One of the biggest hurdles keeping aviation technician school graduates from earning certification is access to FAA-designated examiners--and the issue is only getting more challenging.
The most recent ATEC Pipeline Report showed 40% of graduates do not take the exam necessary to receive FAA mechanic certification. That's up 10% from just a few years ago. The issue, which remains one of the council's top regulatory priorities, is on the FAA's radar. The agency plans to expand its Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program to include delegated examiners, but progress has been slow. In early May, the council wrote to FAA Acting Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety David Boulter to reiterate the issue's importance to the aviation maintenance community--and the need to act fast. "Five years ago, the agency called a meeting with industry stakeholders to discuss a planned expansion to the ODA program that would allow air agency certificate holders (including part 147 schools) to manage their own testing delegates, greatly expanding capacity to meet student testing demand," ATEC wrote. "Since then, industry has eagerly awaited the welcomed change; unfortunately, the policy approval process has stalled while testing capacity challenges have grown worse." The FAA's plan is to revise the Airman Certification ODA Order (8100.15) to include examiners. But a timeline provided several years ago is slipping. ATEC's letter asks for an updated schedule and urges "expeditious expansion" of the ODA program "to include examiner delegations." Read the full letter here.
2 Comments
Les Thompson
6/8/2023 08:51:56 am
How did you obtain 40% statistic? (ATEC Pipeline Report showed 40% of graduates do not take the exam necessary to receive FAA mechanic certification) What criteria was used to determine the 40% stat?
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Crystal Maguire
6/14/2023 01:05:24 pm
Hi Les: the statistic is derived from two sources: 1) survey of all part 147 schools (in our annual survey we ask the question, how many of your students take the mechanic exam?) and 2) we use the number of AMTS graduates (which we also get from the survey) and compare that to the number of new mechanics that get certification based on training at a part 147 school (which we get from the FAA).
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