Title: Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Retired)
Company: Boeing
Location: Tacoma, Washington, United States
Donald Spittler Jr., Retired Aircraft Maintenance Engineer at Boeing, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Engineers for dedication, achievements, and leadership in engineering.
With decades of experience to his credit, Mr. Spittler is currently retired, having most recently excelled as an aircraft maintenance engineer with Boeing from 2012 to 2014. Prior to this position, he was active as an electronic security technician at the Quantico Marine Base for Honeywell International Inc. from 2007 to 2011. Mr. Spittler began his career in broadcast engineering in 1975, beginning as an operator for Channel 11 in Anchorage with which he was later promoted to the post of engineer.
Among his many professional highlights, Mr. Spittler is incredibly proud of building two television stations between 1984 and 1994, both of which were for Channel 62, during which time he wired the property, trained the personnel, and repaired the boilers and air conditioning units as a remote engineer, an assistant chief engineer, and an operational engineer. He also fondly recalls being sent to Sony Broadcasting by a television station where he learned to operate and repair one-inch videotape machines. Constructing his first transmitter in the seventh grade, Mr. Spittler parlayed his passion for electronics into higher education, graduating from Bates Technical College with an associate’s degree in television broadcasting in 1975.
Notably, Mr. Spittler utilized his wealth of electronic expertise when he enlisted in the U.S. Army for three years, a tenure in which he was trained to become a crew chief for the Bell AH-1 Cobra in Vietnam. In this role, he aided in repairing weapon and electronics systems while assisting in the armament shop. Before he received his honorable discharge, Mr. Spittler advanced to become the head of the aforementioned shop.
In his retirement, Mr. Spittler has reflected on developments in broadcasting, having previously needed to operate the switcher, direct broadcasts on the floor, and host late-night news manually through systems that have since become automated and remote-controlled. For the next generation of broadcast engineers, he advises them to pursue an education at a trade school, though those interested in becoming an on-air talent should additionally study journalism at the college level. Mr. Spittler also emphasizes the importance of having stellar mentors, as his own mentors enabled him to effectively learn the ropes of engineering.
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