Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce covers education, training and recruiting issues and delivers in-depth analysis of under-reported stories impacting the future of the global industry.Covering Aviation/Aerospace Workforce Education, Training and Recruiting.
Many think the anti-DEI activists in ascendency and wreaking havoc in Washington don’t understand diversity, equity and inclusion and are fighting against the tide of practical solutions put in place at companies to address growing workforce shortages. What is sad with the first week of the new administration is the fact that it just made hiring and the desire to work for the government, already struggling to compete against the private sector for employees, that much harder.
The original intent of DEI, which dates back to the nineteen teens, has been distorted so those opposing it really don’t understand it.
“What we mean with DEI is diversity of thought,” said Ivon Aheart who works in the Airlines for America General Counsel office but who was speaking as a private person. “A lot of the myths surrounding DEI is related to race, but it is not just about race. It is about including everyone whether they are facing ageism or whether they are women, the disabled or any other thing that makes them different. It doesn’t have a thing to do with race. It’s about including everyone and doing what is right in terms of benefits and working conditions that benefit the entire workforce.”
Aheart describes DEI as a potluck. “It’s about inviting everyone,” she explained. “It’s about inviting them to bring a dish that might not be liked by everyone, but you must make sure it has fair placement on the table. What we are actually trying to do is turn the tide on how we look at employee programs”
The conversation with Aheart was part of a webinar hosted by Dana Kirchmar’s Ellevate Executive Exchange, a monthly meeting of aviation executives who are tackling some of the industry’s most intractable problems. Recently, the Ellevate Executive Exchange meetings have been about culture, something the Congressionally mandated Women in Aviation Advisory Board identified as a key problem in attracting and retaining a diverse workforce and why that is important.”
United’s Chix Fix MRO Team
Aheart and others on the call acknowledged aviation and aerospace are white male dominated industries. “What is happening today with the attempts to repeal DEI initiatives is designed to halt the progress we’ve made over the past 50 years,” she explained. “But when people understand how many people are actually affected by these programs, they realize their importance. We are not just talking about black and brown people. We are talking about the 60-year-old white man who is about to be laid off because of ageism. We are talking about the disabled, the neurodiverse. There are a lot of other constituencies represented by diversity, equity and inclusion.”
This tallies with recent articles from HR professionals who say they are shifting from DEI to trying to make everyone on the job feel comfortable. But that is easier said than done given the biases already existing in the workforce that we must address.
“The reality is that we don’t live in a society in which identity doesn’t matter — and people with some identities are more likely to be disadvantaged than those with others,” wrote Columnist Perry Bacon in The Washington Post. “There are numerous studies showing unconscious bias that results in employers being less likely to interview someone with a name identified with African Americans for a job. Women on average are paid less than men in part because they are less likely to be chosen for management positions. Because of historic discrimination, African and Native Americans whose families have lived in the United States for generations tend to have less wealth than their White counterparts. Transgender people and Muslims often face direct bigotry.”
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
My take on the anti-DEI movement is they are false prophets. They want a meritocracy but we’ve never had that. Indeed, they have never been judged on their merit. Trying to build one now is not what they intend. If they wanted a meritocracy they’d be fighting for equal opportunity which meets Aheart’s description of DEI as bringing everyone to the table and treating them fairly.
It’s Not About Race
Aheart said it is a mistake to focus on race or any single issue making an employee different, pointing out old ways of recruiting and retaining employees will no longer work as the workforce itself changes. Within the next 20 years, white men will be in the minority.
“What we are trying to say is you can hire someone different, but they bring a diversity of thought and that is important, too,” Aheart said. “What we are trying to do is change the culture to support this diversity of thought and processes because they are important to innovation and success. If you support diversity of thought that means DEI is important to you and to your business. The workforce is changing and adapting and companies must change and adapt. So, diverse employees and employee resource groups are what is changing companies internally, changing the culture. We can’t go back because the workforce and families are more multicultural today.”
While the headlines are about Meta, Amazon, Target and other corporations pulling back from DEI initiatives, there are many other companies sticking with it because it is important to them.
“It’s not about DEI but about the principles that support all employees,” Aheart said, citing Costco, Starbucks and others. “They are finding different ways to communicate that support. They are rearranging where they display LGBTQ+ information and products but retaining their commitment to inclusion.
“When Costco rolled out its position on diversity, it simply said, ‘we are doing this because it has made us more successful,” she continued. “They didn’t change what they believed. They just pointed out they were not changing the policy. ‘This is what we have always done because it works for us,’ and that was the end of the discussion.”
Photo Credit: Kathryn B. Creedy
There is a lot of cover in saying this works for the bottom line. Costco was just reminding us that study after study – from the World Economic Forum to Harvard Business Review – shows diversity is good for the bottom line. The companies who are pulling back because of political winds are ignoring those same studies and are clearly jeopardizing their success.
What About Female Dominated Industries?
An interesting part of the discussion arose when Pro Star Aviation Director of Sales and Marketing Jeff Shaw noted that while aviation may be white male dominated today, other industries have an opposite domination. He noted teaching and nursing are very female dominated. Decades ago, administrators were men and women were the teachers. Today, women are both and dominate the workforce.
Aheart translated that to aviation where flight attendants are mostly women. “We made a concerted effort to recruit and retain male flight attendants,” she said of industry efforts to diversify the cabin environment. “We addressed the uniforms, the training. We reached out to inner cities and recruited at colleges specifically targeting men. We added additional benefits and pay so the profession was equitable for everyone not just a select group.”
She also described many of the problems associated with an industry dominated by one gender or another as an economic issue. “How do you attract more men to teaching,” she asked. “You raise the pay to get more.”
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal agreed that if we want to diversify the teaching profession we must pay more. The argument was not only to recruit men, but to help boys with male role models.
The article and Aheart’s statement, of course, is an indictment of the male dominated system itself in which “women’s” jobs are not valued as highly which is reflected in pay and why we still don’t have equal pay. Advocates call these positions female ghettos and include high-ranking and visible C-Suite executives such as HR and Communications. A true test of progress, they say, will come when women are elevated to operational and revenue producing positions.
To that end Aheart pointed to the ascendancy of Joanna Geraghty as CEO of JetBlue, noting airlines are hiring from within and Garaghty rose through the ranks, putting in the hard work to do so, and ultimately becoming CEO. In addition, American has many women executives in operational and revenue positions positions including Evita Garces, vice president line maintenance and Jessica Tyler, president-cargo and vice president operations innovation & delivery. Delta has Michelle Horn, SVP & chief strategy officer and Alicia Tillman, Chief Marketing Officer. A list of women executives in aviation, aerospace and defense can be found here.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Raising pay and benefits to attract and retain more male flight attendants sends the message and it was okay to underpay and under-benefit female flight attendants, teachers, nurses. The idea for the shift at airlines to recruiting males, however, was to benefit everyone which was successful even if it represented a back-handed complement.
Years ago, I wrote a two-part series on what women pilots were seeking in terms of equity. A point those I interviewed made was the accommodations they were requesting were not just for women pilots but would benefit male pilots, too. “It’s counterproductive to ask for special treatment, based on gender,” they told me. “We don’t want special treatment we want the same for everyone.”
ALPA had opposed any changes to work rules seeing it as a women’s issue while women saw it the way Aheart sees it – as a fairness issue. Similarly, in surveys men agree that the cultural bias we experience is a woman’s problem and they have no role in fixing it. But women did not form the current culture, men did. Even so, our male colleagues are telling women they are expected to solve the disconnect between treatment, pay and equity. That makes no sense.
What ALPA failed to take into consideration was the workforce was rapidly changing to put higher value on work/life balance than on pay. ALPA surveyed its members and found all pilots favored the work rule changes. Its representative ran up to me at a conference and excitedly told me about the change.
“So,” I told him, “let me get this straight. Now that men have given you permission to change the work rules women pilots have been seeking for decades, you are going to make changes?”
Photo Credit: Detroit Free Press — Michigan Reclaims Rosie the Riveter Record
While he insisted that is not how it was, it was clear ALPA was saying women pilots didn’t matter. Only male pilots mattered and now that male pilots wanted to the same accommodations, it would act. What is interesting is that work rule changes were touted in all the latest contracts but not one company or union has defined those changes.
So, we must address culture to create one that invites everyone under the tent and makes them comfortable. It is not what aviation has today but if we ignore the politics and restore the true meaning of DEI – diversity of thought and experience – we will be better for it. Still, we cannot ignore the imbalances Perry Bacon pointed out in The Washington Post because they exist because of the culture and business practices that have been in place for centuries.
I was honored to give the commencement address for the 99th Squadron and, as we recover from the election, I believe we must realize DEI cannot fail. Too much is on our side. I hope you’ll spread the message far and wide.
Key Takeaways: Here’s what we need to know today, right now. Diversity, equity ad inclusion are important to nearly 80% of Americans. You cannot turn back that tide.
You must also know, right now, today, the fact remains study after study shows diversity – reflecting society in your workforce and culture – is key to company success. Selfishly, at the very least, it is for our own good. Socially, it is the right thing to do.
If those who oppose Affirmative Action really cared about being judged on merit, they would be fighting tooth an nail for Equal Opportunity. They are working to make their companies and our country to fail.
Recently, I was given the honor of addressing the commencement of the 99th Squadron, a group of 11 kids graduating from its youth ground school; kids who will go on to make a difference the aviation/aerospace industry simply by their presence. The commencement honored Flight Officer Daniel Keel, who at 102, is a veteran of Tuskegee Airmen, 477th Bombardment Group (45-G-TE), who was guest of honor.
The Daniel Keel Cohort of the 99th Squadron. The class include one girl — Ava Hernandez — front row right.
It was the fifth cohort to for the youth ground school program at the 99th Squadron which has touched the lives of 42 since lauching in 2020.
As we recover from the national election, I thought my commencement message should be spread beyond my small community here on the Space Coast of Florida.
That message is DEI will not fail simply because demographics and society are on our side and the workforce is where we will make a difference.
As I looked out on the small class, a miniscule drop in a vast ocean of what must be accomplished, it gave me hope for the future because I know it will have a mighty impact. This class, and others like it, is the leading edge of change that has long been overdue in this industry.
I’ve become an expert on workforce issues in the last decade, having reported on the workforce shortages and the challenges for corporate America why we have failed to populate our companies and production lines after 30 years of investment and trying. I’ve also covered the shift from college to trade schools and the changes to higher education demanded by industry. Finally, there is the impact of millennials, Gen Z and, now, Alpha, in the workplace and the shift to a more inclusive industry. We are decidedly not there yet but these young people will be part of it.
