AAR CORP., Choose Aerospace, and the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC) announce that their collaborative effort to donate surplus materials for educational purposes has reached a significant milestone, with over two million dollars’ worth of aviation inventory delivered to ATEC member schools in the first six months of the pilot program. “Since launching our EAGLE Career Pathway Program in 2018, AAR remains focused on finding meaningful ways to partner with AMT schools to help them grow to meet the employment needs of our industry," said AAR’s Senior Vice President of Repair & Engineering Tom Hoferer. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to support aviation maintenance education programs and their students, who may become future AAR employees.” Donated inventory includes items such as fasteners, fittings, hardware, sheet metal stock, electrical connectors, and wiring – all aimed at providing industry-specific items to directly benefit schools’ education programs. To ensure the donations are tailored to the specific needs of each school, the program allows institutions to select items from an inventory list on a first-come, first-served basis. ATEC member schools can access the donation request form and inventory list at https://www.atec-amt.org/parts-donation-request (ATEC member account required). Donations pass through Choose Aerospace, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and are shipped directly to approved institutions. Schools are asked to cover shipping costs or arrange for pickup at one of AAR’s locations. The initiative is seen as a transformative venture by AAR’s Vice President of Workforce Development and Choose Aerospace’s President, Ryan Goertzen. "Finding a way to take aged inventory and repurpose these items for the education of future technicians is an initiative we’ve been working towards for a long time. AAR is proud to be one of the first to join this partnership, but we do not expect to be the last,” stated Goertzen. Companies interested in donating surplus material to educational institutions are encouraged to contact ATEC Operations Manager Tarra Ruttman at tarra.ruttman@atec-amt.org. About AAR AAR is a global aerospace and defense aftermarket solutions company with operations in over 20 countries. Headquartered in the Chicago area, AAR supports commercial and government customers through four operating segments: Parts Supply, Repair & Engineering, Integrated Solutions, and Expeditionary Services. Additional information can be found at aarcorp.com. For more information on AAR’s EAGLE Career Pathway Program, visit https://www.aarcorp.com/en/careers/students/. About Choose Aerospace Choose Aerospace was formed by a partnership of aerospace stakeholders including companies, associations, labor unions, and education institutions, who joined to address the availability of a diverse, qualified technical workforce. A primary objective for Choose Aerospace is to make aerospace career and technical training a priority in secondary schools and to provide multiple career paths to success within the industry. For more information see www.chooseaerospace.org. About ATEC ATEC is a partnership of aviation maintenance training schools and employers. The council is dedicated to promoting and supporting technician education through its communications, advocacy programs, and networking events. To learn more, visit www.atec-amt.org.
0 Comments
Choose Aerospace is honored to welcome Kelly Filgo, a proven aviation education and training leader, as the organization's Director of Operations. Filgo, who brings more than two decades of relevant, firsthand experience to the newly created role, will focus on ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of Choose Aerospace’s educational programs. Among his primary responsibilities is overseeing the Choose Aerospace aviation maintenance curriculum, including updates and future expansions, and serving as the organization's primary liaison with schools that partner with Choose Aerospace. Filgo joins Choose Aerospace after more than a decade at Texas State Technical College, where he held a variety of roles, including department chair and statewide curriculum manager for their FAA Part 147 programs. A private pilot, certificated aircraft maintenance technician, and certificated drone pilot, Filgo has also served multiple terms on the Aviation Technical Education Council board of directors. In addition, he played a key role in developing the Choose Aerospace content that partners adopt as part of the organization's fundamental workforce pathway development efforts. "As Choose Aerospace pursues its goal to build and grow a diverse, sustainable aerospace workforce pipeline, the organization needs a strong, experienced, capable staff," said Executive Director Crystal Maguire. "Kelly brings a wealth of knowledge and relevant experience to support pre-certification pathways and high schools that adopt the Choose Aerospace curriculum. Filgo started his new role this month and is based in Waco, Texas. Choose Aerospace will provide nearly $60,000 worth of scholarships, textbooks, training systems, tools, and testing fee credits to educators and future aviators.
