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A GLIMPSE of the 2017 Aerospace Maintenance Competition. SNAP-ON www.AviationPros.com 15 today's highly technical aircraft, along with dropping some aptitude mandates on systems found on older aircraft that they're not likely to see on the job. ATEC is also working with industry leaders on a branding campaign to better define what it means to be in aviation maintenance, and ultimately deliver those key messages to students in K-12 schools and postsecondary schools. The indus- try's ability to successfully reach students at an early age and show them that a career in aviation is a viable option may be a long-term solution to help alleviate the technician shortage, she says. "If you have a school in your area that you can partner with and reach out to those students, that would be ideal. Industry just needs to get involved," she says. "It's really about building partner- ships. We believe there's a lot of value in bringing companies and schools together to get the message out that aviation main- tenance is a viable industry to be part of. "Everyone is talking about the need to increase awareness of aviation main- tenance, and I think ATEC is in a good position to help facilitate this because we are the common denominator." SHOW AND TELL Ken MacTiernan agrees with Maguire that adapting a more proactive stance to reach youngsters would pay dividends in the long run. MacTiernan, an aircraft maintenance technician with American Airlines, and chairman of the Aerospace Maintenance Competition, believes that young people need to be exposed to what a career as a AMT is like. Events like career days and giving youngsters the opportunity to interact with AMTs and see aircraft up close would help put the career on their radar. "Explaining and demonstrating a techni- cian's entry into our craft would go a long way," he says. "Ours is a profession that can really entice kids. When you're in this industry, you're going to be in an environ- ment in which everyone shares the same responsibilities. I think showing them the pros of being an AMT would be effective." COLLEGE PARTNERSHIPS Some airlines "across the pond" are feel- ing the effects of the technician shortage as well. "It's definitely a challenge. I've been in touch with other MROs that are hav- ing similar issues," says Tim Privett, base maintenance production manager for Flybe Aviation Services, the maintenance arm of Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline. "Depending on which research you believe, it's going to get a lot worse or just a little bit worse over the short and medium term. But it's definitely a chal- lenge trying to attract the right people." Privett believes the dip in interest stems from more people attending universities and not considering aviation or other skilled trades as a career. One way Flybe is addressing the issue is through the creation of an apprentice- ship program with a local college. Each year the program accepts 25 to 30 appli- cants, who complete a mix of traditional college coursework and hands-on aviation training. Flybe's aeronautical apprentice- ship is a four-year program leading to a Level 3 Diploma in aviation mainte- nance, and an EASA Category A License is delivered at the Flybe Training Academy and Maintenance Repair Organization. "The program gives us some homegrown, well-trained, reason- ably exper ienced techs at the end of four years," Privett says. "At the moment the pro- gram is focused on having students receive their EASA license, but we're looking to change that to more of a 50-50 split, where half the students complete training to receive their license, while the other techs acquire more struc- tures and avionics skills. Our goal is to get a broad mix of trained students." Two members of Flybe's team that competed in the Aerospace Maintenance Competition last year were graduates of the airline's engineering apprenticeship pro- gram, and Flybe is competing in this year's event as well. Privett says the program has been well received since it started about 10 years ago, as they regularly receive many more applicants for the 25 to 30 slots. This type of partnership is fairly com- mon across the aviation industry. Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, works in conjunction with Southwest Technology Center (www.swtech.edu) to train civil- ian technicians on maintaining the base's fleet of C-5, C-17, and KC-135 aircraft. The newly redesigned program, called Pathways Recent Graduate, allows stu- dents to focus on their studies, and when they graduate, they're hired on full-time at the base. Local high school gradu- TIMOTHY PRIVETT, base maintenance production manager for Flybe Aviation Services