The generations that came along since the millennials get a bad rap for what they don’t know about how to be on the job but I don’t buy it. What I hear from employers about the lack of discipline in Gen Z and beyond, I see as their failure in training. I see what I call “Millennials +” as forcing change – changes to the work rules, changes in diversity, changes in society – that we have long needed, and which have been beyond our grasp since I entered the workforce.
The Daniel Keel Cohort with members of the previous four cohorts.
At the commencement, I spoke about navigating a future that has become oh so much more controversial than it was even a decade ago. I also played the race card – talking about diversity, equity and inclusion as it should be discussed because I expect it to shadow us for a long time.
99th Squadron Leader Ramone Hemphill with Tuskegee Airman Daniel Keel and his daughter
These organizations and many others are not waiting for government because we now it is too dysfunctional. They have their own agency which keeps them focused on their mission of providing opportunities for underrepresented youth.
In short, their young charges are part of a movement just as it is a movement for women and minorities at the dawn of Affirmative Action. But because we are tilting at an entrenched culture, we must have a toolkit to help us fight the good fight.
The Culture
The Congressionally mandated Women in Aviation Advisory Board cited culture as the number one problem for attracting and retaining women in aviation. And, if it true for women, it is also true for other minorities because it is the same culture.
I came to this speech after 40 years as an aviation journalist at the leading edge of the massive influx of women in the workforce. So, my reflections are the experience of a woman who faced the same culture these young people do, a culture of white male dominance. It is sad, but true, that dominance now how power. If you have an appreciation for history, you know the story line that women were given the vote, that women were given their place in the workforce, management ranks and the C-Suite.
And here’s my first lesson.
We were not given anything. We earned it.
The ceremony was attended by local Tuskegee Airmen and others working to bring underrepresnted communities into aviation and aerospace.
Programs such as the 99th Squadron only revealed the possibility of a future these youngsters may not have otherwise thought of. When they took that first step with the squadron, they earned their place in aviation. And they’ll keep on earning it with every rung up the ladder.
Talking Nasty
My speech also covered the nasty neanderthals I’ve met along the way – the ones who shout, argue, put people down and fight for the status quo. A lot of them are pilots. Know this, I told graduates, they are small, pathetic, insecure little people who don’t have any confidence they deserve to be where they are, and they’ll try to take it out on you. In fact, their actions actually constitute a huge threat to improving aviation safety because they reject the basic tenants of crew resource management.
Yes, this isn’t some feel-good movement. This is about aviation safety. Full stop.
I’ve faced a lot of them in my career and, of course, my first reaction was, what is wrong with me. It – whatever it was – was my fault. But if we remember they are tiny, pathetic and insecure it will help us know that it’s them not us. That’s important to know. When we face such adversity, question everything. Is it them not you? If there is truth in what they say, learn from it. If not, know you will follow your own path…and succeed. There’s a lot of grit to be gained from adversity.
Diversity
Here’s what we need to know today, right now. Diversity and inclusion are important to nearly 80% of Americans. You cannot turn back that tide.
Genesis Santana and Laura Pentoja, aviation maintenance graduates of Aviation High School, Queens, NY
You know the stats. About 6% of pilots are women. Blacks make up, what 3.4%? The record is more dismal of AMTs. As for the C-Suite, women only account for 15% but what is it if you don’t count the female ghettos of human resources and public/government/communications relations?
But really it is not just about pilots. It’s about the entire aviation/aerospace workforce whether they sit in front of a computer or behind a wrench.
Giving DEI a Bad Name
DEI has been recast as bad by those who want to keep the status quo in the name of “fairness” to be judged on their “merit.” They think Affirmative Action is unfair and got the Supreme Court to agree. Never mind the unfairness of the last 500 years. That doesn’t count to them.
I reject the rebranding of DEI as bad, out of hand and proudly use diversity, equity and inclusion when discussing changing the culture and the workplace. The mission does not need rebranding, as HR professionals suggest as they pull back from their promises to the Black Lives Matter movement, to satisfy a tiny fraction of people who think Affirmative Action is unfair.
You must also know, right now, today, the fact remains study after study shows diversity – reflecting society in your workforce and culture – is key to company success. Selfishly, at the very least, it is for our own good. Socially, it is the right thing to do.
So, turn that argument about fairness from those who oppose Affirmative Action on its head and you’ll understand how laughable it really is. People who fight diversity are saying they don’t want their company or country to succeed.
When I see pushback on DEI, I double down. I challenge opponents to really describe how unfair affirmative action is. They won’t or, as I suspect, they can’t. If they really wanted to talk about fairness and merit, they would be fighting tooth and nail for equal opportunity. Only when we have equal opportunity can they be judged on merit. Otherwise, they are just continuing to ride on the advantages of being white and male. That’s not being judged on merit at all. This is not a zero-sum game. Affording equal opportunity does not mean someone else loses. It means we will get better, lead more enriched lives, and be more successful.
We are not asking for special treatment. Special treatment is, in fact, counterproductive for the cause. We are asking for equal treatment and there is nothing wrong with that because that’s what those who oppose us say they want. Well, let’s give it to them by demanding equal opportunity.
Demographics Are in Our Favor
Credit: Shutterstock
Here’s where demographics come in. The reality is that we do not have enough white males to go around anymore and we cannot automate our way through our workforce shortages. We MUST widen the aperture of our pipeline to include those who never thought of aviation as a career option if they thought about aviation at all. Otherwise, this industry will fail. This was my second lesson.
These young people are critically important to the success of aviation and aerospace.
The pilot shortage coupled with the pandemic taught us one thing. Airlines cannot grow without a workforce to support its operations whether that workforce is on the flight deck, the maintenance bay or the C-Suite. So, increasing the pilot population is critical to the growth of the industry and those who don’t want to see change don’t want to see their companies or our country succeed. Simple as that. That’s the big picture.
Without these young people, and those like them, we fail.
Luxury of a Well-Lived Career
I post a lot on LinkedIn and I hope you’ll follow me because I have the luxury to say what others can’t. For my readers, I call it lurk and learn. A lot my posts are on aviation’s culture and building the aviation/aerospace workforce and I must be doing something right because I’ve organically a following of thousands and I constantly get notifications say my posts reach in the tens of thousands. I started by fighting the 1500-hour rule which was specifically designed to create a pilot shortage and was, in fact, counterproductive to safety but that’s another story. I’d get a lot of pilots attacking me because I was challenging the union line.
But they were shooting the messenger because I was using arguments against the rule put forth by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Flight Safety Foundation, the Royal Aeronautical Society and indeed other senior pilots who knew the 1500-hour rule was specifically to cause a pilot shortage. In other words, I did my homework, and I did not listen to unions or airlines because I was suspicious of their agendas.
So, when I was attacked personally, I knew they didn’t really care about safety, and I said so. When they refused to engage intellectually, argue on the merits of the issue, I developed a comeback that has helped me navigate this world because our society and our politics.
“I know I’m dealing with a towering intellect when all you can do is personally attack me rather than debating me on the facts.” I’ve found it pretty useful. It shut a lot of them up, but it converted a lot more because they actually cared about aviation safety and realized they were listening to safety experts through my loudspeaker.
Mae Jemison, first African American woman to travel in space, 1992
Perhaps you are not at a place where you can actually say it out loud, but even if you only say it to yourself it helps to put their comments into context with reality.
Aviation/Aerospace: A Great Career on the Cusp of Being Made Better
As I said, these young people are the hope for the future. With them, and their Millennial + counterparts, they will be pushing the boundaries of workforce policies to recognize workers are not cogs in a wheel but humans whose personal life success must equal that of what they contribute to a company. They will be forming a much healthier work-life environment.
I ended my speech with concrete advice on the road to success including the importance of networking and the fact they are already full-fledged members of the aviation industry by taking that first step to take their wings. I also discussed building bridges within the company and finding allies who are not afraid to speak out at neanderthal comments because they know it hurts the team. Thank you for that, Lane Wallace.
I spoke about the importance of paying it forward and, politics aside, the worst thing that has happened to society in my lifetime is the Me Generation. Never let it be all about you, I told them. It’s not how I was raised but is how society is now. As you rise through your career and in life, take every opportunity to reach back and bring someone else along. All you need is the Golden Rule.
Don’t let them isolate you, I told them. When something happens, companies and societies turn it on you – blame you, say you are the only one experiencing whatever it is. Find your tribe and examine what is happening to you within that context. Those who would stop us, start by isolating us, gaslighting us into questioning our beliefs. A tribe will help us find the truth and what it means to our circumstances.
And, I told them to have a plan B because they will have at least four furlough-inducing events during their piloting career – once a decade before 2000. Since 2000 we’ve had four – dot.com bust, 9/11, Great Recession and Covid. What’s your plan B, I asked.
Credit: Fly for the Culture
So, what if you wash out. What if you lose your medical? There’s a lot beyond your control and the system is corrupt. Commercial piloting is not for everyone. My criticism of flight schools is they just let you go instead of walking you across the field and introducing you to their network of flight dispatchers, air traffic controllers or other professions. If they won’t do it, I said, you walk across the field and explore other aviation careers. Even if you start as a gate agent or ramp rat you can rise through the ranks. Just know whatever you do, there’s a place for you in aviation and thousands of careers.
I concluded with the two inspirations that have guided me my entire life.
First: You learn more from those who challenge you than all those who pat you on the back combined. Don’t take it personally. Examine it for truth. Learn from it. Evolve and be better.
I’ve faced some tough times in my career and, if I’ve learned anything, it is this:
When you have come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, know one of two things will happen. There will be something solid on which to stand…or you will be taught to fly. — O.R. Melling, The Summer King.
I’ve earned my metaphorical wings and so will that.
While many corporate workforce development programs focus on universities or poaching employees from each other. Others target high schools but it has long been acknowledged the industry needs to target very young kids.
That is exactly what RTX – parent company to Collins Aerospace, Raytheon and Pratt & Whitney – is doing with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) by investing in the first-of-its-kind STEM curriculum at clubs nationwide.
Its reach is massive – over 5400 clubs and over three million youth.
The curriculum is a game changer, according to Dr. Michael Kennedy, research professor and director of Science in Society at Northwestern University. Kennedy’s team developed the new curriculum and staff training model to reflect best practices in STEM teaching and learning. He explained it brings a new style of instruction which is being tested over the next three years to establish the efficacy of a holistic STEM Club Model for youth.
“Research tells us that students learn best when they are deeply engaged in the practices of science and engineering,” he told FAAW News noting his team developed the new curriculum and staff training model.
“Rather than having an instructor tell students what to do, they need to be challenged to figure it out themselves,” he explained. “The instructor’s role shifts from being a sage on the stage to a guide on the side. Boys & Girls Club staff don’t need deep STEM content knowledge to effectively facilitate student learning. The students’ own experimental results and collaborative sense-making will lead them to the ‘facts.’ For staff members, it’s learning this new pedagogical approach and building their identities as science educators.”
