Tesfaye Alemu Gebre
Lovingly known as “Ato Tesfaye”
14 May 1948 — 26 January 2019 · aged 70
Ethiopian Airlines engineer who kept the fleet flying and taught a street to build planes
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Born in Debre Berhan, North Shewa Resting at Kidus Gabriel Church grounds, Kazanchis, Addis AbabaAbout Tesfaye
Tesfaye Alemu could tell you what was wrong with a jet engine from the far side of the apron, by ear. His colleagues at Bole Airport called it a gift; Tesfaye called it listening, and he told every apprentice that the first tool in any hangar was a pair of quiet ears. For thirty-eight years he kept Ethiopian Airlines aircraft flying through three governments and a dozen aircraft types, with a record he was privately proud of: no fault of his ever left the ground unrepaired.
He was born in 1948 at Debre Berhan, the son of a church deacon, and walked to Addis Ababa at seventeen with a letter of introduction and a cloth bag of dried barley. He trained at the Ethiopian Airlines technical school, joined as an aircraft mechanic in 1970 and rose to senior maintenance engineer in 1983. He worked on Boeing 707s, 727s and 767s, and trained more than two hundred young technicians, a number of whom now lead hangars in Addis, Dubai and Nairobi.
In the evenings and at weekends he turned his compound in Kazanchis into a workshop for the neighbourhood's boys, who built balsa model aircraft with him and flew them from the roof. Hundreds of them passed through, and a surprising number became engineers. He married Almaz Bekele in 1975, and every Sunday after church she made doro wat while he prepared the coffee ceremony, three rounds, never rushed. 'Ayzosh,' he would say to anyone who looked tired. 'Be strong. The coffee is nearly ready.'
Tesfaye died in Addis Ababa in January 2019, aged seventy, after a short illness. He leaves his wife, three children, four grandchildren and a sky full of aircraft he once made safe.
“The first tool in any hangar is a pair of quiet ears.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Debre Berhan, North Shewa
- Resting place
- Kidus Gabriel Church grounds, Kazanchis, Addis Ababa
- Passed away
- 26 January 2019, Addis Ababa
Funeral Service
Monday, 28 January 2019 at 09:00 UTC
Add to calendarLife journey
Aircraft Maintenance Technician
Ethiopian Airlines Technical School1966 – 1969 · Addis Ababa
Graduated first in his cohort of aircraft mechanics.
Aircraft Mechanic
Ethiopian Airlines1970 – 1982 · Addis Ababa
Learned the Boeing 707 and 727 from the inside out.
Married Almaz Bekele
1975 · Addis Ababa
A marriage of forty-four years, and three rounds of coffee every Sunday.
Senior Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
Ethiopian Airlines1983 – 2008 · Addis Ababa
Trained more than two hundred technicians and led the Boeing 767 line.
Founder, Kazanchis Model Aircraft Club
Kazanchis neighbourhood1985 – 2018 · Addis Ababa
Taught hundreds of local boys to build and fly balsa aircraft.
Long Service Award
Ethiopian Airlines2000 · Addis Ababa
For thirty years of safe and unbroken service.
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Family & connections
Tesfaye is survived by
- Almaz Bekele· Spouse
- Dawit Tesfaye· Son
- Hanna Tesfaye· Daughter
- Selam Tesfaye· Daughter
- 4 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Tesfaye.
Knew Tesfaye? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- MA
Former model club member, now an aerospace engineer in Seattle
At nine I built my first glider on Ato Tesfaye's veranda. It crashed on its first flight, and he said, 'Good. Now you know what it wants.' I have designed wings for Boeing for twenty years. Everything I know about lift, I learned from a man who laughed at crashes.
- HT
Daughter
Papa could not say 'I love you' easily, but he would repair anything we broke before we woke up. A bicycle, a radio, a heart. On the day I left for university, he gave me a small brass wrench. I keep it on my desk. It says everything he never said.
- BM
Neighbour in Kazanchis
My son was a restless boy until Ato Tesfaye gave him a balsa glider and a pot of glue. For two months the whole street watched them test-fly it from the roof. He is a pilot now. He still calls Ato Tesfaye his first control tower.
- AK
Deacon at Kidus Gabriel Church
Tesfaye served as a deacon's assistant on Sundays for forty years and repaired every bell, loudspeaker and lamp in our church without ever being asked. When the bell rang this morning, we all heard a little extra quiet in it.
- SB
Captain, Ethiopian Airlines
In twenty-two years of flying I never questioned an aircraft that had Tesfaye's signature on the maintenance log. When he retired, a younger engineer told me, 'The hangar is quieter now.' That is the best compliment I know for a man who listened for a living.
- YG
Former apprentice at Ethiopian Airlines
On my first day Ato Tesfaye handed me a wrench and told me to sit by an engine for an hour and say nothing. At the end he said, 'What did you hear?' I had heard nothing. He smiled and said, 'Good. Tomorrow, you will.' He was right.
