Crystal Maguire, Executive Director of the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC), discussed the vital role of education, advocacy, and collaboration in addressing the industry’s maintenance workforce shortage. From policy reforms to training access, Maguire shared how ATEC is helping bridge the gap between classrooms and careers in aviation.
Crystal: I’m Crystal McGuire, Executive Director of the Aviation Technician Education Council. It's the trade association that represents aviation maintenance training schools certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Those schools create about 80% of all new aircraft mechanics.
MHIRJ: What is the D.C. Fly-In, and why is it so important?
Crystal: Every year, we come to Washington, D.C., to talk about top issues having to do with workforce funding, workforce demand, workforce shortages, and creating qualified technical personnel.
We come in, brief everyone on the first day, discuss the hot issues, and talk with FAA officials about what's going on with the regulatory environment. Then, prepare everyone for meetings the next day. Tomorrow, we're going to have 80 meetings about how to help train the next generation of mechanics.
MHIRJ: Why do these advocacy efforts matter?
Crystal: We're looking at about a 10% shortage over the next decade. We focus primarily on policy initiatives that remove barriers in the pipeline. So, from Kindergarten through Grade 12, through secondary education, and into apprenticeship programs and work-to-learn type programs, we help someone go from A to Z.
MHIRJ: What are our barriers along that chain, in terms of workforce, and how do we tackle and eliminate those barriers?
Crystal: We have a lot of funding that has been provided through congressional directives in the past to support these types of workforce programs. We're on the Hill explaining how that has really helped our industry, how it has helped tackle some of the shortage issues, and to encourage the dollars to keep flowing to support those programs.
MHIRJ: What are some of the struggles, and how is ATEC providing support to those challenges?
Crystal: From the industry's perspective, a lot of times we hear things like there are training gaps and students coming into employment. How do we get those folks to work quicker and faster? How can we collaborate with the training community to ensure that individuals learn as much as possible in school, so that they're ready to hit the ground running?
On the industry side, that has a lot to do with our advocacy efforts with the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure that our certification process is where it needs to be, that we're correctly defining the knowledge and skill requirements for a mechanic, and then getting industry and education in the same room to talk about where are we seeing shortfalls and, how can we improve the training cycle.
How can industry be more involved in the classroom to ensure that schools have the necessary resources to train personnel effectively?
Also, funding. For our schools, they need the right equipment and the right technical data to train personnel effectively, enabling them to hit the ground running.
The industry often is a big supporter of our schools. We also have the opportunity to discuss with other FAA officials some of the challenges we face in the regulatory environment and how we can work through them to create more effective pathways for people.
MHIRJ: What makes the transition from student to certified mechanic most challenging?
Crystal: One of the challenges that we have is testing capacity. Not only knowledge testing but also making sure that we've got access to the testing centers, and that every applicant has access to a designated mechanic examiner. We reported that the number of those DMEs actually decreased in the last year, while our enrollment numbers are increasing, which is good, but it's creating quite a bottleneck.
All those folks still need to be tested, so our last available DMEs in the community have to conduct more tests. But also, how can we do other things, perhaps outside the box, to increase testing capacity?
MHIRJ: What keeps you motivated about this work?
Crystal: This group is very effective on the Hill. One of the reasons is that we have industry, education, and labor all working together.
I like to call ATEC the common denominator often because we're all about the workforce.
MHIRJ: Do you have any final thoughts?
Crystal: People want to make an impact. I think people are always surprised when they come to the Fly-In, that they have such access to members of Congress and staff, and we've had such great successes in the past. We did a reform of Part 147, which is the regulation that oversees A&P schools, and that was done through our legislative advocacy.
Ultimately, it was a regulation, but we were able to drive changes to those regulations through our legislative activities. It was a game-changer for this community, and we were able to undertake initiatives like these and advocate for them here at the Fly-In. In the end, the big takeaway for a lot of people is they come in and they just didn't know.
This is easy. It's not scary. The congressional office buildings are open and accessible to the public. It's just a matter of putting them in a position to be successful and communicating the types of things that will make a difference.
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