HAI/JEN BOYER
flight controls, assembly and rigging, stabilization, vibration, blade tracking, and rotorcraft maintenance and inspection. “It’s incredible to me that many new A&Ps come out of
their programs licensed to work on helicopters but without ever having touched one. We thought it was important to expose students to rotorcraft from the beginning,” says Britt. “At SUU, helicopters are not an add-on but an essential part of maintenance education.”
Evolving Standards for AMT Education SUU began to develop its AMT program just as the Aviation Technical Education Council (ATEC) and the industry were turning up the heat on the FAA to change the antiquated rules outlining the skills, hours of training, and topics that an AMT school must teach and that mechanic candidates must test for to receive their A&P license. Not revised since 1962, these regulations are vastly out-
of-date and offer very limited flexibility both in subject matter and how those subjects are taught. For example, under the current regulations, schools are required to teach wood and fabric repair techniques that are no longer performed in the industry while they must navigate the FAA bureaucracy to obtain permission to teach modern technology such as engine monitoring systems and avionics.
As he designed the new program for SUU, Britt saw an
opportunity to help reshape US AMT training. He became an active member of ATEC and volunteered to chair the organization’s Legislative Committee, which includes mem- bers from AMT schools and the industry. As part of that committee, Britt helped draft new language
for 14 CFR Part 147, the regulations governing AMT edu- cation, and airman certification standards (ACS) for mechanics. Te goal is to enact new regulations that will permit greater flexibility in how and what AMT schools teach, allowing them to better create the workforce the industry desperately needs to compete and grow. Te final language was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which was signed into law in December 2020. Te FAA is expected to update Part 147 with language from the new law this year (see “Revising Part 147: Te Saga Continues,” on p. 30). Knowing the new regulation was coming, Britt and the
SUU team designed the school’s AMT program to meet the requirements of both the current and anticipated future rules. “While we wait for the new rules to publish, we still have
to teach what’s required in the current rules,” Britt says. “We approached this progressively, covering the letter of the current rule and expanding on it with modern technology and helicopter systems that are supported in the new rules.
SUU AMT students receive instruction on how to safely hoist an engine out of an airframe.
DECEMBER 2021 ROTOR 29
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