Indeed, part of the goal of expanding the pipeline, as RTX is doing, is to increase the accessibility and the curriculum by addressing real-world problems kids encounter every day. The model is being tested over the next three years to establish the efficacy of a holistic STEM Club Model for youth.
Workforce of the Future
Kristy Becerra, senior director of Corporate Social Responsibility at RTX, defined the skills under development with its new program with BGCA, skills needed in the workforce of the future.
“We need technical skills and an understanding of basic engineering principles,” she said. “But, as important, is having critical thinking, collaboration and problem-solving skills to complement the technical knowledge. To solve the important problems of the future. You need collaboration and a passion for problem solving. It also takes leadership skills and a strong sense of empathy to really understand the experience around you and be motivated to find solutions. The curriculum gives participants all these skills.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington youth and RTX employees celebrate the national launch of a new, first-of-its-kind DIY STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum, rolling out across all Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide by the end of 2023. The program, made possible by RTX and in collaboration with Northwestern University, empowers youth to explore STEM learning in an impactful and culturally relevant way, guided by their own curiosity, problem solving and team work on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 in Washington. (Joy Asico/AP Images for BGCA)
“This is how we at RTX are considering future talent,” Becerra continued. “We know that late elementary school and middle school are critical periods especially for kids who are starting to feel excited and have confidence they can do STEM. We also strongly believe in making high quality STEM programs accessible to students from all backgrounds. And beyond programs and curriculum, we want our employees out there mentoring students and showing them career pathways and opportunities. We show them that, with persistence, they can build a career in technology or engineering. The only way to close the STEM gap in the future is widening the pipeline with those who would otherwise not have access to these careers.”
Becerra outlined the rising demand for STEM expertise. “You’ve probably seen the statistics from the labor bureau showing STEM jobs will rise by 11% by 2031 which is five times that of non-STEM careers,” she continued. “Some careers, like computer science and engineering, have a faster rate of growth and we’re reaching an inflection point. RTX realized that if it didn’t look ahead, fielding STEM talent will be an increasing challenge. It feels like a crisis. Our goal was the make technology and engineering exciting and accessible and get employees involved. It just takes one spark to make a difference in a young person’s life. We are finding students who don’t have access and who are in under-resourced communities need to develop a passion for STEM much earlier in their education. The question then becomes how we bring scale to bear for high quality STEM education and working with BGCA was our answer.”
By widening the aperture, the industry naturally becomes more diverse because it taps those who otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to STEM careers. The aperture also includes diversity no one really thinks about – economic diversity.
“Even BGCA clubs that don’t have the cash flow for STEM kits, are enabled to do DIY STEM,” said Becerra, who indicated getting employees involved was a force multiplier. “Our employees want to do more in their communities. Any employee can take what we offer and go to their local club and meet with students. It is a way for us to increase employee volunteerism because we always need more legs to get it to other clubs. We have 180,000 employees and that’s a big network to bring this curriculum to Boys & Girls Clubs.”
Long History with BGCA
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington youth and RTX employees celebrate the national launch of a new, first-of-its-kind DIY STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum, rolling out across all Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide by the end of 2023. The program, made possible by RTX and in collaboration with Northwestern University, empowers youth to explore STEM learning in an impactful and culturally relevant way, guided by their own curiosity, problem solving and team work on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 in Washington. (Joy Asico/AP Images for BGCA)
RTX has been a longstanding supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, including funding Centers of Innovation for Clubs across 22 sites globally. RTX also supports about 35 BGCA clubs in its communities. In addition, it is the title sponsor for the RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals, in partnership with The Henry Ford Museum in which participants must identify a problem that doesn’t have a solution and invent something to solve it. In addition, it supports Girls Who Code to get girls from elementary to high school into coding and robotics, all much needed skills for now and into the future.
“We want to know what is working, where the gaps are,” Becerra said of its efforts to establish efficacy for its programming. “We know there won’t be a silver bullet, and we will undergo an evolution over time, but I think the results will be exciting and enable us to plug in other elements to the BGCA model. It is not just another STEM kit. We are taking everyday problems the kids experience in their own lives and teaching them the critical thinking and problem solving and collaboration to build solutions.
Important Strategic STEM Partner
“The idea is building the resources and developing the teaching models and expecting certain outcomes and this program is testing that,” explained Susan Ciavolino, director of programs and innovation for BGCA. “It encompasses the sum total of all their experiences – field trips, curriculum and reinforcing relationships with each other and industry partners. We expect to show how outcomes are affected by the quality, the staff and the support along with how it impacts a child’s academic performance and career interest. We want to ensure young people find their place in the community and emphasize career development and exploration. We ensure we have role models who look like them who can explain what they can be doing in the future.”
RTX Boys & Girls Clubs of America STEM Program
The curriculum is all about real-world science, added Northwestern’s Kennedy. “When they work collaboratively to explain a scientific phenomemon, they learn how science happens,” he said. “New discoveries most often result from scientists in several disciplines working together. It’s not just one person. It’s the team growing with one another that ultimately makes those breakthroughs.”
Interdisciplinary education and work is a key concept for future workforce as it evolves. Employers are wanting super employees trained across disciplines to enable faster communication and understanding across team members. The military has already started this cross-disciplinary collaboration as critical for success and the Utah Valley University cited a demand for super maintenance employees able to work throughout the aircraft four years ago.
Ciavolino agreed with Kennedy when she said: “This is a hands-on, minds-on program,” she explained. “It puts kids in charge of learning. They are put into teams, and each is assigned a role giving them responsibility for both the project and the team. That makes them feel differently which is an important part of learning and helps them define their own experience. It also gives them the skills they can take to pursue aviation and aerospace careers. Today, STEM can be intimidating but this program makes them feel welcome and makes science and math more accessible. If we are going to change the mindset to be open to STEM careers, it will take a concerted effort.”
Kennedy also explained it upends traditional science teaching. “What is exciting is how Boys & Girls Clubs are rethinking how science and math is done,” he told FAAW News. “Science is normally taught as a set of disconnected facts and recipe experiments. But that is not how scientists work. Scientists seek to explain our natural world through experiments they design. They collaborate and share their knowledge with each other. Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s student-centered approach is authentic to how science is done. Students ask the questions, develop the experiments and collaboratively figure it out. When you see it in action, club kids’ experiments and creativity are really impressive.”
Program Success is Measured in Pursuit of Careers
While this RTX program is new, what the national youth organization has been doing since 2012 is clearly working. “Providing an open, inviting environment shows the progress we are making,” said Ciavolino (right). “According to Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2024 Youth Right Now Survey, nearly half (48%) of young people say they would like to have a STEM-related job in the future. The survey also found 82% of youth say they like to participate in science projects and 79% say they are curious to learn more about science, computers or technology.”
The BGCA initiative, in partnership with RTX, includes staff training on the curriculum, according to Kennedy.
“This is significant because STEM can be as intimidating to adults as it is for kids,” Kennedy told FAAW News. “Importantly, the program reinforces the idea that STEM is a career option for everyone, a key to widening the pipeline. The series of four modules, each with three or four sessions, reinforces lessons by returning to various concepts three or four times.”
One unit is aligned with principles or lift, materials and trajectories while other units emphasized principles very core to aviation, said Kennedy.
“This program is all about empowerment,” said Kennedy. “It is interdisciplinary, student-centered learning. In one unit, students learn concepts of air pressure and forces – that air has mass. It takes force to push an object up or make an object fall. In a second unit, centered on the engineering design process, students design and test paper airplanes comprised of different materials and wing structures. Additional units explore circuitry and electricity, including application of these concepts to build a novel electronic game.
“These are not recipe-based curricula,” Kennedy continued. “All of the questions, experiments, and engineering challenges are student-led. This approach builds kids’ STEM identity – a core self-perception that directly leads to STEM careers. The middle school years are a critical period. If kids enter high school with the idea that STEM is for them, they are two-to-three-times more likely to end up in a STEM career.”
Nor is STEM new for BGCA, according to Ciavolino, who said the national office has been developing culturally responsive programming including all things space, aeronautics and aviation since 2012. RTX previously had a STEM competition on paper airplanes which prompted employees to want to be part of the company’s next-generation workforce efforts.
RTX is a Model to Copy
RTX STEM Program with Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Today, companies are taking many approaches to the workforce with a handful of curricula from CorePlus in the Pacific Northwest and Choose Aerospace from the Aviation Technical Education Council which is teaming with the AOPA Foundation’s High School STEM curriculum to connect kids to STEM using aviation.
By focusing on younger kids, RTX is building a long-tail pipeline and creating an aviation/aerospace education ecosystem to bring together industry and educators to solve workforce shortages once and for all.
Despite millions in workforce development investment by industry over the last 30 years, industry remains on the sidelines of this trend and its participation is necessary to highlight the gaps to achieving a career-ready workforce, and help educators and government develop programs needed to provide it.
One of industry’s greatest failures is working in silos which is a huge barrier to creating the K-Career pipeline. There is now a nationwide trend toward the creation of regional networks that include all stakeholders — government economic and workforce development officials teaming with K-Collegiate and nonprofit STEAM educators to increase the visibility of technical careers. Industry is largely AWOL or working within corporate confines.
There are remarkable programs that have already reached maturity such as the National Business Aviation Association student initiative which opens up its annual block-buster convention to high school and collegiate students, another model to be copied.
RTX is not alone in connecting the dots between local educators and industry. Airlines are fielding cadet programs and partnering with training professionals to address the pilot and aviation maintenance technician shortages. Maintenance Repair and Overhaul companies such as Duncan Aviation and West Star Aviation have developed their own AMT training programs designed to deliver a ready-to-work employee right out of high school. Regional networks are forming to collaborate on meeting industry needs.
But most of the focus is on older kids. What is needed is the programming and support to not only spark an interest in aviation/aerospace in young kids but the supports to ensure we don’t lose them if they don’t know what the next step is as they transition throughout their education.
In fact there are hundreds of aviation/aerospace non-profit programs throughout the nation. But we must connect the dots with industry workforce development efforts to create the K-Career Aviation/Aerospace Education Ecosystem needed.
Clearly, RTX is ahead of the power curve on early youth education and its partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America is a game changer in more ways than just creating a new curriculum and teaching method. It is connecting the dots for the future workforce.
The aviation and aerospace industries are woefully behind the power curve when it comes to promoting aviation/aerospace careers, as evidenced by small participation at the American School Counselors Association (ASCA), a notoriously difficult, but critical, group to reach.
