PIL - People I Like - #2 - UTM operator Spyros Dakas

Second entry for my PIL project is my friend Spyros Dakas. We've known each other for some 15 years now and his job is one of the strangest i've heard of: UTM operator. He measures the thickness of the sheet metal on ships mainly. Sea and salt is causing metal deterioration, so there are national and international laws about the minimum and maximum thickness of the metal and should be measured several times during the ship's life (depending on the type of each ship).

His job is to be rammed in the ships' holds (crawling several times) and to measure the thickness of metal with modern equipment. Surely, not a job for claustrophobics.

Spyros Dakas was born in 1980. His cv is quite impressive (even though tricky for an ignorant of the subject, like me). He has conducted surveys in the larger shipyards abroad. He has excellent knowledge of regulations for all types of ships (IACS Common structural rules - HULL). Hull surveys in Bulk carrier, Tanker, Passenger, Ro-Ro, Supply vessels, Pleasure yacht, Cruise ships; General cargo turnover 1000 ships.

He has a beautiful wife and is an excellent carom billiard and ping pong player. We call each other limpy, because of some silly accidents we had long time ago.