 On Aug. 26, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) announced the launch of AeroJobs.org, a web-based recruitment tool that will help the aviation community find technically skilled applicants to keep the world safely in flight.
The site is the product of a new partnership between ARSA and RealMatch, an online-recruiting services provider. Through TheJobNetwork™, North America’s largest network of job sites, AeroJobs.org will allow aviation businesses to reach millions of job seekers on the web and through social media. Unlike many other job sites, AeroJobs.org matches jobs and candidates based on their technical skills, which will open the door for technicians from other industries to find and begin careers in aviation. “ARSA’s members have consistently cited the skilled worker shortage as the greatest strategic threat to the maintenance industry,” ARSA Executive Vice President Christian Klein said. “As the aviation market keeps expanding – Boeing’s 2015 Outlook forecasts more than one million new jobs to fill in the next 20 years – AeroJobs.org will help repair stations and other aviation employers compete for technical talent.” In addition to broader advocacy for improving workforce policy – including collaboration with the ATEC and its own membership alongside the council on the STEM Education Coalition’s Leadership Council – ARSA is providing AeroJobs.org as a service to both employers and aspiring aviation professionals. “Whenever you board a plane or pick up a loved one at the airport, you depend on the good work of countless men and women,” said Brett Levanto, ARSA’s vice president of communications. “Many of us will never meet the aviation professionals in whom we place our trust, but ARSA is launching this site for them. AeroJobs.org will help aviation businesses and applicants spend less time searching for a job and more time doing one. It’s a worthy cause, because we can’t fly without them.”
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Congressional inaction and its occasional distraction have delayed the reauthorization of three key pieces of education legislation: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the Carl D. Perkins Act. In order to build and maintain a strong workforce, industry must be supported by education policy that ensures high school, college, technical school and community college graduates have employable skills.
Get to know the bills: ESEA The ESEA, commonly referred to as No Child Left Behind, accounts for $60 billion in federal education funding and is the primary law governing K-12 education in the United States. It does this largely by setting federal standards for testing and accountability for failing schools. While both the House and Senate have passed reauthorizations of the ESEA, they unfortunately haven’t settled on a single bill. The House’s bill also contains a provision on portability – the ability of funding to “follow” students to the school of their choice – which would likely draw opposition from Democrats and a veto from the White House. While there has been significant action on the ESEA, the conference period required for the House and Senate to agree on a single bill could be lengthy. HEA The HEA supports college affordability and seeks to make schools more accountable to graduation rates and job prospects, which is good for students as well as employers, but since 2008 there have only been extensions with no new long-term reauthorizations – a common theme for all three bills. Unfortunately, policy limitations prevent many technical training programs from dipping in to the large pot of grants and other funding assistance designed to help students pay for education. Both the House and Senate are currently holding hearings on HEA reauthorization but as of yet neither chamber has put forward a bill. Perkins The Perkins Act is designed to support career and technical education (CTE) programs through grants to states. It has come under fire in recent years as being out of touch with the needs of the modern workforce, especially with regards to STEM education. Serious discussion of the Perkins Act has fallen behind the other two bills; it will likely have to wait until one or both are completed (or at least progressing towards completion). Take action on workforce policy issues.
On July 20, Boeing released its 2015 Pilot and Technician Outlook. The report forecasts the global commercial aviation industry will need more than one million new workers – 558,000 pilots and 609,000 maintenance technicians – to meet unprecedented demand between now and 2034.