The industry has been talking about approaching school counselors for years and rather than nod again for the umpteenth year, I decided to check it out.
Future and Active Pilot Advisors (FAPA) for years organized an “Aviation Row” at the conference intended to educate the counselors about all aviation careers and sold out the entire row of 16 one year. The organization passed this year because of changes to ASCA’s policies. FAPA is also the only organization, to my knowledge, to have a School Counselor page on its website. But here again we are too siloed. We need to discuss all the careers not just mention flight dispatchers, airport executives, designers, air traffic controllers, aircraft manufacturing, cybersecurity and IT specialists in passing.
“School counselors are one of the top sources of information for students on career requirements,” said Exhibitor Dawn Vinson, executive director of the University Aviation Association, who added the UAA booth was keep very busy throughout the four-day conference. “We had lots of good questions and found counselors had no idea about aviation careers. Unfortunately, students may not receive accurate information to assist in career decisions. Our industry must continue to expand our support of schools and STEM programs during the critical elementary school years. We must also engage with career counselors to expand their awareness of the broad spectrum of careers and education opportunities available across aviation. They have the capability to be change agents for students’ lives. In addition, they may encourage a diverse population of students to pursue aviation by providing information and tools.”
We Must Compete
Aviation and aerospace are not the only industries facing workforce shortages. We must compete in an arena we know little about – Career School Counselors who start career awareness before kids even get to school. I’ve been preaching this for years since I was hooked at age five. While many wonderful programs, such as AOPA Foundation High School Curriculum and EAA’s online courses, have been created along with New England-based Aerospace Component Manufacturers Association high school curriculum and annual career fair focused on manufacturing. There is little for the elementary level and it is here, say counselors, kids begin to explore careers.
“Kids discover careers much earlier than we target them,” said Kasey Dixon on LinkedIn. “Research actually shows that gender norms become established aroind 6-8 years old! This means we are massively alienating a huge future workforce by not ensuring young girls (in particular) are being reached before they’ve been conditioned to think aviation is ‘mens work’.”
Overwhelmed by Other Trades
There were only five aviation entities in attendance at ASCA but it seemed every other profession was there to educate school counselors on their industries and help them promote their jobs to kids.
The conference was in Atlanta so naturally Delta was a big sponsor and had a booth discussing only pilot and aviation technology careers. It also had an education session attended by perhaps 25 counselors who seemed knowledgeable about pilot and tech careers. But its presentation was woefully inadequate to other disciplines including air traffic controllers, flight dispatchers, manufacturing and host of other disciplines that are never mentioned when discussing shortages except in industry circles. ALPA and US Aviation Academy were also there along with the National Business Aviation Association and the Universal Technical Institute, a member of the Aviation Technical Education Council. Aerospace was completely absent.
NBAA’s Business Aviation Insider Student Edition had this great graphic indicating aviation and aerospace careers are more than pilots and maintenance techs.
NBAA Regional Director Southeast Gregory Voos said ASCA was worth it. “Overall, the conference is a worthwhile event,” he told Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce News. “About 20 stopped by each day. I’ve had few follow-up communications already as a result of the event. Anytime we can get the word out about our industry we must take that opportunity. Our organizations all have unique strengths that should be leveraged to address the workforce challenge.”
US Aviation Academy Vice President Business Development Scott Sykes agrees.
“Counselors were interested, and we talked to about 100 individuals including some vendors,” he said. “They were generally aware of aviation careers from the news but had little idea how to get into them. Some knew of local colleges, but few had any idea about vocational training paths. Even those who knew of aviation colleges, didn’t really understand the career opportunities, training costs, and overall pathway.
“I agree the industry needs to get involved! There is a lot of opportunity out there,” he continued. “I use my position as board member of Flight Schools Association of North America and Aviation Technical Education Council extensively just to promote aviation as a whole and offer advice on schools that may be nearby the counselor’s respective district. We also did some work promoting Choose Aerospace and its scholarships.”
Meanwhile, there were a dozen sessions on what school career counselors do and how they can develop effective career-development programs. I attended them all.
Aviation, Aerospace Way Behind
As I walked the exhibit floor, it was clear aviation and aerospace didn’t have a clue on the importance of this event. I found an entire section devoted to the building trades with individual booths from the carpenters’ union, fire sprinkler industry, HVAC, plumbing, plasterers, sheet metal workers, bricklayers, roofers and electrical contractors. Other industries included architects, opticians, jewelers, surveying, pharmacy, cybersecurity, physician assistants, trucking, actuaries, maritime and even the RV industry which is competing with us for maintenance techs and manufacturing. Then there is the military with all branches presenting and sponsoring events. There was even a booth for the $24 billion event/trade show exhibit makers which has more than three million jobs for designers, videographers, interior designers, graphic designers, electricians, welders, painters.
Earn While You Learn
Speaking of competing. Building trades unions have earn-while-you-learn programs paying for the training so there is no cost barrier to join the industry as we have in aviation. One told me current union members fund this and then, once the students enter the career, they pay it forward. The message to counselors is they can join the industry with free certification education. The closest we get is the AOPA Foundation curriculum but, even here, aspiring pilots still face hundreds of thousands of dollars in training to get to the right seat. Meanwhile its aviation maintenance track goes a long way to get them into the workforce.
Pipefitters, HVACR Service Techs, Steamfitters, Sprinkler Fitters, Welders & Pipeliners Union was part of North America’s Building Trades Union section at the American School Counselors Association. Photo Credit: Kathryn B. Creedy
For credentialed professions such as aviation maintenance technicians and flight dispatchers, the aviation industry needs to compete by funding both training and the testing for their certification, a huge reason our AMT graduates gravitate toward theme parks and other disciplines who need maintenance technicians. The $250,000 in flight training costs for pilots is a tougher nut to crack but given how unions are funding the next generation of workers in other fields, this is something we need to figure out. Airlines meanwhile are fronting the costs for a select few but requiring the loan to be paid back while other trades are touting their students come out debt free.
“While you want to engage with counselors, the financial investment required for aviation careers is an eyebrow raiser,” noted Rikeshia D. in response to my first LinkedIn Post about the conference. “From the aviation perspective, until funding and scholarships are more accessible there will be understandable hesitance from schools. Exploratory, hands-on programs for students are a smart investment on behalf of aviation companies.”
Canadian-based Lori Payne, co-founder and president of Project Blue World, agreed. “We need to set up apprenticeship opportunities for our youth in every province and state,” she posted on LinkedIn. “Let’s add AMEs and all the sub-categories, engine technicians, propeller techs, avionics, accessories, painters, test technicians and all the business-related jobs such as customer service reps, accountants, purchasers, planners, fleet maintenance engineers, repair technicians…let’s get kids involved!”
ASCA exhibitors are poaching potential employees who could work in aviation because school counselors don’t know about aviation and aerospace. All these professions are investing in educating school counselors so why isn’t aviation and aerospace?
Welders channel Rosie the Riviter in its brochures. Photo Credit: Kathryn B. Creedy
Diversity groups were there as well with Career Girls and Distinguished Young Women promoting more women in STEM and developing programs to achieve those goals. They could be working with Women in Aviation International, Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance, Women in Aerospace, Women and Drones, Women Military Aviators, the 99s, Sisters of the Skies, and Aviation Women Inspiring the Next Generation (AWING) to promote women in aviation careers. Together, we could be a force multiplier and attract more women to aviation and aerospace in the bargain. Imagine what would happen if we combined the efforts of Career Girls, Distinguished Young Women and Women in Aviation’s Girls in Aviation Day!
Industry-Wide Participation
Since school counselors are hard to reach, we cannot leave it to these few entities to promote aviation and aerospace careers. ASCA has a scholarly magazine, but it does not publish the kind of articles we need school counselors to read. The ASCA conference is really the only way to approach school counselors with effective messaging.
We need an industry-wide push to define all careers, develop the content, videos and website school counselors can reference to help them help us. If we want to reach the students, we need to raise the awareness of our careers amongst school counselors who already recommend tech schools to students.
More importantly, school counselors are already working with a host of exhibitor companies that have developed career information platforms including Xello, Pathful, Major Clarity, SkillPointe, and Skilled Career Coalition. They already have at least two aviation careers as I scrolled through their programs. One highlighted an Alaska Airlines female captain – extra points for that – and the other was an aerospace engineer. We need to ensure they have the entire menu aviation and aerospace careers and how to get to them. Worktour makes day-in-the-life videos for different professions while Skilljam has a docuseries premiering this fall. It’s America’s Dirtiest Jobs for the rest of us.
Questions from school counselors included whether we had any programs for the disabled and I was able to tell them yes. Since the conference, I have shared Mitre, NGA, Feds Launch Neurodiversity Pilot Program with counselors I met. In addition, there is Able Flight focusing on connecting people with disabilities to the challenges of flight and aviation career training. We must leave no one behind.
We do not have to reinvent the wheel. We just need to copy what other professions are doing and work with these companies to incorporate aviation and aerospace careers into the school counselor career portfolio starting in Pre-K. This is important because counselors were excited when I began discussing aviation careers. They asked if there were a website that put all the information together in one place. Nope, although FAA has one that needs to be more TikTok. So, that should be our top priority a one-stop-shop for information on aviation and aerospace careers, for aviation education programs and for corporations who need employees.
The Aerospace Education Program Alliance and Shaesta Waiz’s Dream Soar both have a one-stop-shop website as a mandate. We need it yesterday, according to school counselors. I have a list of aviation/aerospace education programs on my website, but hundreds of programs need to be added to make it complete and it needs to be organized by state.
Everyone agrees such a thing is needed but how do we get there? Who’s going to pay for it? And can we work together beyond our parochialism to make it happen?
Piquing Their Interest
School counselors don’t promote industries to kids. They educate kids using the tools mentioned above about careers and then spend time getting to know their interests. It’s really a dating game. They match those interests to careers but if they don’t know about aviation/aerospace careers there are no matches. Elementary school counselors then hand off to their counterparts in middle and high school who build on each other’s lessons to develop ambitions in the kids and teach them what they need to achieve their goals.
FAPA indicated school counselors are hungry for information. “Our presentations about the pilot profession were always standing room only,” said Smith. “In the past, we would produce a drawing and give away two free round-trip airline tickets for the winner to attend ASCA in the subsequent year. The airlines (Southwest, American & Piedmont, etc.) would usually provide those to us. ASCA officials would announce the drawing for free tickets at some of their large gatherings and encourage attendees to stop by Aviation Row to register. To register for the free tickets, counselors were required to visit each vendor in Aviation Row. It worked very well for everyone. The counselors loved Aviation Row and the ticket drawing, and ASCA would announce the winners at their closing presentation for all the counselors.”
