Ever wonder what it's like to be an aviator? Well, this is an
exciting age in the aviation industry. In fact, it's the
perfect time to give you an inside look at many of the
awesome opportunities available in the field of aviation
maintenance, setting you on your own flight path toward this
amazing career.
Right now is one of the best times to get involved with this
industry. The opportunities are endless right now,
there is a career path that you can come right out of high
school and in a fairly short amount of time during the
workforce making a very good salary, working for companies
that will provide you a career. I think aviation and especially
aviation maintenance was one of those that you can make a good
living and have a good life.
We feel it's always a good time to reach out and get involved in
aviation.
There's so many different aspects of it in there's so many
things that you can learn. And when you start learning in
aviation, you don't stop learning until you retire.
You've
heard economy up and downs but you know, aviation is always
there.
We just love airplanes. We love the watch and fly. We love to
fix them. We love to clean them. We just love airplanes. And
that's what aviators are all about aviators just listen to
the word aviators. It makes the hair raise up on your arms. ADF
sounds like pioneers.
So how do you get started in aviation maintenance. The
Federal Aviation Administration has launched a program to
connect you students interested in aviation maintenance with
local facilities through internships and job shadow
programs. The FAA is also spreading the word about these
sweet career opportunities. By reaching out to future aviators
at air shows like Kid venture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
What we've done this past year in the aircraft maintenance
division is we've initiated a goal it's all about outreach to
the younger generation. My name is Tyler aviator,
being here at Adventure is an amazing experience for me
recently, I've been very involved in reaching out into
our local community and speaking with children of all ages. And
what we're finding is there's such a lack of awareness of
aviation as a career opportunity or career path. Let's take a
look at that. We have a hangar where we do two venues. One is
an operation side which is all the pilot aspects for kids. And
the other is the maintenance side which does all the
maintenance aspects for kids. It's all hands on, we're
building a small experimental airplane. In the hangar we have
several power plants, reciprocating engines, where the
kids actually hands on take cylinders off, take pistons Off
Split the crankcase, and then they put it all back together
again,
just reaching out into the community. We've seen an amazing
interest growth in interest.
I want to build my own airplane fly design airplanes. I wouldn't
be a mechanical engineer for aviation once you get bit by the
aviation bug, the airplane bug your bit for life. And it's just
something that you love you love to do you love to do it every
single day you stop and watch airplanes fly. I love aviation.
I recommend it to everybody. We're very engaged with local
high schools and we're constantly bringing kids to this
facility shadowing our technicians that just love
working with them. And we figure if we can get a few kids coming
through. Once they get around the aircraft and get bit by the
bug and we got him hooked for life.
Employment in aviation is projected to grow by at least 6%
by 2020. Add to that the increased amount of retirees and
the opportunities in the field of aviation are in the
stratosphere. Every day new and more modern aircraft are being
built. These new planes have state of the art electronics in
the cockpit that rival some of the best video games on the
market.
There's a wide range of interests everything from a
mechanical side you know if you look at an airplane behind you
it's got physical aspects to it landing gear and wings and so
forth engines that if you're you know, kind of a hands on type of
person. There's that aspect aviation maintenance that
there's also in today's airplanes, the electronics part
of it is just just exploding. The airplanes today are all run
by computers. Our maintenance folks use a laptop as much as
they use a wrench today we
work on all different systems on the aircraft. You know from
changing a tire to diagnosing a complex navigational database
issue or flight management system.
If you look in an in an aircraft now in the cockpit It's no more
steam gauges. There's nothing in there other than short of CRTs
that look like the best video games built,
you walk into the cockpit. It's like it's like a spaceship. It's
just really advanced and it's it's getting more advanced. And
that's one
of the things that kept me interested all the years. It's
just the challenge of something new. Finding new issues and
problems and finding solutions to those problems is a really
good feeling that most of us ANPS harbor that's what you want
to do is feel good about fixing something.
The next step towards jumping into career in aviation
maintenance is to get your a&p certificate, or airframe and
powerplant certification. It's just an 18 month course 1900
hours. And after completing a&p school, you'll receive a
graduation certificate, take that to your local flight
standards district office and get permission to take your
written, practical and oral test to become a certified a&p
technician, then boom, you're well on your way to a high
flying career in the cutting edge world of aviation.
