From an FAA friend:
Insight: Engineering a New ‘Boom’ in Aviation Mechanics
July 31, 2012 – Steve Douglas is manager of the Aircraft Maintenance Division in the Aviation Safety Office. In an interview with Focus FAA, Douglas spoke about aviation maintenance, the growing need for more mechanics, and what the FAA is doing to draw more young people to the field.
How pressing is the need for more aviation mechanics?
Both Boeing and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have projections that say we will need more aviation maintenance technicians in the future. They vary in number and in scope, but the message itself is clear, there is a future in aviation for a skilled airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic.
How does “A Walk in My Boots” fit into Flight Standards future plans?
It is a “perfect storm” of ideas and events. At the same time that Boeing and ICAO have been issuing future projections about the shortage of mechanics and pilots, FAA officials, such as Director of Flight Standards John Allen and I, began fielding more questions at industry conferences about what the FAA could do about the impending shortages of aviation professionals. Even if the projections are not completely on target, we face the retirement of an experienced workforce. Many in the aviation workforce today are from the “baby boom” generation. They have seen aviation grown up around them, change, and become more technologically advanced.
Steve Douglas
Also, we are seeing that some aviation maintenance schools (i.e., Part 147 schools) have closed. We realize it is necessary to attract more young people to the profession and get those who have done aviation maintenance in the military to continue working in the civilian environment.
So, we are working on some initiatives with Aviation and Space Education to showcase the profession to younger students, those in middle and high school. One of those we just piloted in June is called “Walk in my Boots.” [Focus FAA will post a story on this program next week.] We are working to facilitate partnerships between high schools and working repair stations to show young people what career avenues are open in the aviation maintenance industry.
Another initiative is a short video about being an aircraft mechanic. We filmed and photographed “A Walk in My Boots” and plan to film KidVenture at Oshkosh. We will use the video to show kids and students what they might do everyday if they got into maintenance as a career.
Also, we are seeing how to make it easier for returning military veterans to obtain their Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certificate so they can continue doing aviation maintenance on the civilian side. This includes using a program that is already in place to evaluate military experience and give credit for it. The program enables the service member to test in all three areas necessary in the A&P: general, airframe, and powerplant. They are given credit for the work they have done and can go back to a Part 147 certificated maintenance school and learn what they still need for the A&P.
These converging interests — the needs of the industry and what we see from an FAA perspective — became pressing enough to include education and training in our 5-year strategic plan.
Finally, we want to update our guidance about delivering maintenance education and training. We are working to achieve distance learning and make it part of the normal curriculum of a Part 147 school. This will take advantage of online programs and learning delivery methods that are better for today's classroom — and many times today's classroom is your own home!
Are there more ideas germinating in Flight Standards to cultivate future aviation professionals?
Yes, as we said before, the need to ensure aviation professionals for the future is something we take seriously and have begun to plan for.
We should recognize the local efforts already going strong. Many of the Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) have employees that participate in career days (I think Focus FAA did a piece on the Richmond, Va., FSDO and its support of career days not long ago). There are many aviation safety professionals who encourage the younger generation through local programs and through volunteering. There are also Aviation and Space Education representatives in every region.
John Allen is working on an idea for an “Aviation Academy” similar to a military academy. This would be a national resource and help offset the enormous cost to individual pilots — the typical cost of earning an airline transport pilot's certificate is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now, with HR 5900 as law, it increases the amount of hours need to qualify and be hired as a first officer. This makes it harder for someone beginning in the profession to pay off debt and earn the necessary flight time. We need to think about ways to make the goal of an airline transport pilot's certificate attainable.
On the maintenance side, our ideas on the maintenance side are more incremental! We’d like to provide ways to get them working and gaining experience right away.
Source: FAA.gov