Smith explained FAPA’s absence this year citing changing ASCA policies. “We wanted to establish Aviation Row as we have in the past,” he reported. “In the past, ASCA would provide FAPA a complimentary booth at the head of the Aviation Row, and we would solicit appropriate aviation companies to purchase a booth. ASCA would provide a discount on the booth prices since we were selling them for ASCA without any commission, just a 10 x 10 booth. It was a lot of work for us but enjoyable. The new ASCA conference organizers refused to collaborate with FAPA on any of our initiatives this year. Since the show is a no-revenue event for us and is basically an act of charity and good PR, we decided we will return to ASCA when they return to their senses.”
In response, ASCA said it does not discount exhibit and/or sponsorship pricing.
What is An Aviation Career?
NASAO and FAI Sponsor an Aviation Art Contest annually. Credit: NASAO
We must also broaden the definition of aviation career. I’ve used social media for years to promote aviation careers because we don’t know where artists, fashionistas, designers and school tinkerers will eventually end up when matching their interest to aviation and aerospace. For instance:
Interested in art? There’s a place for you in aviation. Airlines and airports need art curators for their lounges and concourses.
Interested in animals? There’s a place for you in aviation. Cargo carriers and business aviation companies have animal wranglers responsible for everything from pandas to quarter horses while airports have Arks to take care of traveling pets and other animals.
Credit: Embraer Executive Jets
Interested in interior design? There’s a place for you in aviation. Aircraft manufacturers need interior designers.
Interested in being a chef? There’s a place for you in aviation. Inflight airline and business aviation service is a very important part of success.
Aviation & Aerospace Must Be More Strategic
Career promotion in aviation and aerospace is very siloed. Everyone promotes their own sector as well they should. But that ignores the fact we need to put parochial interests aside in favor of creating content from the 35,000-foot level before we can help students navigate to a particular aviation/aerospace industry runway. We need to attract them to aviation and aerospace first. It is only then we can break down the different sectors and careers to help them narrow their choices and funnel them into airlines, business aviation, manufacturing.
Can the aviation groups in Washington chip in to create and fund developing what is needed for those ASCA exhibitors who already work with career counselors?
Aviation and aerospace largely rely on someone else to do the heavy lifting including the ponderous federal government and Congress. We are seeing an increase in FAA’s Workforce Development Grants working its way through the reauthorization process but there are thousands of deserving programs. Those efforts must continue but in order to compete, it is clear the industry must do more.
Will it pony up to create faster and nimbler programs on our own or continue to struggle waiting for the government or Congress?
As for me, I’m already tuned in to the aviation education community but welcome more connections. I plan to discuss my experience at ASCA with those I already know in hopes of creating a coalition to create the content we need, work with the career platforms and link to ASCA. Our aviation and aerospace associations alone are pretty powerful.
But it is clear industry career awareness efforts needs to pivot. Join me – kcreedy@kathrynbcreedy.com or on LinkedIn and Facebook where I post about aviation and aerospace workforce issues and reach out to aviation student organizations.
Massive increase in funding for education and aviation/aerospace career promotion and education
Recommendations on a variety of funding mechanisms including user fees
K-12 content creation for libraries, parents, teachers, guidance counselors
Development of aviation-related games and social media
Launching aviation/aerospace promotion programs as early as possible
Single website for all aviation/aerospace related resources and information
Dual enrollment programs for simultaneous high school and college
Stackable credentialling
Mentoring and career coaching from school through career
Education reform to address affordability
Professional development to teach the teachers about aviation/aerospace careers
National and regional advisory committees to develop and oversee efforts
Congressional action to raising funding to nationwide effort
FAA regulatory reform of aviation-related training programs
Industry cultural reform
The Youth Access to Aviation Jobs in America Task Force (YIATF) set out the herculean tasks needed to turn the great recommendations from its just released report into reality. Reading the YIATF report is as daunting as it is hopeful, but no one said this “moon shot” would be easy.
Yes we can. Women in aviation & aerospace are latter day Rosie the Riverters.
But to get recommendations done will mean industry reform as well since it is one of the biggest obstacles. Industry has called for workforce development programs for years usually pointing at someone else to do the heavy lifting. It, however, must understand we cannot rely on “someone else,” but must gather our forces to what needs to be done ourselves. With its many recommendations, industry must now take up the gauntlet because we know we can do it. All we need is organization.
Private interests from all parts of the industry haven’t waited to create great programs to introduce youngsters to aviation and aerospace, each one recognizing the crisis and asking themselves “what can I do.” The results are incredible and include the National Aviation’s Hall of Fame Learning withOrville and Wilbur done in partnership with PBS and ThinkTV. Industry must have its own political will to do the same.
Task Force Chair Sharon DiVivo acknowledged the difficulties ahead.
“We are not going to solve the workforce shortage by continuing to attract the same people to aviation and aerospace,” she told Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce (FAAW) News. “The answer to solving this problem is attracting and retaining underrepresented populations. This Task Force has provided a roadmap of action that can change the workforce trajectory for our industry now and over the next 20 years. Some of the suggestions we make are doable now such as creating regional and a national advisory council that allow us to collaborate and define activities and pathways to training, higher education and a career. We know that some of the suggestions we made around financially supporting individuals and organizations, a significant barrier to entry, will take industry leadership and Congressional will to change the outcome for the employees of the future.”
The Plan
Recommendations are at once simple and complex. In a nutshell, the Task Force cited a need for content creation for parents, teachers, guidance counselors, libraries and a one-stop, comprehensive industry internet platform for aviation careers and pathways which connects the dots to education and funding. It also called for the creation of aviation-related gaming and social media and a youth advisory committee well-versed in social media influencers and gamers advising on game developers who could fund and develop aviation-and-aerospace, skill-building games. Indeed, we should take a lesson from the military which has long had this recruitment strategy.
“Creating a virtual world that is helpful in all aspects of aviation and aerospace,” the report said, “and connecting industry, schools/training/higher education, organizations, social media influencers, gamers and employment platforms provides families and educators with the information needed to learn more, and intentionally become members of the aviation and aerospace workforce.”
As important, would be a committee on how to achieve a steady stream of education funding which is now so time-consuming and costly. We rely on student loans, Pell Grants and the cumbersome application process for scholarships and federal aid.
At the very least we should be creating a single scholarship application or, better yet, a digital program matching deserving students with scholarships upon school application.
The Task Force recommended expanding dual enrollment programs so students earn college credits while still in high school, popular with students and parents for defraying rising college costs.
It promoted certifications as a strategy to do the same thing. Gaining aviation-related certifications puts high school graduates into a job where they can leverage corporate higher education benefits to gain a college education. Coupled with this, companies must create corporate pathways for rank-and-file employees to pursue degrees as well as mentoring and coaching programs to ensure success.
To that end, the Task Force recommended working with other industry credentialing agencies to develop high-quality, skill certification programs to achieve stackable credentialing programs starting in high school. They would count toward science and math requirements and lead to credit toward the airframe, powerplant or general certificates for aviation maintenance technicians, uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), flight dispatch and other industry recognized credentials.
The Task Force recommended creating mentoring and coaching programs for students and those already in their careers; important for increasing the diversity of the executive suite. Many organizations such as the Aviation Collective already have such programs but connecting students and employees to them on the Task Force’s digital platform makes them more effective.
Building on Current Programs
As FAAW News reported, few realize educators, states, industry associations, manufacturers, aviation museums, corporations, aviation/aerospace technology corridors and individuals have already developed sophisticated curricula, training and workforce development programs that have exposed millions to manufacturing and aviation/aerospace careers. Just the other day the Girl Scouts, which has long had aviation-related badges, announced a new Aerospace Adventure program in Oklahoma, one of our most aviation education minded states. However, serious reform is needed to accommodate new education delivery methods and emerging technology as the Task Force discusses.
Creating the infrastructure to make its vision happen presents a more towering challenge. The Task Force depends on Congressional and Federal Aviation Administration action. That’s a problem since they are known for either dysfunctionality or, in the case of the FAA, its own workforce shortages, the loss of experienced regulators and its stunned reaction to the 737-MAX debacle and the pandemic. This has frozen much of its work in place even as industry regulatory needs increase, according to growing industry complaints.
However, should the industry act on its own to form a coalition, it can accomplish what individual organizations have not been able to do – end what the task force calls a “20-year stretch of unprecedented need for qualified employees and a pipeline of young people who either do not know what we have to offer or perceive that the costs of pursuing a career are simply out of reach.”
Indeed, it recommended a broad-based coalition of industry, government, nonprofits and educators. Industry has long resisted such a coalition in favor of promoting their own needs so it will be another challenge to get them to act as one on a crisis everyone shares. However, the fact those interests gathered in the Task Force to develop the ideas necessary to finally solve our workforce problem, is reason for hope.
Source: Laurel & Michael Evans via Unsplash
A National Advisory Council was recommended by the Task Force under the auspices of FAA’s Aviation and Space Education Program (AVSED) program and supported by regional councils in FAA’s nine regions. The councils would encompass regional stakeholders including airports, airlines, repair stations, business aviation and museums. It would also bring non-profit organizations such as scouting and youth clubs to the table along with education/training providers that includes high schools, colleges and universities, especially minority-serving institutions. Meanwhile, the National Advisory Council would monitor regional efforts, provide information about best practices, design metrics of success and a model for continuous improvement.
Considering this was a FAA committee that makes sense especially since its infrastructure is in place. However, the question remains whether the agency has the energy, staff and innovation necessary for the challenge, whether it will elevate and fund aviation promotion and education from its backwater and whether a government bureaucracy is the best solution at a time when regulatory needs are so great including the regulatory reform called for by the Task Force. We certainly know it does not have the budget and Congress loves unfunded mandates.
A good place to start is the nearly 200 organizations across the industry that urged Congressional creation of the National Center for the Advancement of Aviation (NCAA) – as long as they can check their parochial interests in the baggage compartment.
The risk if we can’t? “Choosing to do nothing will perpetuate the crisis and keep us from reaching new heights with a diverse workforce that will drive innovation and transformation,” DeVivo, who is also president of Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology, concluded.
Funding
The task force referenced NCAA. H.R. 3482 – the legislation creating the entity – was passed 369 to 56 by the House on Thursday reflecting its popularity but companion legislation – Senate S.1752 – languishes in the ever-growing morass of bills and the ever-shrinking opportunities for bicameral agreement.
But it provides significant hope the industry, which has worked hard to reduce fees and blocked any efforts to raise the passenger facility charge, supported this legislation given its reliance on more user fees or diverting money from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Perhaps that is why the Task Force embraced user fees.
