Jerome Lederer, an aviation pioneer, died Friday, February 6, 2004. He was 101. His aviation background included overseeing the maintenance of U. S. Postal Service airmail aircraft in the 1920s. Charles Lindberg had Lederer inspect the Spirit of St. Louis the day before he flew across the Atlantic. A strong proponent of safety, Lederer founded the Flight Safety Foundation in 1947 and established the Office of Manned Space Flight Safety at NASA in 1967. Among other milestones, he was instrumental in bringing about the use of flight data recorders and blinking anticollision lights. He was the first director, Safety Bureau of the Civil Aernonautics Board in charge of civil aviation safety regulations and the investigation of civil aviation accidents. He is also author of the Mechanic's Creed.

Mechanic's Creed

UPON MY HONOR I swear that I shall hold in sacred
trust the rights and privileges conferred upon me as a
certified mechanic. Knowing full well that the safety and lives
of others are dependent upon my skill and judgment, I shall
never knowingly subject others to risks which I would not be
willing to assume for myself, or for those dear to me.

IN DISCHARGING this trust, I pledge myself never to
undertake work or approve work which I feel to be beyond
the limits of my knowledge; nor shall I allow any non certificate
superior to persuade me to approve aircraft or equipment
as airworthy against my better judgment; nor shall
I permit my judgment to be influenced by money or other
personal gain; nor shall I pass as airworthy aircraft or equipment
about which I am in doubt, either as a result of direct
inspection or uncertainty regarding the ability of others who
have worked on it to accomplish their work satisfactorily.

I REALIZE the grave responsibility which is mine as a
certified airman, to exercise my judgment on the airworthiness
of aircraft and equipment. I, therefore, pledge unyielding adherence
to these precepts for the advancement of aviation and for
the dignity of my vocation.

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