Government And Industry Leaders Look For Ways To Attract New People Into The Industry

The FAA held an Aviation Workforce Symposium last week in Washington, D.C. at Reagan National Airport.

Called by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (pictured), the Aviation Workforce Symposium brought together industry and governmental representatives from many sectors to identify some of the main factors causing personnel shortages, any lack of attractiveness of the profession, and identification of potential areas of address on which focus could be given to help build America's future pilot and mechanic supply.

There is no doubt that the shortage of aviation workers is affecting the aviation community and its business success at all levels in the United States and throughout the world. Panelists throughout the day ranging from airline presidents, to union representatives, manufacturers, and collegiate programs universally agree that the industry must do more to bring in talent to the industry.

The day consisted of five panels along with keynotes from Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation and Suzanne Markle, President of Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics. Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell (pictured, below) engaged with participants along with addressing them at some points during the day.

Key questions the event addressed in the panels included discussing the overall scope of the challenge of the aviation workforce shortage, what we [as a whole industry] can do to attract new people to critical aviation professions?, how we can promote productive partnerships between the government, industry, and the community, how we can maximize efficiency in training and training to proficiency, and what government initiatives may be in place that could be of assistance. These questions were discussed by panelists representing multiple airlines, cargo carriers, collegiate aviation programs, governmental representatives, the U.S. Air Force, simulator providers, and even aviation focused high schools to name only a few participants.

Highlighted many times by panelists, the discussion of providing funding sources to individuals interested in career training for aviation focused jobs was evident. Multiple panelists noted the lack of funding availability outside the traditional collegiate environment for aviation focused jobs. Very little federal funding is available that is vocational in nature or focused on individuals seeking job training funding if they choose not to or already have a college degree and are looking to get into aviation as a career, or even change careers. Diane Auer Jones, a representative from the U.S. Department of Education even noted that she was unaware of any vocational or career technical funding from the U.S. DOE specifically focused on aviation careers. She noted that some programs were available that might be able to be used for vocational training focused on aviation, but no specific programs currently were in place.

The Flight School Association of North America (FSANA) believes this is a key and critical part of making our aviation workforce grow. Not every pilot, mechanic, or dispatcher wants to get, or get another, college degree. And not every flight training provider must offer 2- or 4-year collegiate degrees. The collegiate programs are wonderful parts of our aviation career pathways, but there are multiple paths to this aviation career and as an industry we must foster and support all viable paths that create good, high-quality, and safe pilots to serve our industry's needs. One of the ways to do this is to create funding mechanisms that allow for training to be secured without doing so on multiple credit cards or by mortgaging your (or your parent's) home.

FSANA President, Bob Rockmaker, was in attendance for the full day and spoke with many attendees, panelists, and speakers during the event.

The FAA created the Symposium to help identify the many career paths that aviation offers across a wide spectrum of aviation enterprises. There is no doubt that much work is yet to be done, and this symposium was not intended to find the solutions to all of the questions and challenges noted in one day. But it did bring together many interested parties who will endeavor to work going forward to address this concern more collectively if we are going to be successful at engaging all interested aviation parties in a solution for tomorrow's aviation workforce.

(Source: FSANA newsletter. Images provided)

FMI: www.fsana.com