It recommended several options for Congressional consideration including establishing a separate fund or redirecting funds within the Airport and Airway Trust Fund using 0.75% specifically to pay for scholarships for aviation and aerospace education and flight training or a $0.10 fee on all commercial US-sold airline tickets that would be used to support building the talent pipeline with scholarships.
The Task Force targeted landing fees, suggesting they be increased to fund scholarships for education and training programs and recommended increasing the Workforce Development Grants from the current $10 million to $50 or $100 million, $50 million of which would create a National Aviation Scholarship Fund.
It also suggested developing corporate incentives using DOT and DOD contracting processes making those that address workforce solutions more competitive. While this would require Congressional action and revising contracts, it calls for 0.25% of all DOD and DOT aviation and aerospace contracts to address aerospace education programs.
The funding available using this approach would be $512.5 million per year based on contracts awarded in 2019, the Task Force estimated. It also proposes increasing to 35% the current 25% tax incentive for donating to nonprofits, noting annual corporate donations to nonprofits reached $20.7 billion including $2.9 billion for overall education.
Having users and industry pay for what needs to be done, begs the question of why we should launder money through Washington since we know it is difficult to claw it out of Congressional hands once it is there.
Aviation and aerospace companies are already investing millions in attracting workforce. Nonprofits are too. The question is whether we can establish how much is already being spent and how much business goes unfulfilled for lack of workforce – in the MRO industry, alone, it is estimated at $1.4 billion. Then we need to calculate the cost of Task Force programs and see if we can raise more.
Aviation industry associations should poll members to determine this information and identify personnel that can make up the recommended regional advisory committees.
Student Debt
The Task Force called for us to rethink educational affordability, a critical need throughout society. That will mean higher education must address its cost. Since the baby boomers, facilities have exploded into resort-style campuses. Meanwhile, faculty salaries are still shockingly small compared to the value they provide, according to surveys by the University Aviation Association. Critics are right concluding forgiving student debt – as important as that is – does not address this challenge facing students and their families.
But beyond that, the Task Force found loans are now perceived negatively. Headlines over the past 20 years rightfully depict loans as a life-long burden preventing workers from pursuing such fundamental milestones as having a family and buying a house. Other headlines describe the mismanagement of forgiveness programs for public service jobs as well as how student loans have worked against economic success enjoyed by previous generations.
Consequently, said the Task Force, students, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, view the debt-level required and, reluctant to take it on, simply choose a different field.
The double-edged funding solution must first convince those who discover aviation that it is not only doable but affordable and second, develop the funding needed to realize the Task Force recommendations in the first place. For instance, it cited the health care industry provision of monthly cash education benefits to repay student loans.
“Funding is the number one obstacle,” said the report. “Existing funding is not enough to cover all the costs for a student. There is a significant gap between what is funded and what is needed…With additional funding they could close the gap and help more students make it into aviation careers.”
A lot of hot air. Hereford High’s AOPA You Can Fly Program. Credit: AOPA
The Task Force recommended providing expense stipends to enable students to focus on education and training. This would be coupled with other pathway/financial incentives such as scholarships, internships and apprenticeships.
“By lowering the overall debt load for the neediest students, we can provide a lifetime career path with incredible opportunities, as well as another way to drive diversity in the workforce, thus creating more awareness in underrepresented groups,” the report continued. “This could result in a ‘snowball effect’ with a long-term solution for solving the personnel shortage and the lack of diversity in our industry and entails both providing individual financial support to pursue training and education, as well as creating a sustainable funding model for organizations.
That snowball effect is important. DeVivo testified before Congress years ago by focusing on the underprivileged and underrepresented, we transform the trajectory of entire families. Similarly, with the rise of career and technical education (CTE) we can transform local economies. For instance, the creation of new aviation maintenance and flight schools such as newly established programs in West Virginia as well as state emphasis on CTE, coupled with re-shoring initiatives such as that Utah is creating, provides an opportunity to bring local rust belt and fossil fuel economies into the 21st Century.
Educating the Educators
The Task Force offers a ton of great ideas building on the hundreds of programs already working to promote aviation and aerospace careers to youngsters. It also resists reinventing the wheel yet again. Indeed, the report links to those who have already invented the wheel for guidance in how to create similar programs in aviation.
Its survey of teachers and guidance counselors showed 65% had basic-to-no knowledge of the various aviation careers. And 72% of respondents had basic-to-no knowledge of available aviation and aerospace career resources. That is on top of the 95% of students with no family connection to aviation/aerospace. Thus, the reason for creating digital content in a one-stop shop as well as the creation of by-region aviation/aerospace professional speakers bureau for classrooms. Other recommendations from educators include career days, job fairs and visits from local colleges and vocational schools.”
Task Force surveys report 80% of teachers would attend, especially if Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits were available. In addition to developing CEU programs, the task force recommended creating connections between K-12 teachers and aviation colleges and universities, state and local aviation and education agencies, aviation museums, airports, aerospace manufacturing facilities and flight training schools.
High School is Too Late
A key conclusion, the 21-member Task Force found was, as suspected, waiting until high school is too late, recommending education start by age 10, and again reinforcing the message at late high school when students are turning interests into career ambitions.
It is never to early to introduce kids to aviation and Women in Aviation makes that a reality at its Girls in Aviation Day during its annual conference. Credit: Kathryn B. Creedy
Also recommended was creation of aviation/aerospace-related afterschool programs modeled on 4H and National Future Farmers of America (FFA). The report noted more than 10 million children are enrolled in after-school programs annually with another 25 million on waiting lists.
“After-school programs are not only effective at reducing the numbers of at-risk youth, but are key programs in workforce development pipelines,” said the Task Force. “There is already federal funding for what is known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers [along with] state funding.” The Task Force would also like to see expansion of the FAA Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy through industry partnerships targeting K-12 students and providing a range of aviation career exploration and STEM experiences.
In addition, the Task Force recommended the creation of “virtual counselors” to guide aspiring aviation professionals through their education and careers citing the work of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) offering pre-university resources for volunteers and teachers around the globe. It also cited Choose AerospaceAlliance for Aviation Across America and Utah Rotor Pathways, the latter of which gathers high schools and universities to provide helicopter pilot and maintenance training in high school.
The airline industry recently began focusing on Historically Black College and Universities as well as Hispanic-Serving colleges and has increased focus on affiliate groups such as Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, Gay Pilots Association, Latino Pilots Association, Women in Aviation-International (WAI) among others.
The task force recommended expanding that outreach to partnering with National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and leveraging their local chapters along with those at EAA, AOPA and Civil Air Patrol. The Task Force also recommended working with the hundreds of aviation/space museums around the country to develop programing for parents, students and educators.
Regulatory Reform
The report would be incomplete without a discussion of regulatory reform, especially since government training regulations haven’t changed in 50 years with the singular exception of aviation maintenance.
It recommended review of government regulations, to ensure certification standards are performance-based, something aviation safety experts and airline training professionals have advocated for years. It recommended adapting regulations to allow for skill development and adaptability to new resources and technologies.
But for pilots this, too, is controversial given Air Line Pilots Association steadfast refusal to consider any changes in commercial airline pilot requirements despite the fact regulations actually encourages changes. But this is a lesson for the union – if you can’t be helpful then get out of the way.
Revealingly, like many aviation safety organizations, the Task Force recommended more flight simulation and virtual reality to improve training and ensure more proficiency and competency, a move opposed by unions but favored by aviation safety and training professionals. ALPA has long opposed switching to something widely accepted in the rest of the world – the multicrew pilots license – citing its reliance on simulation. ALPA’s opposition is shocking given the fact that simulators were first created to save pilots lives lost to dangerous inflight maneuvers and the wide-spread recognition that simulators are a key safety tool.
Other recommendations included the creation of Job Corp and Jobs of the Future Programs for aviation/aerospace.
Task Force Targets Culture
“If we want to retain individuals from underrepresented backgrounds, the industry must not only be committed to outreach and hiring, but also to creating equitable environments so that these same individuals feel psychologically safe and valued as members of the team. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, and companies need courageous conversations, examinations of policies with a new educated lens, and an ongoing training and education program that allow everyone to learn, make mistakes and move forward. Most importantly, we all need to be accountable and responsible for making change happen by setting measurable goals, publishing our data, sharing our learnings and never stopping the work.”
Future Aviation/Aerospace News, in its Women in Aviation, Aerospace & Defense, cited several studies showing women lag in taking on substantial C-Suite rolls and account for only account for 15% of the 600 positions surveyed by Flightglobal.
The Women in Aviation Advisory Board (WIAAB) concluded culture is a major problem. It also begs the question as to what, if anything, industry is doing about it beyond rhetoric. For instance, Southwest Airlines is noted for the number of women executives but women from the ops department talk about toxic masculinity. We can recruit women and minorities all we want but if they slam up against the same problems current employees face with discrimination, harassment and toxic workplaces we won’t retain them.
Credit: Mark Stenglein Upsplash
To that end, the Task Force cited a more expansive definition of diversity, a metric to be adopted by anyone wishing to make the rhetoric the industry espouses today meaningful. It quoted Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin who said at a White House Diversity Roundtable in February 2022 said: “I equate diversity with being invited to the dance. Inclusion is actually being asked to dance.”
But the Task Force also cited Dr. Menah Pratt-Clarke, vice president for strategic affairs and diversity and diversity professor of education at Virginia Tech who went further saying: “…belonging is being able to dance to the music that is representative of your background heritage. What those who are on the outside of the dance decision-making team really want is equity. They want to be part of the planning committee, co-selecting the music, co-selecting decorations, not having to wait to be asked to dance… It’s about changing the system and the way in which the dance decision-making process operates. It’s about restructuring practices, procedures, policies, and politics, to create a system that is more wonderful for everyone.”
My conclusion is the same as it was for the landmark WIAAB report. It would be a tragedy for every stakeholder if these initiatives are not realized. YIATF makes clear much of what is needed is already happening and it’s a matter of communicating these resources to parents, educators and kids. Yes, there is much work ahead on content creation, regulatory reform and infrastructure development, but we must ask ourselves whether we can put aside parochial interests and forge the leadership necessary to take the great ideas within the two task force reports and make them happen. The answer must be yes.
Editor’s Note: In an effort to independently determine the requirements of the of the Pilot Certification and Qualification Requirements for Air Carrier Operations and the Airline Safety & FAA Extension Act (Public Law No: 111-216 (08/01/2010) and whether the negative reactions to Republic’s proposal are justified, I reviewed the following:
One final question: Does the law or regulation prevent the development of alternate pathways? No, in fact, they encourage it precisely because pilot training should be continuously improved based on new data and technology.
The opposition, by rejecting the Republic petition out of hand, is also rejecting all the aviation rulemaking and safety research and expertise that developed the rule.
