The ATEC annual survey is underway. The purpose of the questionnaire is to assess key trends in aviation maintenance education, gather demographics of the entering workforce, support industry recruitment programs and initiatives, and guide future association activities and priorities. 

The survey polls US-based educational institutions with aviation technical programs. Aggregate results will be published in the ATEC Pipeline Report in December, along with the list of participating schools. Specific identifying information regarding programs offered, current enrollment, graduation expectations and dates will also be included in ATEC’s online school directory. 

Earlier today, ATEC sent each aviation program's designated "primary contact" a link to the survey. If your school did not receive an invitation to participate or would like to confirm your school's primary contact, please email atec@atec-amt.org. 

Since data from various sources may be required to complete the survey, respondents are advised to collect information before beginning an electronic submission. To aid those efforts, a PDF version of the questionnaire is available at the link below.

Survey responses are due Nov. 12.

The Wall Street Journal’s recent report on the Most Promising Careers rank aviation maintenance technicians 125th among 800 careers. Avionics Technicians were ranked at 458.

Using Labor Department statistics, the WSJ ranking is based on two attributes: annual occupational openings projected until 2028 and median salaries for 2018. Occupations were scored by the highest average ranking among both attributes. Rankings also included airline pilots (#55), commercial pilots (#160), air cargo supervisors (#679), aerospace engineers (#115) and aircraft structures and system assemblers (#493).​

In an effort to enhance the overall quality of FAA Airman Knowledge Testing, the FAA has awarded a new airman knowledge testing contract called the Airman Certificate Testing Service (ACTS). The ACTS contract provides a comprehensive, best practices approach. 

The ACTS vendor supports the FAA in development, assessment, maintenance, and delivery of airman knowledge tests. The vendor also enhances knowledge test items, knowledge tests, and supplementary material with automated state-of-the-art technology and academic expertise.

This is a great resource to inform Mechanics of the pending changes to FAA Knowledge Exams that will be going into effect Jan 13 2020.

​Aviation Maintenance Technician schools are facing a critical capacity problem prompting ATEC to ask the FAA for a better framework for incorporating high school partners into their training programs.

AMT schools will have to increase production by 30% to meet the projected demand for certified mechanics over the next 20 years, according to the FAA, which pointed out such enrollments are shrinking, not expanding. ATEC’s 2017 survey showed only 8% of schools have high school partnerships.
 
ATEC called on the agency to make policy changes that would allow schools to deliver AMTS content to enrolled students away from “primary locations,” via “additional fixed locations” provided on the AMTS operations specification. Read more.