Chix Fix shows that women can repair airplanes

This post is part of Mashable’s ongoing series The Women Fixing STEM, which highlights trailblazing women in science, tech, engineering, and math, as well as initiatives and organizations working to close the industries’ gender gaps.

At the far reaches of San Francisco International Airport, there’s a nondescript gray building that houses the United Maintenance Center. I’m here to see the facilities and meet some of the aircraft repair team. Inside, there’s a huge room containing a Boeing 737; people are crawling all over its wings, underbelly, and main cabin. It reminds me a car at a repair shop, and that’s essentially what this is, but at a way bigger scale. The plane is 2 stories tall and more than 100 feet long. There’s a staircase to get from the top of the plane to the baggage hold area.

This particular plane will be here for 12 days of repairs. As I walk through it, I see a man testing the air conditioning system. The floors are ripped out, with another man gathering materials to caulk. A woman is checking the life vests under the seats,  scanning codes to double-check the vests’ expiration dates. I realize she’s one of the few female aircraft technicians in this massive repair space — aside from the three women leading me around United’s airplane maintenance operation.

One of my three “guides” is Bonnie Turner, who’s been at United for 31 years. As managing director of the airline’s airframe overhaul and repair division at SFO, she oversees 650 employees. Out of 95,000 employees at United, 9,500 are technicians. Of those technicians, only 250 identify as female. That’s about 2.6 percent of the operations workforce. It’s not just a United thing. Across the airplane tech industry, males dominate. 

Turner and two of her aircraft technicians, Yolanda Gong and Katrina Oyer, whom Turner invited to join us, tour me through the bowels of even bigger planes in several of United’s seven maintenance hangars. This is my introduction to Chix Fix.

What’s Chix Fix?

Chix Fix is the team Turner and some of her fellow female managers put together as one of United’s contenders for the annual Aerospace Maintenance Competition, or AMC, which has been around since 2008. Turner describes it as “the Olympics of aviation maintenance.” 

The main players in commercial airlines all field teams (United has a few each year; United’s Cleveland contingent has won the competition many years in a row) that compete in 30 events. Groups of five have 15 minutes for each event. They change out a valve, repair sheet metal, switch out brakes and wheels, or perform an oil test analysis, all while following up-to-date safety procedures and clean-up protocols. Teams win bragging rights, recruiting-worthy titles, and some prize money.

A few months before the 2018 competition in Orlando, Turner and her colleagues thought it was time for the airline to have an all-women’s team. Chix Fix was created with what Turner describes as United’s full support and even some funding to make team uniforms. One of the Chix Fix team coaches, Laura Spolar, is credited for the name due to her once saying, “Women can fly planes, but they can also fix planes.” 

Women in Aviation International compiles the stats industry-wide. According to Federal Aviation Administration 2017 data, only 2.3 percent of all aviation mechanics are women. Meanwhile, nearly 80 percent of flight attendants are women. 

As we walk out of the hangar and into another one, Kim Pritchard, senior manager of technical operations talent acquisition, joins us. Turner calls Pritchard her Chix Fix “co-pilot.” Pritchard explains she’s late for the tour because she was at a middle school in nearby Woodside, where she’s building out a mentorship program. She’s serious about recruiting more females to aviation tech ops and knows she has to start young. 

The competition

After the female team came together and registered with United’s blessing, Chix Fix joined the competition last year, adding a “Female Team Category” to the results page. The group was one of three teams in that category. They placed second in Airbus A320 CAT III certification and third in the ULTRAX aerospace condition-based intelligence, no special category necessary.

Last year’s competition video features, well, a lot of dudes.

Next year’s competition is in Atlanta in April. Chix Fix is gearing up and hoping to win some categories and take on its fellow United team for the overall title. But mostly, the group is eager to expose more women to their industry.

For Pritchard, Chix Fix is the perfect recruiting tool. At AMC last year, United found Gong, who was competing with her aviation school. She joined United’s technician team in September. She’ll be competing next year on team Chix Fix.

Fixing bias

After looking at an imposing Boeing 777 plane that’s undergoing an engine inspection, the women break down their various experiences in the industry. Turner says when she moved to the management side of aviation, coworkers would ask her if she got the job to “fill a quota.” Pritchard nods, acknowledging that when you move teams you have “re-establish” credibility — just because you’re a women.

Oyer, who has been a base technician since 2017, expertly explains everything we see as we tour the hangars. She says she’s often asked (usually by male colleagues) if she knows how a landing gear or engine system works. Her response: “We’re all technicians, we’ve got the same license.” She said out of her class of 30 at an airframe and power plant aircraft mechanic school, she was the only woman.

Gong is relatively new to the maintenance team, just starting out at cabin systems inside the airplane in September, but she’s already noticed that someone’s always expecting you to mess up because you’re a woman. “You have to perform at a higher standard to prove yourself,” she said, noting there’s an expectation to be up-to-speed on the latest regulations and standards without having to rely on training materials.

Even the group’s name gets various reactions. Turner brushes aside the ones calling it “demeaning.” She’s also removed the world “cockpit” from her vocabulary. Instead, you’ll hear her refer to the non-gendered flight deck.

The importance of the AMC competition becomes clearer as we keep touring the vast world of airplane repair work. As we walk away from a landing gear swing test, Gong and Oyer share how they’re perceived out in the “real world.” They’re proud of what they do, but when they say they’re in aviation, Gong is often asked if she’s a flight attendant. 

Turner knows the April event is just a competition, but it’s valuable in the uphill battle to encourage women to consider these type of jobs. For her it shows, “Hey, we can hold our own”; “aviation can be a career choice for women.” In 2017, only 8,702 mechanics and repair workers were female — across all FAA-regulated airlines.

Those numbers don’t lie. As Pritchard said, “It’s unusual for us to do what we do.” Word is, more commercial airlines are fielding all-women teams at April’s event. Chix Fix relishes the competition.