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ATEC INSIGHT By Ronald Donner 34 MAY 2017 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY I F YOU DIDN'T GET A CHANCE TO ATTEND THE AVIATION Technician Education Council (ATEC) conference this year in Seattle, WA, you missed one of the best and most professional conferences this year. Huge thanks goes to The Boeing Company for being the host and active participant in this year's conference. Peter Boeskov, director, Simulator Services and Maintenance Training at The Boeing Company, provided the key note opening address, and throughout the three-day event others from Boeing's maintenance training group were panelists providing valuable insight into maintenance training. On the last day of the conference attendees enjoyed visiting multiple Boeing facilities. To help address the talent needs of industr y, ATEC is focusing on facilitating relationships between educators and employers. This year's conference incorporated an inaugural "Employer Expo" attended by nine companies: Aircraft Technologies Group; Aviation Technical Services; Columbia Helicopters; Delta Air Lines Inc.; Endeavor Air; HAECO Americas; Panasonic Avionics Corporation; SkyWest Airlines; and United Airlines. Each company had a chance to address the group and explain what their company does and what types of employees and skill sets they are hiring. Understanding this valuable information was well received by the 177 educators in attendance. "ATEC leadership worked really hard this year to drive home the theme, career pipeline development," explained Ryan Goertzen, current ATEC president. "We had incredible industry atten- dance, a reflection of the growing need for AMTs." In response to ATEC's growth and the increased need for industry engagement, during the spring board of direc- tors meeting, the ATEC board voted to change the number of industr y member directorships from three to five to include additional representatives of general and business aviation companies, airlines, manufacturers, and repair stations. ATEC will begin actively seeking new industr y board members. But this year's conference wasn't all about industr y attendees. The mission of ATEC is to support the Part 147 schools in this countr y. William Russo, Aviation Maintenance Program Director, University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDC-CC), traveled from Washington, D.C., to Washington State. Russo commented, "We are a relatively small program, so we don't often get to interact with industry profession- als from manufacturers, airlines, MROs, tooling and equipment sup- pliers, textbook and educational support companies, and recruiters. The ATEC conference puts all of these folks in one room, so it serves as a great opportunity to make the kinds of industry contacts that can help us to ensure that we are aware of the current state of regula- tory and legislative issues relevant to Part 147, new developments in training and educational technologies and tooling that could enhance our curriculum, the ever-changing needs and desires of prospective employers, and the various ways that other Part 147 schools deal with some of the operational issues that all of us face on a daily basis." FA A AND INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION ATEC is appreciative to have a close working relationship with the FA A. ATEC board members regularly meet with FA A in Washing- ton, D.C., to discuss Part 147 rulemaking activities and other issues brought forward by ATEC members. Par ticipation from the FA A in this year's annual conference included Kevin Morgan, manager, General Aviation branch; Murray D. Huling, deputy assistant manager, Aircraft Maintenance Division; Robert Warren, aviation safety inspector; and Susan Parson, spe - cial assistant, Flight Standards Ser vice and editor, Safety Briefing Magazine. All the FAA representatives spoke on a variety of topics throughout the conference. Dr. Yuanyang Gao, director, General Aviation Industry Research Center at Beihang University in China, and deputy secretar y with AOPA China, provided attendees with an overview of general avia- 2017 AVIATION TECHNICIAN EDUCATION COUNCIL CONFERENCE With the theme of "Building Career Pathways" this year's ATEC conference in Seattle, WA, saw record attendance by academic and industry attendees PHILLIP (KEVIN) GULLIVER, Northrup Rice Foundation; Collin McDonald, student of the year; Andrew Smith, instructor of the year; and Ryan Goertzen, ATEC president. PETER BOESKOV with The Boeing Company provided ATEC conference attendees with the opening key note address.