Named after Federal Aviation Regulation Part 147, the Fighting 147s are a consortium of the five public Aircraft Maintenance Technician (AMT) community and technical colleges in Washington State:
Formed in 2010, the Fighting 147s began as a desire to align the AMT curriculum statewide in conjunction with the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee in an effort to keep Washington State competitive and retain its lead in the aerospace industry.
The following year the consortium colleges joined a three-year, $20 million U.S. Department of Labor grant named Air Washington. These federal funds:
- Hired new aerospace faculty
- Expanded class capacity and increased the number of students earning certificates and degrees
- Purchased new training equipment, including airplanes and parts of airplanes
- Help graduates find jobs
The Air Washington grant concluded in 2015, yet the group continues to meet regularly at a host college to share information, assess the needs of industry and programs and tour facilities. Now facilitated by the Center of Excellence for Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing, the Fighting 147s talk among experts about shared challenges and opportunities—enrollment, curriculum, grants, the complexity of working with part 147 and the FAA.
The group provides agenda items such as enrollments and completions, testing standards, conference report-outs, virtual reality tech demos, articulation agreements and K-12 relationships, avionics, FAA grants and Airmen Certification Standards. The Fighting 147s’ close relationship with the national association ATEC provides insight into what’s happening in Washington, D.C., a shared legislative agenda, and background on rulemaking from the FAA.
The group collaborates on projects spearheaded by the Center of Excellence or a college. Past projects have included the development of program matrices, common course numbering, distributing swag, and DACUM occupational analysis.
New faculty and administrators regularly join the group, and at least once per year, leadership expands the invite list to industry and colleges outside of Washington. Shared challenges in building the Aircraft Maintenance Technician workforce extend beyond the five core members, making it critical to bring the perspective of Boeing and Horizon and ATS and out-of-state colleges to the group.
The group tours the host facilities at each meeting, including hangars and classrooms. All five programs are sited at airfields, allowing students to train where they’ll work. See our tours of Spokane, Big Bend and Clover Park.
Interested in attending or presenting at the next Fighitng 147s meeting? Get in touch.