A total of 74 aviation repair crews competed in Dallas last month at an international aerospace maintenance conference. Teams from American Airlines to the Royal Canadian Airforce tackled 27 different jobs on tight deadlines. North Texas students competed too, from Tarrant County College and Irving鈥檚 for-profit Aviation Institute of Maintenance, or AIM.
Teams in place at the different stations awaited the signal to start.
鈥淛udges are we ready?鈥� sounded the notice from the overhead speakers. 鈥淎lright, engineers, technicians and students. Ready, set, start!鈥�
Contestant teams then began their maintenance challenge. One team had to rapidly replace cockpit windshields, another changed out flexible fluid lines. Whatever the task, teams had to meet safety protocols. Time-saving shortcuts could cost them points.
For AIM student and former Navy technician Shaun Currans, just learning to function in this field made him feel like a winner.
鈥淚'm not really in it for the dollars,鈥� said Currans. 鈥淚 mean, everybody likes getting paid. I'm doing this because I love to. Money's nice, but it's not the end all - be all.鈥�
Still, he and his fellow students have thought about pay. A&P technicians, that stands for airframe and power plant, make about $40,000 a year with regional carriers like American Airlines鈥� subsidiary, Envoy Air. Currans said when certified, he鈥檒l have a job there. It can become a stepping-stone.
鈥淎merican pulls mechanics from the ranks of all those regionals,鈥� Currans said. 鈥淪o if you're good at what you do, they'll bump you up to the major leagues, for lack of a better term. The general rule moving from a regional to a national carrier is oftentimes about twice as much. And that's where the real fun begins.鈥�
Veteran A&P mechanics can make six figures, said fellow AIM student D鈥橝ndre Jones, also former military. Like many of his student teammates, he鈥檇 been gainfully employed until Covid.
鈥淲hen the pandemic first came, I got laid off,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淚 was sitting at home, and my wife says 鈥榳hy don鈥檛 you go to school in your downtime right now? That would be another certification that you have.鈥� And here I am now.鈥�
The more AIM students 四虎影院 talked to, the more common Jones鈥� story sounded. They were all military veterans who had good jobs before COVID-19, but lost them when the pandemic ramped up. So they enrolled in aviation maintenance school, many on GI benefits.
鈥淚 was working on cars,鈥� said 33-year-old Kyle Hulen, 鈥渓iving in New Mexico. I got on unemployment and that鈥檚, pretty much after that, decided to move back to here and then I found this school.鈥�
Hulen鈥檚 military background included hydraulics training and experience with helicopter engines. He wanted to get back in the field of flight.
Stuart Riley, an aviation maintenance instructor at Tarrant County College, is familiar with that calling.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a disease we love,鈥� said Riley. 鈥淥nce you start working airplanes, you just can't get enough. When you fix an airplane, return it to service, you see the passengers fly away. It's just something you enjoy. And to share that with my students and allow them to become, you know, good mechanics is just something that's fun.鈥�
Having fun was partly the point of the 2-day maintenance competition. As for the students, profit plays a part too, as they have the potential to grow in their jobs once employed in the field. A job they might not have found if not for pandemic layoffs.
As for contest results, Tarrant County College鈥檚 team took two firsts among the 27 maintenance challenges. Irving鈥檚 Aviation Institute of Maintenance fielded two teams. Competitors on the team 四虎影院 talked to placed 38th. AIM鈥檚 other team ranked 70th.
Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on Twitter .