“As global economies expand and airlines take delivery of tens of thousands of new commercial jetliners over the next 20 years,” Boeing’s report said, “there will be unprecedented demand for people to pilot and maintain these airplanes.” The long-term demand for maintenance skills equates to roughly 30,000 new technicians per year, with need in every corner of the world. As already seen in the Aeronautical Repair Station Association's 2015 Global Fleet and MRO Market Assessment, strong growth in Asia will lead global demand for the foreseeable future; more than one-third of all new technicians over the next two decades will fill positions in the region. In North America, more than 100,000 new maintainers will be needed over the forecast period – 5,500 new positions each year and 19 percent of total growth. This addition to the existing workforce does not capture recruitment necessary to replace aging workers, whose retirements have been long-expected to deplete the industry’s existing personnel base. The overall lesson is clear and has now become oft-repeated: As the global civil aviation market continues to grow, keeping the flying public safely aloft will require the dedicated effort of well-trained men and women supported by a healthy and cooperative international industry. Get involved in this global effort – learn about ICAO’s Next Generation of Aviation Professionals Task Force (ATEC is a participant) and the resource it provides the global industry. Tim Shaver, the acting manager of the Aircraft Maintenance Division, participated along with ATEC's Business Manager Crystal Maguire and board member Chuck Horning, department chairman of aviation maintenance science at Embry Riddle University. At the completion of the recorded session, participants will understand:
What: Operations Specifications Webinar Recording Who: Crystal Maguire, ATEC Chuck Horning, Embry Riddle University Tim Shaver, FAA Price: $10.00 Registration: Click here to access the recording. On August 10, ATEC submitted a letter to the FAA regarding FAA Order 8900.2A – Revisions to A&P Examination Procedures and DME Appointment. To read the submitted letter, click here. Original post from 07/10/2015: On July 10, ATEC submitted a letter requesting the agency rethink its new guidance regarding the administration of the A&P exams and the appointment Designated Mechanic Examiners (DME). More specifically, Order 8900.2A eliminates the exception for DMEs to test multiple applicants at a time when there is a “valid need.” By removing this exception, the number of examinations will multiply and the difficulty scheduling exams will be exacerbated by the administrative burdens associated with transitioning to computer-generated test questions/projects. Additionally, Order 8900.2A revises the qualifications required for AMTS instructors to be appointed as a DME. Under the revised guidance, AMTS instructors not only must have been an instructor for the preceding five years, but they must also have exercised the privileges of their A&P certificate for three years. This additional qualification serves no other purpose than to add a barrier to entry and to prevent some of the most experienced academics from providing examinations. ATEC has given the agency a chance to reconsider and revise the order accordingly. ATEC has undergone numerous structural changes this past year, including an overhaul of the director election and nomination process. In preparation for the solicitation of director nominations (coming this fall), membership is asked to consider the following director qualifications and responsibilities while deliberating leadership candidates.
The board supports ATEC’s mission and provides leadership and strategic governance. While day-to-day operations are led by business office staff, the board-staff relationship is a partnership, director involvement is critical and expected. Directors must have the following qualifications:
Director responsibilities include:
Service on ATEC’s Board of Directors is without remuneration, all travel and associated administrative costs are assumed by directors. Membership may submit director nominations for consideration by the nominating committee in the fall. Stay tuned for specific instructions on the nomination process. On Aug. 3, ATEC submitted a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) formally requesting the agency’s academy course for inspectors of part 147 schools be made available to industry.
ATEC members have long been involved in the development of a course for inspectors who perform certification and surveillance of aviation maintenance technician programs (see previous story). Indeed, ATEC representatives attended the inaugural course in October 2014; unfortunately, it has not yet been offered again. The letter encouraged the agency to make the course more widely available to both FAA officials and industry representatives. Ed Hall, a long-time ATEC supporter and advisor to the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, spearheaded the effort: “The council worked hard to help develop the course content, but the work doesn’t stop there,” Hall said. “Industry needs to keep pushing to ensure the material is accessible and continually improved to further regulatory standardization and understanding.” The council offered to partner with the agency to make the content more widely available through its online training platform and stands ready to work alongside the agency on this important effort. ATEC staff members search for resources, guides and tools that might be useful for our members as they work to ensure global aviation safety. This installment comes from the FAA Academy; its doors are open.
The academy provides technical and managerial training and development for the government’s workforce as well as the aviation community on topics including regulatory standards, safety training and technical operations. Attendance at an academy course is an opportunity for aviation maintenance educators and students to engage directly with the agency and learn about its position on key issues. Finding a Class
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