When the rules change, there are some things we’ll be able to drop because they are either antiquated or redundant. We want to focus on advanced technology, spending more time on composites, advanced wiring and electronics, and turbine engines. Tese are the skills the industry is demanding in its AMTs today.”
Training AMTs for Leadership In creating the SUU AMT AAS degree program, Britt took advantage of the university’s resources to go beyond the basics of the Part 147 man- dates. Electronics courses, for instance, are taught by the SUU engineering department, providing students with the opportunity to connect with their STEM peers while sharing instructors and equipment.
Te university also partnered with Southwest
Technical College, a few blocks from SUU’s main campus, to share resources and equipment for classes on structures and advanced electrical wiring. Hands-on maintenance training takes place at Cedar City Regional Airport (KCDC), where under the watchful eye of instructors and licensed A&P mechanics, students work on the university’s aircraft fleet of 19 piston helicopters, 5 turbine helicopters, and 16 piston airplanes. Te program is also designed to prepare
students for future advancement. “As we began developing the program, we wanted to build in options for mechanics to have upward mobility in their careers,” Britt says. “Tere isn’t just a deficit in mechanics. Tere is a very
real deficit in aviation leadership as those current professionals begin to retire. “I’ve seen it have a very negative effect on
aviation operations. Operators will promote their best mechanic to director of operations, but that person often does not have the edu- cation or experience in business skills, logistics, and big-picture understanding of aviation business management to do the job effectively. Sometimes that can lead to financial failure,” he says. “Our goal was to develop pathways that not only allow mechanics to effectively maintain today’s and tomorrow’s aircraft but also to move up in their careers successfully.” In September 2021, SUU launched a bach-
elor’s degree in aviation administration and leadership. Students in both flight and
Revising Part 147: The Saga Continues
Originally established under the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the precursor to the FAA, 14 CFR Part 147 defines the requirements and operating rules for FAA- certificated AMT schools. In other words, it defines the skills that an A&P candidate must learn, who can provide that training, and how that training should be provided. Last updated in 1962, these regulations continue to
mandate that A&P students learn outdated technologies while others that were in their infancy or nonexistent in 1962, such as health and usage monitoring systems, are not covered. Schools must work through a cumbersome FAA approval process to modify either the curriculum or their operating procedures. In 2009, an industry working group, the Part 147 Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools Curriculum and Operating Requirements Working Group, formally recommended broad changes to Part 147 to better align with modern technology and industry needs. In response, the FAA issued in November 2015 a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) with sweeping changes to Part 147. The industry strongly objected to the new language, arguing that the US Department of Education should oversee AMT training and that oversight by the FAA has led to excessive roadblocks to curriculum updates. In the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, Congress
mandated the FAA to release a new Part 147 by April 5, 2019. Eleven days after this deadline, the FAA released a supplemental NPRM for Part 147, which received substantial
30 ROTOR DECEMBER 2021
criticism from the industry. Instead of streamlining the regulations for AMT education, the supplemental NPRM doubled the size of Part 147, requiring AMT educators to submit to additional layers of regulations and approvals. With AMT shortages reaching a critical level, the industry petitioned congressional legislators to draft new language for Part 147 that would reference the revised mechanic airman certification standards (ACS) being developed by an FAA–industry working group. That language was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, signed into law by President Trump in December 2020. The act called for the FAA to replace current training requirements with the new language within 90 days, a deadline that has come and gone with no action.
On Sep. 1, 2021, a bipartisan group of seven senators sent
a letter to US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson saying that “it is imperative that Part 147 rulemaking remains a top priority for the FAA” and asking for immediate publication of the mechanic ACS. The Department of Transportation regulatory agenda
states that the rule was supposed to be published in November. At press time in mid-December, the industry was still anxiously awaiting action by the FAA and had reengaged with legislators on the issue. For more on the industry’s efforts to revise Part 147, see “Is AMT Education Ready for the 21st Century?” in the 2020 Q4 issue of ROTOR, or visit the ATEC website for updates and the text of the new Part 147 and mechanic ACS.
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