The non-profit organization is in its fifth award season. This year's donors include AAR Corp, Aeronautical Repair Station Association, Aviation Supplies & Academics (ASA), Aviation Workforce Solutions, Nida Corporation, AVOTEK, Aircraft Technical Book Company, CertTEC, Snap-on, Sonic Tools, Northrop Rice Foundation, and ARCS Aviation. Newcomer this year is the Aviation Institute of Maintenance with a $2,500 student award up for grabs. Choose Aerospace will provide high school award winners with free Choose Aerospace curriculum for up to ten students during the 23-24 academic year as well as complimentary ATEC membership. Eligible applicants must be planning to attend, enrolled at, or teach in an aviation technical program. Only ATEC members, their instructors and enrolled students are eligible to apply. The deadline to apply is February 15, 2024. If you or someone you know would like to serve on the review committee, please email tarra.ruttman@chooseaerospace.org. JENKS, Oklahoma--Choose Aerospace and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation signed an agreement to establish a formal collaboration on their aviation education and workforce pipepline initiatives.
The parties will collaborate to “identify curriculum alignment, jointly promote each other’s educational materials, and pursue grant funding opportunities related to aviation,” according to the memorandum of understanding. The organizations hope that efforts to share ideas, best practices, and training resources will help both to meet the ongoing and increasing demand for pilots and mechanics. Key elements from the MOU, signed October 5, include review of curriculum benchmarks and competencies between the AOPA Foundation High School Aviation STEM Curriculum and the Choose Aerospace Aviation Maintenance Curriculum; cross-promotion of content and materials through websites, newsletters, social media, and joint presentations to schools/districts and industry events; and exploration of grant funding proposals related to K-12 aviation education. Recent data distributed by The Boeing Company forecasts the need for 690,000 technicians over the next 20 years—and this does not include business or general aviation demands. Domestic air travel has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and international travel is expected to return by 2024. Meanwhile, new sectors such as advanced air mobility are emerging and will demand a highly skilled workforce. The AOPA Foundation and Choose Aerospace play key roles in helping industry meet this this demand, workforce, providing education, training and employment pathways in the communities they serve. “This agreement allows the AOPA Foundation and Choose Aerospace to collaborate more closely,” said Glenn Ponas, AOPA Foundation director of high school outreach. “Together, we will be able to provide our respective curricula and resources to school districts and career technical centers and support them in creating pathways to careers as pilots, drone pilots, and aviation maintenance technicians.” The collaboration with the AOPA Foundation is the first of multiple efforts from Choose Aerospace to coordination and collaborate with partner aviation programs and resources. By working to reduce the duplication of efforts and provide educators with a comprehensive set of tools, Choose Aerospace will support wide-spread adoption of aviation programs that can meet both student needs and fill regional and aviation and aerospace workforce demands. “Aviation industry stakeholders recognize the need to invest resources and collaborate as part of developing a sustainable, diverse workforce,” said Ryan Goertzen, Vice President Workforce Development at AAR Corp and President of Choose Aerospace. “The Choose Aerospace-AOPA Foundation partnership will help both organizations maximize their already-productive efforts to feed aerospace’s workforce pipeline.” The partnership will be announced at the first AOPA Aviation and Aerospace Workforce Development Summit, which will be hosted at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport on November 12. The AOPA You Can Fly High School Aviation STEM Symposium will follow the summit November 12 through 14. Both events are open to organizations that offer high school aviation curricula and resources. Register for the summit here. Register for the symposium here. ABOUT AOPA Since 1939, AOPA has protected the freedom to fly by creating an environment that gives people of all ages the opportunity to enjoy aviation and all it has to offer. AOPA is the world's largest community of pilots, aircraft owners and aviation enthusiasts, with representatives based in Frederick, Md., Washington, D.C., and seven regions across the United States. The association provides member services, including advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels, legal services, flight training and safety programs, and award-winning media. AOPA specializes in making aviation more accessible to everyone. To learn more, visit www.aopa.org. ABOUT CHOOSE AEROSPACE Choose Aerospace is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit partnership of aerospace stakeholders joined together to increase the availability of a diverse, qualified, technical workforce to support industry growth. A primary objective for Choose Aerospace is to make aerospace career and technical training a priority in secondary schools and to provide multiple career paths to success within the industry. Its aviation maintenance curriculum provides a resource for secondary and community-based programs to develop pathways to Federal Aviation Administration mechanic certification. For more information, visit chooseaerospace.org/curriculum. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality will play key roles in training the aviation maintenance technician of tomorrow. Choose Aerospace is part of a recently formed industry consortium that will study beneficial ways to apply the technology and develop specific tools based on its research.
