July 26, 2019: Avotek offers a new edition of the industry-favorite textbook, Advanced Composites. Ms. Foreman wrote this book to help students become the next generation of aircraft technicians by teaching them about composites and their repair. Instructors and students alike will benefit from these changes:

• Updated content with current materials and practices
• Updated illustrations and new photos
• Added an index
• New, more readable format
• Printed in color, and more

Advanced Composites is written by Cindy Foreman, a well-known and highly respected individual in the advanced composites field. Cindy has an Airframe & Powerplant certificate and has been involved in this work for more than 30 years. She originally wrote the Advanced Composites textbook 29 years ago. Since then, Cindy has continued to learn and grow alongside the composites training field and updated the book when changes were needed. For this 4th edition, Cindy felt it was time to update the content, and the team at Avotek gave it a facelift and a modern feel. Cindy has dedicated her life to working with advanced composites, specifically training people on how to repair them. If there is one takeaway that she wants people to know about composites and her textbook, it is this, “In the 30 years of training technicians in advanced composite repair, I have found that with proper training, composites are not hard to work with; they are just different. Learning this simple fact is the primary purpose of this textbook.”
This textbook covers a wide variety of topics in the advanced composites field. It does this over 12 highly detailed and beautifully imaged chapters that are designed to be as user friendly as possible. The 12 chapters are as follows: Introduction to Composites, Reinforcing Fibers, Matrix Materials, Core Materials, Composite Manufacturing, Composite Safety, Applying Pressure, Methods of Curing, Machining Composites, Setting Up Shop, Assessment and Repair, and Types of Repairs.
Advanced Composites 4th edition is available for order now. A corresponding workbook is expected to be available sometime in the fall of 2019.
About Avotek
Avotek, of Weyers Cave, VA, develops and manufactures modern, fully functional aviation maintenance training systems; publishes a full line of high-quality, up-to-date classroom textbooks that complement its training systems; and offers online training.
Avotek has earned an industry reputation for quality and excellence. Our team of authors includes mechanics, inspectors, aviation experts, and instructors. They are actively involved in aviation maintenance training or working in the aviation maintenance field. They bring their expertise to Avotek from colleges, universities, and current hands-on experience.
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This press release is also available at https://www.avotek.com/advanced-composites-4th-edition-now-available/
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According to the report:

The demand will stem from a mix of fleet growth, retirements, and attrition. Meeting this strong demand will require a collective effort from across the global aviation industry. As several hundred thousand pilots and technicians reach retirement age over the next decade, educational outreach and career pathway programs will be essential to inspiring and recruiting the next generation of personnel...

As new generation airplanes become more prominent in the global fleet, advances in airplane technology will drive demand for a new set of skills, such as digital troubleshooting and composites repair. Concurrently, operators and MROs will be challenged to ensure technicians continue to maintain the skills and capability necessary to service the large fleet of older generation aircraft. These two skill sets often differ, creating opportunities for the industry to enhance its standard training curriculum.

Mobile and distance learning solutions are supplementing traditional classroom instruction and allow students to continue their studies outside of traditional instructor-led classes. New technologies, such as augmented and mixed reality solutions, are also being tested as a way to improve student engagement, quality of instruction, and knowledge retention. Competency-based maintenance training continues to evolve as the industry focuses on addressing individual students' needs and knowledge gaps.

The need for maintenance personnel is largest in the Asia Pacific region, which will require 266,000 new technicians. Airlines in North America will require 193,000, Europe 137,000, the Middle East 69,000, Latin America 52,000, Africa 27,000, and Russia / Central Asia 25,000.

The full forecast is available at www.boeing.com/commercial/market/pilot-technician-outlook

For a compilation of this and other notable aviation maintenance workforce reports, visit atec-amt.org/workforce