Jennifer Jurca is an airworthiness inspector at Transport Canada (TC has several groups of inspectors – marine, surface (which includes rail), civil aviation, and transportation of dangerous goods). With few exceptions, airworthiness inspectors are licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME) like Jurca.
Like so many public service workers, she relishes opportunities to do front-line work with the people who make aviation happen. “My favorite part of the job is going out to an airport and meeting the frontline people, looking at aircraft, and inspecting the facility.”
Rarely in the spotlight
She recalls one day when she was in the United States doing inspections on a maintenance provider and some Canadian aircraft coming through Phoenix. A passenger boarding a flight that was taking off from the United States noticed the Transport Canada crest on Jurca’s clothing. He stopped her, wondering if he should be worried to see someone from Transport Canada on the aircraft.
Jurca explained that she was just wrapping up an inspection, “everything appears to be in good working order.” Then came a rare moment for Jennifer when he replied with “thanks for doing what you are doing, and for looking out for the safety of Canadians; you have a good day!” It’s not very often that members of the travelling public actually see Jennifer or other Inspectors at work. In fact, it’s not often enough that the travelling public are even aware how public service workers are looking out for us all.
“One thing that really caught me when we were on strike [in 2023] was the number of people who didn’t understand the diversity of public servants and the roles we play, you know, thinking a public servant is a person who sits at a desk and stamps a form. Yes, I do that sometimes, but I do so much more.”
Coming up as a mechanic
When Jurca left high school, there was Trades Discovery program for women at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She got to try out a number of different trades and found aviation the most compelling. The possibility of travel for work was a big draw for young Jennifer.
She started working in the industry in 1998. When Air Canada lay-offs came in 2007, Jurca foundher way to Calgary, and later to Transport Canada in 2011.
Union Activism
“I worked airline from right near the beginning of my apprenticeship. I’ve never had to fight for equal pay for equal work because I’ve always worked in union environments and that means a lot to me.”
After having benefitted from union membership as an AME, Jennfer is glad to be able to pay it forward as a UCTE activist. She’s currently Chief Shop Steward of Local 30318, having held several other executive positions over the years.
Safety involves costs. So compliance is critical.
“It’s aviation. There’s a paper trail for everything.”
“You pull a bolt off of a seat rail, which is, you might think, not that important. But they can trace that back to the batch where it was created. There’s traceability for everything. That’s one of the reasons why aviation is so expensive; there’s a lot of documentation, tight tolerances, and high standards to support everything and ensure safety.”
If it weren’t for public service workers like Jurca performing inspections and ensuring compliance, operators would be under pressure to cut corners. Thanks to a strong public service, our safety protections are thorough and consistent.
Creative, Proactive, Detail-oriented
Her inspector work is not as hands-on as the previous mechanic work, but Jurca actually feels she has a greater role now.
Both AME work and inspection work involve creative problem-solving, and profound attention to detail. “You have some latitude to make to make decisions. You want to be able to use creativity to fix things. Of course, you still have to work within the regulations and within the manuals.”
But the inspection work brings a broader view, now that she works with different inspectors and different disciplines in this complex national system. “I have a lot more scope for keeping people safe now than I did when I was working on an aircraft engine. Honestly, by inspecting and auditing airlines’ programs and systems, I have more impact now to keep people safe.”
Public Safety – the Holistic view
She now thinks about UCTE and the whole safety network as a whole.
“We have a number of inspector disciplines within Civil Aviation, which include airworthiness, cabin safety/AOSH, dispatch and operational control, aerodromes, transportation of dangerous goods, and aviation security. There are also flight operations inspectors [who are not members of UCTE].”
“I mention my brothers and sisters in the other areas because we are a team and we’re all required. We are always trying to do better and trying to change and improve, but for the most part, we’re all proud of the product at the end of the day.”
That product is safety, which at the best of times is invisible to most of the public. That’s okay, apparently, because the inspectors know what they’re accomplishing.
“We’re there because we care, and we enjoy aviation. We want to make a difference and we want to see things be safer and be better, for everyone.”
