When he was growing up, Clayton Long was always interested in aviation – and with good cause – as it is in his blood.
“My grandfather was an F4U Corsair air mechanic during World War II. My dad was an F-4 Phantom mechanic. And then, after high school, I decided to join the Marine Corps and became a helicopter mechanic. I guess it was in the blood and I don’t regret. I just I love everything about it,” he said.
In fact, Long’s grandfather can be found on the cover of the May 1968 edition of Popular Mechanics flying the Parker Jeanie's Teenie.
“I had this picture that was passed down generation to generation of this little, small airplane, but I didn't know anything about it until he passed away,” Long said. “Turns out that plane is part of my history, part of my heritage.”
Growing up in Houston, Long lived only a mile away from the airport and watched Southwest planes come in and out each day. Now, Long works as a mechanic for Southwest Airlines.
“It was a long path to get there, but I'm grateful to finally be there,” Long said.
One of his favorite things about his work is the opportunity to learn something new each day.
“What’s fun to me is I can learn something new every day and I can perfect my craft and those skills transfer to everything. You start looking at things at the grocery market, around your house, and you can see the connection between progression of mechanics through the years. Efficiency and all these designs and efforts that have spawn from aviation that are gong to continue throughout generations,” he said,
He added that there is a satisfaction from working in an industry that has tangible results like aviation, where his work helps bring people and industries together.
“It's just a very rewarding career. At the end of the day, every day, I go home I feel accomplished. I feel accomplished that I worked on something that is bigger than me. And I was part of the equation that is going to affect lots of people's lives,” Long said.
