Career viability in aircraft maintenance

Introduction

Skilled manpower is essential to develop a country’s ability to achieve a sustainable development and prosperity. It is imperative to take step to improvise and improve the necessary skill adoption in commensurate with the existing educational systems. To accommodate such initiative the government of Bangladesh has already taken projects i.e. ‘Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP)’, for improving service delivery, efficiency and innovation. The demographic dividend would become a boon to materialize such initiative. But this initiative only being subject to address some already established system. A new approach may be adopted to explore some promising but not yet considered areas to harness the full potential of such initiative. As the economy is expanding and growing some promising areas such as aviation, maritime, automobile and manufacturing technology can be considered. I being an aviation instructor want to reflect some light upon one particular area i.e. aviation , which presents immense potential for skill generation and using the competency for home and also for export.

Background

According to ICAO, a UN specialized agency (ICAO Addresses Shortage of Skilled Aviation Professionals, https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/ICAO-Addresses-Shortage-of-Skilled-Aviation-Professionals.aspx) by 2026, we will need 480,000 new technicians to maintain aircraft. The 2019 Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook, a respected industry forecast of personnel demand, projects that 769,000 new maintenance technicians needed to maintain the world fleet over the next 20 years.

The forecast is inclusive of the commercial aviation, business aviation and civil helicopter industries. Though it was predicted on a global scale, it is true to our country as we have a emerging industry in aviation. The numbers of player in commercial passenger, cargo and helicopter market are growing and all of this aircraft need maintenance. For the most part the heavy checks and most of the certifying staff (those who certify to declare a product /procedure iaw National aviation authority (CAAB) guidelines to make them airworthy) are being done or hired respectively form abroad. The amount of expenditure most domestic airlines bear for maintenance purpose (low direct operating cost) is huge and a hired person or service from overseas would always add to the cause. The maintenance cost mostly deals with aircraft parts, components, overhaul, restoration, repair and life limited parts. Additionally on the human aspect it also involve labour cost, inspections and most importantly diagnosing what parts are not be kept or removed for continuing operations of aircraft. The vital role any maintenance person plays is pivotal to decide what other fixed cost, routine cost or non-routine cost is going to be varied. Dispatch reliability and maintenance costs are directly related and can be improved through increased component and system reliability, and that’s where a mechanic’s role comes into play.

Prevailing scenario and constraints

The shortage of qualified aircraft mechanics is real. But there are very few institutions to train and skill up today’s pupil into tomorrow’s aircraft maintenance personnel. Aviation jobs, including the maintenance person’s job, does not lure today’s generation into aviation careers. The workforce that is being employed in today's maintenance environment are mostly constituted with more aged people in comparison to national average. Many personnel are going to retire from this sector in within few years (though some will be absorbed by different senior position in different local airlines). The growing size of the aircraft fleet and the changing technology of new aircraft exacerbates the challenge. First we have to admit that this is a ‘blue collar’ job and the apathy surrounding such notion is not going to help. Such situation prevailing in our general education system also preventing educated persons (tertiary) from getting appropriate job. Younger mechanics recognize that aviation jobs require extensive shift work, time away from home, stressful and initially without the pay and perceive status (stratum) that match the expectation. Service jobs in the FMCG, IT, automotive, and other industries seem to be more attractive than aviation related opportunities. It takes, at least, five years (considering training and apprentice time) to obtain certification as an CAAB/EASA (part-66 compliant ) certified aircraft mechanic. That is a long duration of expensive tuition requiring extensive presence in the classroom and laboratories. The long duration makes it very difficult to hold a job while in training. Adding to the woes airline employers say that most newly certified AMTs (aircraft maintenance technicians) are not qualified for unsupervised work. Besides being an AMT there are scopes for job in repair and component maintenance facility which though very lucrative, no facility of such not present in our country. This can be a great sector waiting to be explored as service man/women in this category do not have to undergo the extensive initial and continuing training and exam requirements of AMTs.

Things to ponder

Any skill could be considered consisting of knowledge, on the job training and experience. The cognitive aspect of skill should also be considered. The introduction of modern and sophisticated systems in new aircraft makes it necessary for promising and keen candidates' presence. The approach needed to provide such training also have to be achieved by acquiring national and international accreditation (CAAB/EASA). To prepare the aspiring candidates for future challenges and availing opportunities, a tailored curriculum is already there (both CAAB and EASA). What we need to do is to find the different roles such maintenance program can fill. Primarily such training centre would try to make more AMTs, but this program can be a way for other opportunities as well. The certified people from this background can also be a quality inspector, aircraft review staff, a repair station mechanic, CVE (Compliance Verification Engineer) or DER (Design Engineering Representative), NDT (non-destructive test) specialist, structure specialist, reliability specialist, development engineer and so on.  

Some suggestions below can be considered to materialize the effort

a)     Establish program/recurrent training that teach technical skills used in aviation maintenance, repair, overhaul and restoration of product.

b)     Focus on competence to pass certification rather than on program completion.

c)     Establish scholarships or apprenticeships for individuals pursuing employment in the aviation maintenance industry

d)    Support outreach about careers in the aviation maintenance industry to primary, secondary, and post-secondary school students; or to communities underrepresented in the industry.

e)     Support the existing training centres and establish new training centre(s) to accommodate extensive use of computer-based instruction, advanced simulations, virtual reality and distance learning.

f)      Support the existing training centres and establish new training centre(s) with new material i.e. composite, AIMS cabinet, CCR cabinet, fiber optics, MEA compatible hardware, etc.

g)     Strengthening the workshop facility to facilitate inclusion of live aircraft scenario based competency.

h)     Creating a common pool/forum to facilitate (training/workshop/competition/career orientation/skill enhancement program) the nurturing of personnel engaged in the sector.

i)     Establishing partnership between training centres and industry (airlines, MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations), owner, overhaul facility, specialized services) so as to share different production models, resources (unsalvageable items) and experiences.

Conclusion

One approach can be taken is to create a fund and authority or empower an existing authority so as to facilitate a holistic approach for the aviation sector. We are creating many facilities and establishing policy support to invite and bring FDI (foreign direct investment) for industries. A foreign partner in collaboration with local company can start an MRO, standalone repair facility or NDT hub for regional aviation sector. Such model is already become successful in other countries (Lufthansa technic Philippines, FL technics Indonesia, Airod Aerospace Technology SDN BHD, GMR aero technic Ltd, Hyderabad, India, etc.). An established and proven organisation in the aviation field will always pave way for knowlegde and skill transfer.To prosper we need to diversify our approaches in bringing new skill which would be suitable internationally. These people (who will be of international standard by training themselves from modern approach based facility) may then work in such organisation or go abroad to compete in global arena. As these is a very cost intensive establishment only FDI and government backed approach (followed in USA and Europe) can become successful. The good news is that, if we can establish such facility for training, apprenticeship and MRO, it will surely create professionals with such caliber that will be comparable to international workmanship. And then the demographic dividend of present could become a sustainable success story for the days to come.