but she also wanted me to know

that there's a lot more out there.

Obviously she wanted me to know that,

that I don't have to do everything

that a typical Mexican family household does.

You know, I don't have to grow up in that environment

because although it is lovely,

there's so much more you can do.

(uplifting music)

(engine whirring)

- [Pilot] Hey Josie, can you get the rudders?

(uplifting music)

- [Josie] Yes.

- [Pilot] Okay. You're gonna rudder me out, okay?

- Okay.

You tell them. - You tell them.

- Ready for take off. - Ready for take off.

(uplifting music)

(airplane sputtering)

- I'm very happy.

It was kinda scary 'cause the wind's kinda weird today,

but I'm very happy and very excited.

I can't wait to be doing this

for like the rest of the summer.

It's gonna be so fun.

For me it would be not only like a personal accomplishment,

I think it would be an accomplishment for others,

for everyone who has been supporting me this entire,

like for my entire journey,

I feel like getting my private pilot's license

would be kinda like a gift to them.

'Cause I have so many teachers from my high school

asking my mom how I've been doing

and I would want to be able to get my pilot's license

and then take them for a flight.

You know, it's kind of like, thanks to you,

I grew up to who I am and I'm able to do this.

I've just been really blessed with everything.

I feel like everything was just really laid out perfectly.

(sentimental music)

(bright music)

- [Instructor] And look over again real, real good.

- Yes sir. - Everything is correct.

(bright music)

- John.

John, I did it!

Look at it!

- Good job. - Can you video me?

(horn blares)

(uplifting music)

- I am proud of you, girl. - Thank you.

- [Instructor] Congratulations.

- I feel emotional. I don't like it.

- Take this.

(air hissing)

Now.

(staff cheering)

- Madison!

Yay! You did it!

All the teariness, all the teariness.

- I don't like being emotional, this is very.

(staff cheering and clapping)

- Thank you, thank you.

Thanks, everyone.

- Good job!

- Congratulations.

- I know it's not.

I don't like it.

- Okay. It's time for you to go sign.

(uplifting music)

Okay.

(uplifting music)

- Mom, I would like to preface that you are on camera,

but guess who's your newest A&P?

Guess who.

I did it.

- [Mother] How's the test?

- That was kinda hard, so.

It was a bit difficult.

- You get this now. - Yeah, I'm done.

She's done.

She is definitely one of my biggest supporters,

so I am very glad to have her.

You know, she definitely encourages me.

I'm teaching her my lingo right now

and last night she texted me

and she was like, she was like, "Good luck on your test.

I'm sending you good vibes,"

because I always say that all the time.

So I'm teaching her my lingo currently. (chuckles)

Keeping her young.

I am happy to be out of there.

I'll tell you that.

That is the most stress-enduring thing

I've ever experienced in my entire life.

But it's over. It is very rewarding.

Now, I can say I'm an A&P, not just a powerplant.

Now I'm A&P. Oh! (vocalizing)

You see this? See this?

This is me.

There's going to be another letter here added on.

She is both. She is A&P.

Oh, oh!

Oh, I'm relieved.

Oh, I'm relieved. I can get a job anywhere now.

Like I went from learning about basic math and physics

to now like learning about different cycles,

different engines that are on planes.

Like I've really, I feel like I've grown

a lot as a mechanic.

Like I went just knowing a few things about cars to like,

now I know the airplane,

like I know the things that are on an airplane

and where they're located at.

- Oh, what's up? Where you working?

- Going to Gulf Stream abruptly.

- Are you really?

- I took an offer from them last week.

- You did? Yes! - Gulf Stream?

- That's awesome. - Awesome.

- We did it. We actually did it.

Like there was a point there where it was like

working nights, being here during all the days.

Like I come in Wednesday and Thursday,

get three, four hours of sleep

and then have to give it my all while being here.

So, I would just say that I'm, like,

we made it, like we did it.

Like that was nothing.

- [Instructor] You're making me cry.

- I know I'm making myself cry.

But yeah, I just, I think I thought

then it would take me a lot longer

to get to where I'm at now.

Like I did not imagine being,

coming into Capstone single rated

and 2 1/2 weeks out of Capstone

getting my last school rating.

Like I did not, like I thought I would be here for months,

to be honest.

Like I get so scared taking tests.

I did not think out of my class that finished

that I was gonna be the first one.

Like I really did not think that.

So I'm like, girl, we're doing something with our lives.

Like we're making big money moves now, you know?

We're not sitting at the bottom forever.

So I think that's just crazy to think about.

I can't even say, I can't even,

I can't even say. - Perfect.

Come on.

(uplifting music)

- Hey, how are you?

- I'm good, how are you? - Oh, you are amazing.

So good to see you. - Good.

How are you? - Good. How's it going?

You look like you're doing some impressive stuff over there

that I would have no idea what you're doing. (chuckles)

- I'm working at Chemring Energetics.

So it is an aerospace company that also works,

has military contracts as well as aerospace contracts,

so like NASA, Blue Origin.

And the department that I work on

is actually the electronics department.

So we build JCAST, ACAST, SCOTS,

a whole bunch of testers for the military

and basically if you've ever seen "Top Gun,"

those fighter jets.

So our units are, the things that we built here

test all their masks, the helmets,

the suits that they're wearing up to the,

basically all the equipment that the pilots are using.

The thing that I like about here is it's all electricity.

It's all electronics.

I am working on circuit boards, I'm working with wiring,

I'm reading schematics, following procedures,

making sure that everything is detailed,

everything's the way it needs to be

and it's working at, it's 110%.

(sentimental music)

So, I'll pump air into the system.

(machine whirring)

Stop.

So, G suit kind of just wraps around the legs.

It's make sure that the blood is circulating everywhere

as well as their vests.

So everything just,

'cause they're flying at such a high altitude

that they need to make sure

everything's just functioning and working.

So our CAL stands are calibrated

and we calibrate this to what that stands says,

which is nice.

(sentimental music)

So I'll be able to see what the CAL stand says

and what the actual JCAST is reading or the unit.

(machine whirring)

And that's how we also know

if everything's calibrated or not.

And then it just kinda blows up.

- So you mentioned that some of your clients

or the companies you work for are NASA and the military,

which immediately makes me think

that this has application for space flight,

has application for military maneuvers and what?

Keeps the world safe

because you're keeping- - More or less safe.

- The pilots safe.

- Yeah, we keep our pilots safe.

Whatever it is, regardless if it's maintenance or not,

as a female, go for it

because people are gonna say you're crazy

and people are gonna say don't do it

and everybody's gonna try to steer you

maybe a different direction.

Do it.

It doesn't hurt to try, especially as a female,

because at the end of the day,

not choosing is still choosing.

And so, why not just choose to do what you wanna do?

It is still more challenging but once you're there

and once you've proven what you got,

man, there's no one that can stop you.

As a first generation,

you know, coming from immigrant parents

who struggled a lot, (whimpering)

I'm so glad that I was put through this path where,

you know, I am getting to that point

where I can finally give back to my parents

and I can help them out and I can provide for them

and soon enough, like I'll be able to give them

the life that they deserve.

And to me, I'm so grateful for that.

(melancholic music)

(sentimental music)

(uptempo music)

(sentimental music)