First a little background on EDS. Electronic Data Systems is a global company and is actually now HP-EDS (having recently been purchased by Hewlett-Packard). They are a computer systems company started by Ross Perot. I am lucky enough to work in the Flight Department located in McKinney, Texas. The hang a r houses three Gulfstream corporate jets: a G4, G5, and G550. Although most interns of my degree want to fly these aircraft, I will be working alongside the mechanics and helping to maintain them as well as observing some of the flights.

My first day went pretty smoothly, of course you have the paper work of any job, but for the most part it went smooth learning some of the finer points of working with Jet A. I will be partially responsible for the fueling of the aircraft and the refueling of the 5,000 gallon fuel truck, this is apart from the two 15,000 gallon fuel tanks the company also owns. The first part of the day we topped off the fuel truck with a meager 2,330 gallons which only took about half an hour.

The G5 had taken off earlier the previous day and was scheduled to come back the late that night. Coming into work on Friday, I learned that the Gulfstream had incurred a few discrepancies that required us to replace the galley’s oven and a few effect lights, so nothing major. The most I learned was when we went over all the systems throughout the aircraft. Prof. Garrett’s    systems and components class sure did pay  off.