The A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Award (the Crossfield Award) is presented to recognize and reward aerospace education teachers for outstanding accomplishments in aerospace education and for possessing those honorable attributes we expect from American Teachers.
The recipient will receive a cash stipend of $1,500.

Nominees can be current classroom teachers from grades kindergarten through twelfth grade from any public, private, parochial or charter school. Nominees can also be teachers in a non-traditional teaching setting.  The priority of the award is that nominees must either teach aerospace education as a subject or use aerospace education to enrich the teaching of traditional subjects. Although the Crossfield Award is an award presented to a teacher, the accomplishments of the nominee need not be limited to the year for which the award is given.

​For more information and to apply, visit www.nationalaviation.org/annual-crossfield-teacher-year-award/

Join us for an ATEC Outreach Meeting. All aviation maintenance training schools and partners are invited to attend. The council will provide an overview of initiatives, an update on FAA part 147 rulemaking, and a summary of emerging AMT airman certification standards. The gathering will wrap with an open discussion on proposed council priorities. Registration for both events is free, but required.

The June 5 event is hosted by the George Stone Technical Center in Pensacola. Register here.

The August 9 event is hosted by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. Register here.

Interested in hosting an outreach event in your area? Email atec@atec-amt.org.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation on May 8 to address one of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. aviation industry: the chronic technician shortage.

The bill sponsored by Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) is the House companion to Senate legislation introduced in March. It creates a new program administered by the FAA to provide grants of up to $500,000 to support aviation maintenance workforce development activities. The legislation incentivizes local collaboration by requiring that grant applications be jointly submitted by a business or labor organization, school and governmental entity.

And aviation coalition, including ATEC, sent a May 8 letter in support of the House bill.

The two independent bills now await FAA reauthorization conference negotiations, the goal is to enact the grant program via that larger funding bill.

US Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), James Inhofe (R-OK), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a bill to improve training programs at aviation maintenance technician schools. If enacted, the statute would require Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) promulgation of a new part 147 within six months. The regulation that governs aviation maintenance technician schools has not been significantly revised since it was re-codified into the Code of Federal Regulations in 1962.

Industry has fought long and hard for a revision to part 147, which dictates static curriculum requirements for schools teaching future aviation mechanics. Over the past decade, representatives have provided specific recommendations through a 2007 Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, proposed regulatory language in its comments to the 2015 notice of proposed rulemaking, responded to additional requests for information through submission of supplemental comments and facilitation of surveys, and participated in working groups that will improve mechanic testing standards and correlated training programs.
 
"While the education community will continue to lend support, and appreciates the time and effort required for well thought out and monitored rulemaking, it refuses to sit by and wait for regulatory relief while industry and our students continue to pay for outdated training regulations," said ATEC Legislative Chairman and Southern Utah University Director of Maintenance Jared Britt.

This is not the first time congress has pushed for a new rule. In the last three years, congressional representatives have sent four letters to the agency requesting a status update. "It was time we did something more than just inquire, and we are grateful that our elected leaders are taking the next step," said Britt. 

An industry coalition—spearheaded by ATEC—sent a letter in support of the bill, asking Congress to support the future aviation workforce, in support of an industry constantly driving for more innovative, safer and more efficient aircraft. Signatories of the letter included:

Aeronautical Repair Station Association
Aerospace Industries Association
Aerospace Maintenance Council
Aircraft Electronics Association
Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association
Airlines for America
Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance
Aviation Maintenance Technician Association
Aviation Suppliers Association
Aviation Technician Education Council
Cargo Airline Association
Helicopter Association International
International Air Transport Association
Modification and Replacement Parts Association
National Air Carrier Association
National Air Transportation Association
National Business Aviation Association, Inc.
Professional Aviation Maintenance Association
Regional Airline Association
Women in Aviation International

The statute would also require that curriculum be revised and updated in coordination with emerging aviation maintenance technician airman certification standards, something an industry working group helping to develop the new standard has already recommended.
​
While the text has not been officially published as of the date of this post, it will soon be available at www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2792?r=6.

Senate media releases:
Inhofe: www.inhofe.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/inhofe-hatch-cantwell-blumenthal-introduce-bill-to-modernize-aviation-maintenance
Hatch: www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2018/5/hatch-and-bipartisan-senators-introduce-bill-to-modernize-aviation-maintenance
​Cantwell: www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cantwell-colleagues-introduce-bill-to-modernize-aviation-maintenance

ATEC and industry allies submitted a draft advisory circular to the FAA providing “guidance for using remote connectivity technology and tools.”

The guidance document was developed after consultation with agency personnel regarding the existing draft policy “Remote Witnessing Using Video,” which was open for comment in early 2018. The AC would provide a baseline for the agency, its applicants and certificate holders to comply with 14 CFR while taking advantage of advances in connectivity technology and related video, live-stream and other visual and audio tools.

To facilitate the use of the best available technology, the draft AC establishes general requirements for set up and use of tools and equipment. The elements outlined in the document assist users in ensuring “the same level of acumen and capability [through remote connection] as if the oversight, inspection, test or training task or activity was conducted on-premises.”

The following organizations signed on to the submission:

Aerospace Industries Association
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Airlines for America
Aviation Suppliers Association
Aviation Technician Education Council
Cargo Airline Association
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Modification and Replacement Parts Association
National Air Carrier Association
National Air Transportation Association
Professional Aviation Maintenance Association
Regional Airline Association
The Boeing Company
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
MOOG Aircraft Group