Sunday marked the kickoff of the Aircraft Technician Education Council’s annual conference, with ATEC’s board and committee meeting throughout the day at Chicago’s Hyatt Centric.
Executive Director Jason Petrait joined the Legislative Committee, where the group reviewed priorities ahead of ATEC’s annual D.C. Fly-In. One priority of the committee is to expand the FAA’s workforce development grant program from $25 million to $50 million, with half of that going to growing AMT programs.
The committee also focused on Designated Mechanic Examiners. Committee members shared that building the pipeline of examiners, critical to testing aircraft maintenance technicians, is facing the same kinds of workforce challenges we see across aviation and aerospace and so many other industries: examiners are getting older, and COVID-19 exacerbated the challenges of retention and recruitment of examiners. One committee member reported that the United States had 750 examiners pre-COVID and now has 67.
Fewer examiners lead to fewer exams and fewer certified mechanics. Along with the challenge of an aging examiner workforce, one that sometimes takes years to certify, are changes in examiner rules. In recent years examiners have been limited to testing one applicant per day, causing more testing bottlenecks.
The group agreed to research the challenge and bring recommendations to the ATEC board. Committee members believe the necessary fixes would not require legislative action nor a notice of proposed rulemaking.
ATEC’s Annual Conference continues Monday and Tuesday at the Aviation Institute of Maintenance on Chicago’s south side.