Students train as aviation mechanics for high-demand careers

https://amzn.to/4dyFiAI

Transcript

00:00Major airlines are racing to hire more aircraft mechanics to help new training

00:06programs are taking off at schools across countries. Kennedy Hayes tours one

00:12in a Denver suburb. The class teaches students how to inspect and repair

00:17planes. Students spend hours practicing in this hangar after school and the end

00:22goal is passing an FAA certification test to get a job as an aviation

00:26mechanic. We're going to be checking the stall warning light and the stall

00:30warning system. Training to be the brains behind fixing planes. Working on

00:35everything myself it truly makes me appreciate just how much goes into

00:40making airplanes work. Cherry Creek Innovation Campus's power plant class is

00:45the newest addition in their three-year aircraft mechanic training program.

00:49During the class students get hands-on experience studying the engines of

00:53helicopters and planes. We started mainly with aircraft mechanics getting their

00:59airframe certificate and then very recently we we added the power plant

01:05certificate. Now the students can leave our school with a full what they call

01:12AMP and that allows them to go pretty much wherever they want. Colleges in more

01:18than a half dozen states are also beginning aviation maintenance

01:21technician programs. Texarkana College in Texas said their starts in January.

01:26It's like massive industry and you have this one key skill set that there's not

01:31a training infrastructure that's really built for. That that creates a dynamic

01:34where you have like a very low supply and very high demand and so the wages

01:38are going through the roof and you also have a situation where like employers

01:41are like foaming at the mouth to try to get any and all AMP mechanics to come on

01:46board. United Airlines said it's hired almost 900 aviation mechanics this year

01:51American Airlines created more than 500 aviation maintenance jobs this fall. You

01:57don't really always see the mechanics but they're the ones keeping these

02:02planes up in the air they're the ones keeping it safe of course the pilots are

02:06doing their job as well but at the end of the day if there's a problem with the

02:11plane the people to fix it are us. Starting salaries for aviation

02:15maintenance technicians are about $75,000 a year according to the Bureau

02:19Labor Statistics. In Centennial, Colorado, Kennedy Hayes, Fox News.