There's amazing opportunity for anyone who goes into this
business now, we have seen over the past few years, an enormous
amount of folks retiring from the industry, and we're now
we're needing to backfill that and there's an incredible
shortage of licensed ANPS. And with that we're willing to take
on anyone I mean, if you come to us with an a&p license, we'll
train you, we'll walk you through, we'll grow you will
make you an aviator and part of the family
35 years this year, worked my way up through the ranks. No
regrets at all. It's been a wonderful career. I've made a
good living. My families enjoy lots of things I've gotten to
travel as well.
I got a job at UT flight 32 years ago, and I've been here
ever since if you're a hands on person, and you want to be
towing aircraft on the ramp, moving fuelling prepping them,
putting them in maintenance corners, and then opening them
up inspecting them, signing them off and seeing them leave. This
is a good career for you. You feel proud that you made that
aircraft fly that it came in with a problem that the pilot
was concerned about, and you fixed it.
I love it. It's a challenging, so it's almost like getting paid
to have fun. My very
first job out of a&p school, I was working at an FBO pumping
fuel. And today I'm the general manager of an international
aircraft manufacturers facility. This is absolutely not a gender
job at all. Anybody can do it, there are no limitations, any
age, race, size, everybody has something that they can
contribute.
In May 2010, the average salary of an aircraft mechanic and
service technician was $53,420. And the average salary of an
avionics technician was $52,320. skilled labor needs to be put
back on the radar screen is a cool career choice. And you
know, education can be something other than going to a four year
college.
I've seen a lot of college kids come out of college for four
years education and not be able to get jobs where there's
markets that are screaming for technical trades, plumbers,
carpenters, welders, electricians, we just not fill
in those trades anymore, because everyone feels that the only way
to get there. So a four year education. That's not
necessarily true.
On this day and age, you know, if you're a young person, you
got to think out a little ahead, you know, and we've seen a lot
in the papers day about people going to college, graduating
with $100,000 in student debt, and not having a job that has
any forecasts of ever paying that off. And I think you really
have to have a serious conversation yourself and think
ahead of how am I going to how am I going to support myself?
What am I gonna find that I can enjoy, but at the same time,
support myself and have a good life.
Today in America, we need to really focus on skill sets that
we can keep here in America, so many folks go on to college and
graduate with bachelor's and master's degree, which is
wonderful. But then they're trying to find a job and they
don't have the basic skill sets they need that they won't learn
until they obtain that job. This way. You're learning those basic
skill sets while you're continuing your college
education. And it's a win win. And it definitely speeds up your
education.
So if you want to go to school for two years, and get right
into the workplace, and the jobs pay well with benefits, and you
have a career ahead of you. And you can tell people that I'm an
aviator, we're a family of aviators. That's what makes us
so successful.
This is the new age of skilled technicians, good paying jobs
with great benefits, a strong sense of security and rewarding
lifestyles are ready and waiting for those of you ready to become
an aviator, the sky's the limit.
This industry will always be here it will continue to grow.
In fact, it's growing right now at a rate that we can't keep up
with it.
It's very important really just to take a few moments to search
and come up with that answer for you. What do you want to do? The
wonderful thing about aviation is there's so many avenues that
there's incredibly cutting edge technology. or you can go back
to the grassroots of building airplanes. I mean, the sky's the
limit.
It's a profession that has exacting standards, and no room
for error. And I think that helps solidify that, that bond
that goes between us, but it's also fun. But we have an
objective here of making it a good place to work. And it's
more of a family than it is a job.
It's been for me an opportunity to travel throughout the United
States throughout the world. The options are endless. You can
continue to be a mechanic, you can work for the airlines, you
can work for the fixed base operators, or you can expand and
get into management. If you
want a career and a career that you can have for 30 years or
longer. This is a great career to get into.
It's fun. It's exciting.
It's a fascinating career, and I wouldn't exchange any of it. It
is what you make of it and the doors continue to open.
Come join us and by all means becoming a MP it's a good living
and I think you'll enjoy it for a lifetime.
I would encourage any young person just to explore the
possibility because it's it's endless. The opportunities are
endless.
If you'd like more information about how you can be an aviator,
contact your local aviation space and education program
manager@www.faa.gov Ford slash education. Do it now and your
career will be ready for takeoff. The Federal Aviation
Administration helping students take off with a great career in
aviation