Demand for workers in the aircraft maintenance field has been increasing steadily for years, but training pipelines lag behind demand, which could cause big problems for airlines, airports, shipping, and related fields.
On Upward, the Transfr podcast, we took a deep dive into the aviation maintenance sector, featuring Emily Perks, Employer Services Manager at Man-Tra-Con and Karen Johnson, who’s both Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Aviation Technologies at SIU Carbondale and VP and Journal Editor, ATEC. We discussed the state of the industry, how educators and workforce agencies can help fill open roles, and the use of VR sims for industry training.
Lucrative aviation maintenance roles going unfilled
Aviation maintenance is one of a number of well-paying careers that don’t require a four-year college degree. Karen affirmed that in her state of Illinois, aviation maintenance workers such as aircraft mechanics can make an average of around $76,000 per year. However, the field seems to occupy a blind spot when students and job seekers make career plans.
“I field a lot of requests for positions,” says Karen. “Aviation mechanics, sometimes avionics technicians, avionics electricians…”
In her program at Southern Illinois University, she’s involved in the education of aviation maintenance technicians and has integrated VR simulation (designed in collaboration with Transfr) that are tailored to these high-demand roles. Emily noted that avionics is an expanding sector overall, even though the first thing people may associate with the aviation industry is being a pilot:
“It’s a growing industry,” Emily explains. “You can be a mechanic, you can work at the corporate office, you can fly a plane. I think building awareness upon these different avenues is important.”
Workforce partners help raise awareness
So, then, how to fill all of these incoming jobs for aviation mechanics? A recent survey from management consulting firm Oliver Wyman predicted there could be a shortfall of as many as 46,000 aviation maintenance workers by 2027 in Illinois alone. In Perks’s capacity at Man-Tra-Con, she works to coordinate expanded training services and outreach around aviation careers.
“We are a workforce partner and we work as a free service to employers and applicants,” Emily says. “So we can do anything from helping to train up the workforce, help people in their job search journey and setting up apprenticeships paying for tuition, and things like that. Our mission is to work closely with Karen and… we’ve developed an apprenticeship where we’re actually working with a local employer. What we’re striving to do here is help build that pipeline. [Current students are] using the aviation sims developed by Transfr and now they’re more in the apprenticeship ‘earn and learn’ type of atmosphere. It’s actually onsite at the airport!”
While reaching out to current students won’t immediately fill the demand for aviation technicians, Karen and Emily’s efforts are helping build longer-term relationships between high schools and colleges for potential future aviation mechanics to discover the trade and assess it as a viable career option. They hope this will enable students to thrive in their local areas without having to uproot to find a good job.
“We want our students to stay local and understand what opportunities there are,” Emily says. “There are some new aviation industry employers in the area. That’s really where we’re working to connect the dots… making sure we’re bringing news of these jobs anywhere we can: From local high schools and CTE classes to career days. We’ve set up a career day now every fall with Karen and her team where high school students do a tour in the aviation center. Students can see the simulations and training Karen’s students experience in their courses.”
VR helps prepare students for aviation careers
Both feel that students react positively to the Transfr simulations. The simulations open students’ eyes to local job sectors and they get preparation for the hands-on nature of the work.
“Student reactions are just like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know this is what you had to do to change oil,’ or … ‘this is what you need to do to fly a plane, or fix a plane,’” says Karen.
In addition to being a powerful recruitment tool, typically the sims come in before student trainees begin working hands-on in the lab. It’s both a way for students to try out what they’re learning in a safe, low stakes environment — and an “opportunity equalizer,” as Karen puts it, helping students get a leg up before graduation, as most high schools across the nation can’t provide airplanes and equipment.
Regarding the VR courses, both also gave Transfr high praise:
“Transfr has a lot of great features and the students love it,” Emily notes.
“I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from students,” says Karen. “They like the opportunity to get involved with them before they’re actually working in the hands-on labs. Students really appreciate the opportunity to do one of these projects in the sim that they never would have guessed they’d have been able to do and never even knew that they could do [as a job] right here in their own backyard.”
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