Upsplash
Petition Shouldn’t Even Be Controversial
When unions opposed the Republic petition to the FAA to develop an alternative pathway for gaining a Restricted-ATP (R-ATP), it was clear they hadn’t read the petition.
In fact, thorough research reveals, perhaps, for the first time in history, we have a pathway that improves pilot quality, and, for that reason, the petition deserves thorough consideration by both FAA and legislators.
Common sense tells us a company would not invest $30 million to diminish safety or to produce poorer pilots. Common sense also tells us we should never be satisfied with yesterday’s training if adopting widely accepted techniques creates higher quality pilots. We know from ARC reports past training did not produce the quality of pilot we want, and regulations changed but should not stop there.
It’s been nearly a decade since those regulations and we should be demanding a review, given how technology has changed. We also know the loss of skills, discipline and professionalism while building hours seriously undermines safety, according to analysis by Flight Safety Foundation and the Pilot Source Studies. To its credit, the industry significantly increased training to counteract this deterioration but all these factors deserve independent consideration because it could become a template for higher-quality pilots.
Following the Law
To date conversations and solutions surrounding pilot qualifications have been limited to an arbitrary set of hours, the pilot shortage and training costs which is excruciatingly simplistic and counterproductive. Indeed, opposition has misled regulators, legislators and the public while forestalling genuine improvements pilot quality.
The petition was viewed through the lens of airline training experts and international safety authorities who have defined the widely accepted pathway to produce a high-quality pilot. Balancing that is safety experts who have no agenda aside from developing safer pilots including the National Transportation Safety Board, Flight Safety Foundation and training professionals extolling evidence/competency-based training for the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).
The opposition charged Republic is trying to “circumvent the clear intent of the law.” That simply is not true. Their position rejects the already accepted logic of providing credits for university aviation programs and the military as well as the widely accepted belief that any changes to pilot training should be based on data.
This is no end-run as opposition suggests.
Republic’s petition capitalizes on the regulatory invitation for proposals to develop alternative pathways specifically designed to improve pilot training and develop safer, more qualified pilots.
In its rule, FAA noted “the importance of an aviation curriculum permitting a reduction of hours” as long as it incorporates “aviation coursework above and beyond what is required for pilot certification.” Indeed, Republic’s program is defined by what FAA and industry have already considered and accepted.
Republic’s petition also takes FAA at its word that developing a program going above and beyond pilot certification requirements is worthy of consideration.
The question then becomes is there a way to make better pilots. For the US military the answer is yes, it can train better pilots before giving them hundreds of millions of dollars in high-performance jets to fly. This is important because supervised training methodology of the US Air Force is granted 750 hours credit and is the genesis of Republic’s R-ATP petition when it was revealed by then Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson five years ago.
The First Officer Qualifications Aviation Rulemaking Committee Report researched the best pilot training and its recommendations outline the specific training requiring mastery before certificating a commercial airline, transport category pilot. It went so far as to identify the training that can be accomplished in a simulator/flight training device cautioning that its recommendations for non-aircraft training were in the interest of safety. This is important because ALPA has, astonishingly, rejected sim time in the past. Those recommendations became part of the rule and is incorporated in Republic’s 46-month training and, based on its petition, seems more stringent than what the military has done.
Regulators have already answered the question as to whether a closed-loop, highly structured, advanced training curriculum provides the same level of proficiency as traditional training.
The next question is whether a civilian, airline-specific, mission-driven version should be awarded credit similar the already approved military R-ATP pathway at 750 hours. Republic’s data indicates a higher level of proficiency than those trained in the military or outside of LIFT but that is for the FAA and other safety experts to validate.
But, and this is extremely important, any acceptance of credit hours must come with continuous, data-based analysis to ensure continued competency of a pilot once they join the line as Republic does.
Silly Argument
It is disingenuous of opposition to forward what I think is a silly argument – its insistence that since the law was imposed there have been no accidents – as the opposition does. That is also overly simplistic and ignores the complexity of the interlocking mechanisms that make up the aviation safety ecosystem. It suggests it was only increased hours that did the trick, not other causal factors such as industry-wide safety improvements including safety management systems and more reliable equipment and technology, according to Legal Adviser and JDA Journal Editor Sandy Murdock, who added any statistician will tell you correlation does not equal causation.
But, hey, I’m happy to use that argument to suggest this is a different industry since Colgan and old stereotypes no longer apply. It’s a great argument for suggesting the opposition’s view of the industry is outdated.
Opposition’s response to any pilot quality discussions to hours. For that reason, it is important to revisit this tedious, distracting subject.
I’ve often wondered why ALPA was so stingy on its requirements. Why 1500 hours? The union says experience makes better pilots, but the Colgan accident proved that wrong.
Murdock noted the captain had 3,379 hours of total flying time, including 3,051 hours in turbine airplanes, 1,030 hours as a pilot-in-command (PIC). The first officer had 2,244 hours of total flying time, including 774 hours in turbine airplanes. So, if ALPA wanted a better pilot based on the Colgan accident, why didn’t it choose 3500 hours or even 2500 hours?
The FAA’s and National Transportation Safety Board’s opposition to an arbitrary hourly requirement prompted my suspicion of the legislation and its actual intent which I detailed in a five-part Forbes series.
My suspicion grew because, despite the characterization that 1500-hours is desperately needed for safety, no other safety regulator rushed to copy the FAA. This is ironic since foreign carrier and regional pilots fly into US airspace without a question about their safety or anything to prove they are less safe such as accidents.
Suspicions prompted attendance at the World Airline Training Summit for years to find out what is needed in pilot training and competency. I happily returning to its halls this year where I realized that, while there is a lot of talk about improving training, progress is slow. We always seem to be on the cusp of adopting evidence/competency-based (EBT/CBT) training but never get there despite the fact it’s accepted around the world. News flash, it’s not the hours, it is the quality of the training and the quality of the airline-oriented experience in time building.
Do Your Homework
The fact is pilots supporting the 1500 hours have not done their homework and know they are on shaky ground when it comes to debating. Indeed, they don’t debate at all.
Many mainline pilots and airline trainers tell me the key to increasing pilot quality is selection which today is little more than a credit card. In addition to stringent selection and testing, experts suggest constant data-based monitoring of the pilot throughout training and into operations is important to establish competency. Republic has both.
During 40 years covering the aviation industry, the entire industry turned to data analysis to successfully increase safety and is why experts are turning to data to judge the competency of trainees.
In rejecting this data paradigm, opposition wants us to rely on hours, saying any proposal to do otherwise is tampering with the 2010 law and consequent regulation requiring 1500 hours.
Research reveals the Republic Airways Restricted Air Transport Pilot (R-ATP) Program is very much in line with the ARCs’ recommendations, regulations and the general trend of aviation training professionals to move toward more data-driven evidence of not only pilot proficiency but competency. It also reveals there is near universal agreement on what it takes to make a safe, quality airline pilot. Republic’s petition details the many steps a candidate must accomplish during their R-ATP training which mirrors what is required in the pilot certification rule.
No One Suggesting Elimination of 1500-hour rule
It is well known that any discussion of eliminating the 1500-hour rule is a non-starter so the regional industry and Republic gave up on eliminating the 1500-hour rule. The Regional Airline Association stated that emphatically in numerous interviews and Republic Airways reiterated that during a media briefing, saying its proposal was not a reduction in the 1500-hour rule but works within the existing published 1500-hour rule alternatives. It merely wants credit for a highly structured training program for which the military is already receiving credit.
Nor did Republic develop its program in a vacuum. It conferred with both the military and FAA for feedback to improve its program. It also conferred with its pilots and its safety committee along with partners American, Delta and United, for which it flies.
The question is whether the FAA and legislators are serious about recognizing modernized training programs that improve safety, making way for new pathway programs to address the training gridlock we have today. Or, will the opposition continue to stand in the way of pilot training improvements.
Republic was gutsy enough to take the 2010 law and FAA at its word taking five years and $30 million to create LIFT Academy and gather the data necessary to prove its training delivers better pilots.
Changes Needed to Pilot Training
Mindless opposition suggests pilot training should be static and never change. No one believes that. Pilot training has come a long way in the last decade especially with new training technology and immediate data analysis and assessments improving pilot competency. The industry would be irresponsible if it didn’t insist on continuous changes, based on data analysis and safety, not on some gut feeling, politics and emotions.
Data from LIFT indicates a superior result, but it is up to safety experts and the FAA to validate its conclusions.
In its petition, it stated historical data suggests LIFT students going through Republic R-ATP meet or exceed the level of safety of the military R-ATP. Historical first time and total pass rates for LIFT students on DPE check rides are above the national average or well above the national average.
Using AQP line performance data, Republic also compared LIFT graduates with non-LIFT graduates with data showing they out-performed non-LIFT pilots. LIFT Academy graduates consistently exceeded safety standards in line performance, qualification and continuing qualification training.
Training experts want to see a regime based on data proving pilot competency is so good they will do the correct things in scenario-based training every time, not just during the check ride. The quality of a pilot should never be judged on one subjective pass-or-fail test because we’ve seen too many pilots passed along with disastrous results leading to accidents at American Eagle, Colgan, Continental and Atlas.
Indeed, that is why we have the Pilot Records Database, perhaps the most important aviation safety advance to come out of the 2009 Colgan accident. This despite the fact it took nearly three decades since it was first recommended by the NTSB and more than a decade since the 2010 legislation to be turned into an actual rule all while we’ve been arguing over how many hours it takes to make a pilot. It relies on data, but a robust process is, sadly, still in the making.
Training experts just want an objective measure of student performance rather than judging pilot quality solely on the subjectivity of an instructor. We need both. This is so important, according to the WATS speakers, that airlines are tapping aircraft data streams to determine whether what is being taught on the ground and in the simulator is happening in the skies. After determining it is not, they revise training programs using data in the spirit of Safety Management Systems continuous improvement philosophy. All that is going into developing better training programs for higher quality pilots and really makes debates about pilot shortages and time building silly.
“With the perspective of more than 70 years spent focused on aviation safety–related research, education and advocacy, Flight Safety Foundation believes that a pragmatic, data-driven approach to pilot training is essential to the continued improvement of the industry’s safety performance,” said the organization in its 2018 position paper. “The industry needs to embrace, and national civil aviation authorities need to have the flexibility to adopt, competency- or evidence-based training methods that target real-world risk and ensure a progressive and satisfactory performance standard. It cannot be assumed that critical skills and knowledge will be obtained only through hours in the air.”
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In fact, Flight Safety Foundation indicated we are asking the wrong questions when it comes to pilot training. We should be asking whether what we are doing will achieve the levels of safety required to meet the growth demand. As thousands of flights are cancelled; as communities lose air service and as airlines scramble for schedule reliability, the clear answer is no.