The effort is backed by a $2 million research grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to project leader Clemson University. Choose Aerospace will work along with Clemson and participants Purdue University, Southern Illinois University, Greenville Technical College, SA Technologies, NSF National Center for Autonomous Technologies, Aviation Technician Education Council, Frontier Airlines, AAR, Republic Airways, Atlas Air, Stevens Aerospace, Vericor, AMFA, and Lockheed Martin. Choose Aerospace's specific roles include forging a partnership network with aviation maintenance industry stakeholders and provide guidance on the development and refinement of aviation maintenance education resources and a hybrid curriculum that can leverage the new tools. Examples of the tools could include virtual-reality headsets that allow a technician to "see" an engine and conduct repairs without ever leaving a classroom. Such tools augment hands-on aspects of technical training by providing cost-effective ways to learn and practice skills. "A sustainable, diverse workforce pipeline is more than just people," said Choose Aerospace Executive Director Crystal Maguire. "Access to the most advanced tools and technology will play key roles in ensuring tomorrow's maintenance technicians are prepared to meet the demands of a fast-growing industry. Choose Aerospace is excited to work with such a diverse group of partners and support Clemson University's efforts." Business aviation maintenance specialist West Star Aviation is launching an innovate maintenance technician training academy, leveraging Choose Aerospace's baseline training and Southwestern Illinois College's Part 147 curriculum to create a career onramp for aspiring mechanics.
The West Star Aviation Academy (WSAA) program will launch with 25 apprentices spending 7.5 months on a combination of course work and hands-on training. The lessons will blend Choose Aerospace's curriculum, Southwest Illinois' FAA-approved curriculum and West Star's proprietary training. The WSAA apprenticeship program timeline is significantly shorter than industry's typical 18-30-month program, and candidates are paid during their training. West Star's approach is one example of how Choose Aerospace can help create a pipeline for aspiring mechanics--from high school students to transitioning military members--to obtain the skills needed for becoming a certified airframe and powerplant technician. For more details on WSAA, see https://www.weststaraviation.com/news/in-house-academy/. Strengthening and expanding a blossoming workforce-development program that links high school students and major aviation companies was the focus of a half-day summit at participant Tulsa Tech's Owasso Campus on October 13. The "Industry In Service" event spotlighted participants in Choose Aerospace, an aerospace workforce pipeline development program that prepares high school students and others to become certified aviation maintenance professionals. Oklahoma, with 12 of the 21 educational institutions that have signed on, is leading the way in the fledgling program's development. Three of the 12 Oklahoma participants are in the Tulsa metro area: Sand Springs High School, Okmulgee High School, and Tulsa Public East Central High School. Representatives from these schools and other Tulsa-based institutions were on hand along with local executives from several companies that support Choose Aerospace, including American Airlines, The NORDAM Group LLC, Lufthansa Technik, and Spirit AeroSystems. The summit's goal was to share best practices and generate more interest among schools and communities as part of a broader workforce development effort. Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell kicked off the summit, spotlighting the state's commitment to workforce development at the highest levels. “The second largest, most powerful, influential industry in the state of Oklahoma is our aerospace industry,” said Pinnell. “We've got to tell kids, and working adults for that matter, in all 77 counties that there are amazing opportunities when it comes to aviation and aerospace. In this part of the state and across the state, we want to make Oklahoma the best place to choose aerospace.” The event was also supported by Tulsa Tech, the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Aerospace Council, Oklahoma CareerTech and the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission. Schools that adopt the Choose Aerospace curriculum offer students direct pathways to accredited aviation maintenance schools or apprenticeships with aircraft manufacturers, airlines, and maintenance providers. Such pathways are seen as a key to developing and diversifying the workforce in the rapidly expanding U.S. aviation industry. As one of the U.S.'s largest and most well-developed aerospace business regions, Oklahoma is an ideal area for the program to blossom and serves as an example of how to develop focused, sustainable aviation career pipelines. For more information, visit chooseaerospace.org/curriculum. ### Choose Aerospace is a partnership of aerospace stakeholders including companies, associations, labor unions and education institutions, joined to address the availability of a diverse, qualified technical workforce and to spur interest in aerospace careers, and identify and implement solutions to the aerospace workforce shortage. A primary objective for Choose Aerospace is to make aerospace career and technical training a priority in secondary schools and to provide multiple career paths to success within the industry. From left to right: Choose Aerospace Executive Director Crystal Maguire, Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell, and American Airlines Workforce Development and Strategy representative Chase Beasley discuss state-based aviation workforce development initiatives ahead of Pinnell’s remarks at the Choose Aerospace In Service event. Industry and educators, including The NORDAM Group LLC Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Communication Mandy Monahan, network and discuss aviation pathway programs at the Choose Aerospace In Service event.
