Fixing Helicopters for a Living: How Miyah Spade Started in Aircraft Maintenance

Aircraft maintenance apprentice Miyah Spade of Canadian Helicopters breaks down what it really takes to keep planes and helicopters safely in the air — and why almost nobody knows this trade exists.

Miyah just walked off the floor of an international aerospace maintenance skills competition in Orlando, where her team was the only one to fully complete their event — removing and reinstalling a 150-pound aircraft slide under a strict manual, timed, and inspected to the letter. She talks about what it takes to hold that much information under pressure, and introduces the "Dirty Dozen" — the twelve human factors, like distraction, pressure, and complacency, that aviation maintenance crews are trained to watch for on every real job, not just in competition.

Miyah is an aircraft maintenance apprentice studying at Centennial College and working with Canadian Helicopters. She didn't grow up wrenching on dirt bikes or cars — she found her way in through a high school welding and auto shop class, then chose aircraft maintenance over auto body repair because, in her words, "it has a nice ring to it." Since then she's worked on everything from small Cessnas and Pipers to airliners and helicopters, including hands-on time in an overhaul shop tearing apart a helicopter's main rotor head after a real accident.

If you're weighing a trade you've never heard of, wondering how to break into aviation without a four-year degree, or trying to figure out how to stand out when resumes get lost in a pile, this conversation is for you.

IN THIS EPISODE

(00:00) – Cold Open: A "Dirty Dozen" teaser and a first look at Miyah Spade, aircraft maintenance apprentice at Canadian Helicopters.

(01:07) – Only Team to Finish: Recapping the skills competition event Miyah just completed — removing and reinstalling a 150-pound aircraft slide under strict, line-by-line inspection.

(02:57) – The Dirty Dozen: The twelve human factors — pressure, distraction, complacency — that aviation maintenance crews are trained to watch for every time they sign off on a real aircraft.

(03:48) – From Welding to Wings: How a high school auto shop and welding class led Miyah away from cars and into aircraft maintenance.

(07:09) – Choosing Helicopters: Why Miyah picked helicopters over big airliners — camping in the bush under a tarp, and landing a job with Canadian Helicopters.

(13:30) – Like a Detective: Tearing apart a helicopter's main rotor head after a real accident, and why talking to people beats sending resu