Photo By Sgt. Melissa Lee | Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Nevels, a plane captain with Marine Fighter Attack...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. – “I love my job because so many people trust me.” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Nevels, a plane captain with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 and a Greensboro, N.C., “I can tell a pilot that he’s good to go fly and he will return home to his family at the end of the day because I know I did a thorough inspection.”
As a plane captain, Nevels takes his job very seriously.
Plane captains are responsible for preparing pilots to launch using hand-and-arm signals to tell them where to steer and when to take off. Also, they give the final inspection on the aircraft before the plane each flight.
“The series of hand-and-arm signals that pass between the pilot and plane captain are basically sign language and everyone uses the same signals,” said Capt. William Backlund, a pilot with VMFAT-101 and a Hamburg, Mich., native. “However, some plane captains’ hand-and-arm signals stand out more than others. Petty Officer 2nd class Nevels’ signals are among the best I have ever seen in ten years of flying F/A-18 Hornets.”
Nevels recently earned the squadron’s “hammer” award – an honorary hammer given to the most impressive squadron maintenance member of the week.
“The award shows me someone is paying attention to how I really do care about my job,” said Nevels. “I take a lot of pride in my job.”
The Greensboro-native is often the sailor to make others laugh, but he also knows when it is time to work. Nevels, who recently reenlisted for six more years, has worked as a plane captain for his entire career and knows the seriousness of the job.
“Every time I do the inspection I make sure it’s done well.” said Nevels. “If it’s going to take me longer to inspect a certain jet because I know it has a history of problems then so be it. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if someone got hurt and I knew I was the one who inspecting the plane.”
Nevels is known to keep everyone around him motivated. He makes an effort to make others’ days better as he works.
“If I see someone having a bad day, I will make you laugh. That is my goal,” said Nevels. “Some people have a bad day and just want to go about their bad day, but you can’t have one around me because I’ll go and mess your whole bad day up.”
Without his co-workers, he would be unable to complete his work and to have a positive attitude every day, explained Nevels.
Though many maintainers work hard, Nevels’ positive outlook and thorough work allowed him to inscribe his name on the hammer that is laden with names of the hardest workers of VMFAT-101, securing his place in the squadron’s history
| Date Taken: | 09.11.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 09.13.2012 18:16 |
| Story ID: | 94690 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, CA, US |
| Hometown: | GREENSBORO, NC, US |
| Hometown: | HAMBURG, MI, US |
| Hometown: | SAN DIEGO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 376 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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