This morning, ATEC Executive Director Crystal Maguire presented a briefing for part 147 programs on how they can utilize the Choose Aerospace aviation maintenance curriculum to grow enrollment of their A&P program. The webinar gave an overview of the curriculum, how and why it was created, and reviewed commonly asked questions (as set forth on our Q&A page).
If you missed the live version, you can still check out the 45-minute recorded version, below. You can also download the slide deck here. Oklahoma CareerTech programs in high schools and technology centers now have access to free aviation maintenance technical curriculum. The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education recently signed a contract with Choose Aerospace to provide the curriculum to any school in the state that decides to deploy an aviation maintenance program. “At CareerTech, what we work off of is demand,” said Brent Haken, Oklahoma CareerTech state director. “We don’t create a supply of workforce; we create a workforce because of the demand that’s out there in the industry, and that’s why Oklahoma CareerTech is so strong, why we’ve been so nimble, and that’s what we’re doing in the aerospace industry.” Aerospace is the No. 2 industry in Oklahoma, Haken said, but there is a growing need for more certified mechanics. According to the Aviation Technician Education Council, the current pipeline will need to increase by 20% across the country to meet the national need for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificated mechanics.
“Oklahoma CareerTech is working to meet those needs through Choose Aerospace,” Haken said. “We are working right now to make sure every CareerTech school has licenses for any student that’s enrolled in those programs and wants to take part in Choose Aerospace. We’re going to make sure that happens through the Department of CareerTech,” he said. “The program was created to fill a very specific need,” said Choose Aerospace president and AAR Vice President Workforce Development Ryan Goertzen. “Student that graduate from the program have the opportunity to go directly to work as a non-certificated technician, or matriculate into an FAA-certificated school to finish their airframe and powerplant training.” The funding is part of the mission to remove barriers to adoption, said Goertzen. “We work very closely with state governments and industry supporters to ensure that cost is never the reason a high school declines to start an aviation maintenance program. “A few Oklahoma schools used the Choose Aerospace curriculum last year at a cost of $200 per student,” said Tonja Norwood, manager of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics education division at Oklahoma CareerTech. “Now it will be free, so schools can teach the curriculum at no cost.” Oklahoma CareerTech is paying for the curriculum with federal grant money received through the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. The act, commonly called Perkins V, is designed to provide students across the country with opportunities to develop skills and earn certifications that will help them advance in their careers. The CareerTech STEM division has worked with Choose Aerospace to approve the coursework for Oklahoma’s Promise credit. High schools expected to teach the curriculum in the state of Oklahoma include Broken Arrow Public Schools, Chelsea High School, Moore Public Schools, Putnam City Schools, and Yukon Public Schools. The 2022-23 academic year saw the first cohort of Choose Aerospace students across the country. Sixteen schools enrolled two hundred students last year, that number is expected to double for the 2023-24 academic year. For more information, visit chooseaerospace.org/curriculum. About Oklahoma CareerTech The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 60 campuses, 391 PK-12 school districts, 17 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 32 adult education and family literacy providers. The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans. About Choose Aerospace Choose Aerospace is a year-old partnership of aerospace stakeholders including companies, associations, labor unions and education institutions, joined to address the availability of a diverse, qualified technical workforce and to spur interest in aerospace careers, and identify and implement solutions to the aerospace workforce shortage. A primary objective for Choose Aerospace is to make aerospace career and technical training a priority in secondary schools and to provide multiple career paths to success within the industry. Last month, Choose Aerospace hosted an outreach event in conjunction with a two-day teacher training in Tulsa. The outreach meeting discussed topics including implementation of the curriculum into local high schools as well as an Aviation Showcase where industry partners took time to talk with schools in attendance about job opportunities available to students completing the curriculum. Over 70 attendees representing 20 schools were in attendance. Employers that were showcased included AAR, American Airlines, Tinker Airforce Base, Nordam, TAT Limco Airepair, Computer System Designers, United Airlines, Air Force Sustainment Center, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, and Southwest Airlines. Check out this video and slides from the meeting. The outreach meeting was followed up by two days of training for teachers enrolled in the curriculum to include an overview of the instructor dashboard and best practices, as well as new hands-on projects to be implemented into the curriculum beginning this fall. Special thanks to the following ATEC A&P instructors for building and training on hands-on projects:
Thanks to generous donors, schools were placed in a drawing for prizes that will aid in the hands-on aspects of their program. Spring Valley High School out of West Virginia was the winner of a toolbox provided by Snap-on, and Putnam City North High School out of Oklahoma was the winner of a safety wire box donated by the Aerospace Maintenance Council. Each school in attendance was also given a set of Sonic Tools screwdrivers, provided by AAR. |