Megan Bringham attended the Aviation Institute of Maintenance in Irving, California, and got her A&P at age 30. She then went to work for Thrust Flight in Addison, Texas, and got her IA after training at the Thrust Institute of Maintenance.
She was inspired by her uncles, one flew C-5As for the military and one was mechanic for United Airlines. “I knew I wanted to do something aviation. I just didn’t know what,” she said.
She attended San Jose State University and studied flight operations, but it wasn’t for her. When she took a maintenance class, she found her calling.
“I love just figuring out how things are working,” she said. “If there’s a problem, I like trouble shooting, problem solving, figuring out new ways to get things done. I’m not a huge fan of sitting at my desk the entire day. This is up and moving, and I just enjoy the work.”
She’s been working on a project with “the sheet metal guru” at Thrust Aviation. “Engines are great but when you start really diving into the sheet metal work,” she said, “you realize this is a lot of fun, figuring things out in a very different way.”
Bringham is one of the only females in North Texas to be an A&P mechanic with an IA.
To anyone considering a career in aircraft maintenance she says the work is never dull but it’s always important.
There’s no pulling over to the side of the sky, if something goes wrong, she said. “You got to make sure everything you’re doing is correct,” she emphasized. “When people are getting in their plane to take off, they have trusted you and they put their life in your hands, basically saying, ‘I trust you and your work.’ That, to me, is a huge responsibility and that’s not something I ever take lightly.”
