Mr. Do Duy Hung – VACS Operations Department (Cre: Mai Huong).
Mr. Hung was born in 1966 in Hai Phong, then his family moved to the South in 1976. After graduating from high school, the Northern boy studied at the Planning Department of the Technical and Professional Skills Training School. However, after graduation, he changed his direction to learn driving and then became a driver for the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry in Ham Da. At that time, VNA was recruiting drivers. He then applied and has become an employee of the company ever since.
Mr. Hung is currently one of the three supervisors of the transportation division of the Operations Department. His main job is to manage the technical issues of the food truck and work with contractors to maintain cars before they enter the airfield.
Honored to be called a “teacher”
He said that every year, after each batch of driver recruitment, he would deliver a course on driving and operating regular cars and food trucks in the restricted areas of airports and airfields. Different from normal traffic, the control and operation of vehicles in the airfield might affect flight safety, requiring students to have a lot of skills. Therefore, Mr. Hung’s lecture will provide more details and content than usual driving lessons.
He shared: “In case the vehicle has a problem while serving the aircraft, I will guide students on how to handle emergency incidents to release the vehicle quickly and safely.”
Recalling class sessions, the 53-year-old man still remembers a story that happened three or four years ago. At that class, when he was doing the lifting of the trunk to the greatest height with all students already up there, one student came late. The student stood down and said, “Mr. Hung, please let me go up there and teach me!”. Initially, Mr. Hung was a little annoyed, but he still replied: “Well, I can’t teach you now, you’re late so I’ll teach you later.” The student joked back, “If you don’t let me learn, I won’t let you teach” and then turned off the cabin engine. The whole class laughed loudly, so Mr. Hung asked the student to turn on the device and let him join the class then.
It is just a small story in teaching but with Mr. Hung, it is a happy memory of his side job. He does not identify himself as a teacher but call himself a “trainer”, emphasizing that: “The dedication in communicating and teaching so that people have a solid knowledge is the most important factor when teaching”.
According to Mr. Hung, the difficulty in teaching drivers is that students come from many different backgrounds and are of different ages, unlike students in college or high school who come from similar backgrounds. Therefore, the trainer needs to have good and flexible skills to be able to share knowledge with each person. Talking about this second job, he said: “I am very honored to be assigned to teach and train young people, and also truly honored to be called a ” teacher”.
25 years attached to the transportation division of the Operations Department
During the training sessions for trainees, Mr. Hung often shares his practical experience throughout 25 years of work. According to him, the safety in operating vehicles in the apron requires compliance with the traffic law, but unlike daily traffic, the apron is tight, the aircraft’s landing location must be guarded, etc. If trainees are not well trained, collisions might occur and affect flight safety.
With more than 25 years working in the profession, Mr. Hung now acts as a teacher who shares the experience with the younger generations. (Cre: Thu Thao).
His field is directly related to the transportation of meals onboard. Each meal is planned by the hour, depending on departure and arrival time. Therefore, Mr. Hung’s department needs to stick to schedules, update flight schedule information of airlines and promptly update them on their work plan. Only by doing that they can ensure smooth activities.
Regarding vehicle engineering, he revealed: “In the beginning, the company imported too many different types of vehicles, which made it difficult for us to handle a lot of different technical issues. Over the past ten years, the company has synchronized and only placed the order after careful consideration and selection of partners. Therefore, the work related to vehicle engineering has also been handled more easily. ”
Talking about his colleagues, the man from the North said that the transportation division had over 80 people with a relatively big age gap, there were people who were about the same age, but there were also those who were much younger than the elder generation. However, everyone works happily and gets along well. The elder generation will pass on working experiences to younger generations and altogether people help each other to complete the assigned work.
As an older generation, Mr. Hung always gives a lot of advice to young people and encourages them at work (Cre: Thu Thao).
As an older generation, Mr. Hung always gives a lot of advice to young people and encourages them at work. For Mr. Hung, VNA in general and VACS, in particular, have a very good working environment: “We only need to focus on our work, all other things including meals and clothes are provided by the company. The transport vehicles are equipped with an air-conditioned cabin, making work very comfortable… ”, he revealed.
The working hours of the transportation division are not based on office hours but divided into multiple shifts. The earliest shift starts from 3:00 – 4:00 AM, each lasts for 8 hours, one after another to ensure service 24/7. Those who work for shifts from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM will be entitled to a full day off after. Despite working in shifts and a 25-kilometer distance from home to work, Mr. Hung still affirms: “I still have good health from 1994 to now, and still love my job”.
Outside working hours, the ”teacher” of the transportation division devotes all his time to his family. His mother is 90 years old and often sick so he and his wife always have to take turns to stay at home.
When asked about career orientation, he mused: “Now that I am older, the many young people are joining this industry. I only want to share all the experiences and knowledge I have acquired to my young colleagues so that when I leave, there will be a cohort of young people who have inherited knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm to passionately work for the company”.
“I want to share all the experiences and knowledge I have acquired here to my young colleagues.” (Cre: Mai Huong).
Thu Thao – Mai Huong