FSF also asked whether we are using technology, data and experience to maximize training efficiency. Finally, it asked whether we can maintain a sustainable quantity and quality of pilots from our current approach. That answer is also no.
About Producing Better Pilots
Most conversations about pilots start and stop with whether or not there is a pilot shortage and I’ll admit I’ve been lured down that distracting rabbit hole. To be sure airports and airline revenues and growth are feeling the pinch on not having enough pilots, but I think that reducing the entire conversation to economics does a disservice to the serious topic at hand. Worse, the pressure put on pilots is prompting concerns about fatigue which may be compromising safety.
What matters to me is the efficiency and quality of airline pilot training and the blockade forestalling any meaningful aviation training reform, even if it produces better pilots.
While I’ll let the FAA decided on the value of the Republic petition, it seems an important opportunity to improve pilot training and create a boilerplate for other airline academies including those used by the major carriers.
The FAA should not dodge its responsibility because Republic has played by the rules and isn’t asking for anything that hasn’t been considered and granted before. To shirk its responsibility based on mindless opposition could keep us from improving pilot training.
What I can judge is the investment and work dedicated to this effort in solving a long-term, systemic problem is worthy of consideration. If you oppose Republic’s petition then I suggest you do your homework. I have.
In its report, published Tuesday, the government’s Women in Aviation Advisory Board (WIAAB) cited culture as the biggest barrier to attracting and retaining women in the industry. While this may not be news, to have culture identified as the over-riding issue in keeping women at bay, may mean something will actually get done.
Source: Science in HD via Unsplash
However, it is unlikely government will make it happen since laws already exist against the bias, discrimination and sexual harassment cited in the report. As WIAAB reported, it is the leadership and the will to enforce those laws within a company, that will make the difference. For that reason, it is really up to women in aviation and members of WIAAB to act collectively to turn recommendations into action. We saw the impact of the “Me Too” movement on the rich and famous, but it has been largely ineffective for the average woman in the workplace as experienced by women who are forced to sue employers for bias, discrimination and sexual harassment.
“Culture underlies most, if not all, of the recommendations” it said.
The Board’s many recommendations are a compilation of similar suggestions over the last decade. But if it can move the needle by changing culture, the report will have done its job in eliminating gender biases, discrimination and sexual harassment including, shockingly but unsurprisingly, FAA medical exams.
For instance, it called for a permanent advisory council – a Women in Aviation Advisory Committee – to promote long-term accountability and provide sustained focus across current and future administrations and industry. More importantly, it called for the establishment of an industry-wide independent reporting program for incidents of gender bias, discrimination, and sexual harassment. This must be more than a data-gathering exercise however, it must come with action against companies and government agencies who perpetuate the culture we have today.
“In addition to combating bullying, harassment, and discrimination, it is imperative leaders in government and industry take steps to proactively foster an environment of respect and professionalism,” the Board stated.
The importance of its findings and recommendations surrounding biases, discrimination and harassment cannot be understated especially since it puts solid evidence behind what many believe are just anecdotal reports of problems in the workplace. The report confirmed what too many women already know. Women are not supported in what some see as the “toxic masculinity” of the modern workplace. Complaints are met with retaliation when reporting bias or harassment. They are often ignored and forced to watch as perpetrators are rewarded and promoted and this is not unique to women. The conclusion of this growing number of women filing lawsuits against their aviation employers is the industry may talk a good game but it does not have your back.
Credit: Shutterstock
Ominously, more than half of women in the industry have considered leaving citing implicit bias, discrimination, lack of career opportunities and lack of work/life balance.
“Research confirms that gender bias, discrimination, and sexual harassment are significant issues in aviation,” the WIABB report said. “In a 2018 survey of Women in Aviation International (WAI) members, 62% of respondents indicated that sexual harassment remains a significant problem in the industry while 71% reported that they experienced sexual harassment in the workplace or another professional aviation setting. Some 81% reported having witnessed sexual harassment.
“Moreover, 51% of the women who had reported, complained about, or indicated they would not submit to the harassment, experienced retaliation,” reported WIAAB. “A survey by the Association of Flight Attendants found that 68% of the responding U.S. flight attendants experienced sexual harassment during their flying careers. Only 7% reported it; with concerns over retaliation and or inaction driving under reporting. A specific concern is under reported sexual abuse during FAA medical examinations. Examples of abuses include unwarranted breast and pelvic examinations, and skin checks requiring the removal of clothing. The impacts of these unacceptable violations of trust can be life-altering, as evidenced by the USA gymnastics team testimony on abuse during medical examinations.”
The Link to Safety
These findings are why two of the Board’s major recommendation, if developed, would go a long way in changing the status quo – the formation of a national reporting system and the recommendation the FAA incorporate bias, harassment, and discrimination awareness education, and allyship training in Safety Management Systems (SMS).
This recognizes the link between safety and an inclusive workplace, an argument well made by Captain Kimberly Perkins in her report on the subject. “We have an opportunity to enhance safety while simultaneously improving the industry’s workforce development strategies. Without addressing this systemic culture issue, the recruitment of any personnel other than the demographic majority will be mired.”
The Board agreed, citing a 2018 article by the Royal Aeronautical Society concluding, “Without an inclusive environment, there can be no guarantee of safety.”
I’m with her! It’s never too early to start a love of aviation.
The Board continued, saying, “Explicit and implicit gender discrimination, exclusive cultural norms, sexual harassment, and gender bias can all directly and negatively impact aviation safety. Bias can impact behaviors and decisions and undermine organizational culture. Conversely, belonging and inclusion build trust, which is fundamental to establishing and enhancing system safety. Psychological safety is ‘the amount of relational trust one feels in [their] environment.’ It includes being able to speak up, to address an error without fear of retribution, and to be one’s authentic self.”
No Surprise
It is no surprise that culture is the over-riding problem, since a study by Women in Aviation International, authored by WIAAB Board Member Dr. Rebecca Lutte, Associate Professor, The University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute, concluded the perception of the industry’s overwhelming Old Boy Network discouraged women.
“While participation of women in the workforce has increased dramatically over the past four decades, despite all efforts, the percentage of women in the aviation industry hasn’t appreciably changed,” said the Board. “Fewer than 10% of licensed pilots are women and the percentage of women in maintenance fields is in the single digits.
“In most aviation occupations, women make up less than 20% of the workforce—and for the last 60 years, the introduction of women into the industry has been largely stagnant,” the report continued. “Much of the aviation workforce also lacks ethnic and racial diversity. Women who belong to additional underrepresented groups are part of a very small minority, facing unique barriers and often even greater challenges.”
WIAAB’s conclusions confirm Flightglobal’s recent report showing the problem is equally acute in aviation management. Its annual assessment of the progress of women in executive ranks at airlines found a 1% increase in their numbers in 2021.
“Overall, some 15% of the 600 positions surveyed by the publication covering the C-Suite were taken by women, marking a one-percentage-point increase from the 2020 survey,” Flightglobal reported, commending JetBlue for becoming the first airline with women as the majority of its executives. “Few airlines achieved a 50:50 gender split among their executives in the survey. That milestone was recorded by Air New Zealand, Southwest Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and VietJet,” reported Flightglobal.
FA/AW News curates and updates a list of Women in Aviation, Aerospace & Defense, the only permanent online list, with impressive results showing hundreds of women in leadership positions in aviation/aerospace.
Starting With Leadership
While recognizing culture as the top barrier for women in aviation, WIAAB acknowledged it is hardest to change but starts with leadership.
“Women don’t feel like they belong,” the board said. “Changing culture requires consistent leadership commitment over time in thousands of large and small actions across government and industry. Although women in aviation have broken through barriers and made remarkable contributions, the industry has been largely unsuccessful in meaningfully attracting, retaining, and advancing women.”
Among the leaders to be included in this effort is pilots, according to Captain Perkins, who, in a landmark study cited the attitude of male pilots.
“Sixty four percent of male pilots say pushing for equity on the flight deck is not their responsibility,” said Perkins in a 2020 study, reflecting an astonishing violation of the principles of crew resource management. “Only 16% are actively doing something to make a positive change while 20% want to help but don’t know how. When I share stories of being called a ‘token’ or having someone say, ‘another empty kitchen,’ they are shocked and immediately attempt to discredit the occurrence.”
More than Pay, It’s About Work Rules
The report comes on the heels of a new pay-equity study showing something new. Young women in the big metro areas are pretty much on par with their male counterparts when it comes to pay. However, their careers stumble as soon as they have a family, something not experienced by their partners. This is also part of the culture that must be changed.
The issue has long been reported by women pilots who push for changes to work rules to accommodate the emerging needs of the millennial-generation pilots – work rules that even male pilots want but, to date, unions have yet to address. Women pilots are stunted in their careers and robbed of upward mobility on the flight deck in favor of a more predictable schedule.
FA/AW News recounted these problems in a two-part report on how the industry and unions much adjust in order to attract more women.
Millennials are driving dramatic changes in work/life balance which has been accelerated by the pandemic and, according to the Board, changing culture cannot be achieved unless work-life balance is addressed.
While its recommendations are aimed at women who now carry the main responsibility for caregiving, solving work/life balance issues provides an opportunity to change the family – allowing men to take on more caregiving, something they say they want. It will also take a change of women’s mindset in allowing men to take over rather than defaulting to sacrificing their own careers. Consequently, we must be careful that, in focusing on women, we don’t ignore the wider workforce changes wrought in the last three years.
To its credit, the Board recognized this. “The scope and benefits of some of the recommendations also are not limited to women,” it explained. “These recommendations improve the representation of women in aviation by improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of all talent.”
The Board recommended “at a minimum”:
Examine, update, and create policies and workplace cultures that allow [employees] to balance work and life — particularly caregiving responsibilities
Paid parental and paid family leave, scheduling flexibility, access to childcare, and accommodation of nursing mothers
Ensuring employees are aware of and understand these benefits and be able to use them without fear of retribution, reprisal, or impact on career progression.
Mentoring women and providing essential navigational support along their entire careers which is seen as critical to retention.
Other Recommendations
In addition to culture, the Board’s recommendations fall in four other categories and reprise many of the suggestions made by the industry over the last decade or more.
“For women to have an indisputable sense of belonging, the FAA and industry must increase the visibility of women in aviation careers,” said the Board. “The FAA and industry must also address language and professional appearance standards…two of the most powerful external manifestations of a culture’s values. The FAA must also encourage organizations to implement inclusive aviation uniform and professional appearance standards policies.”
That timely recommendation comes as Alaska becomes the first airline to move to gender neutral uniforms. First announced at the end of 2019, the airline said this week it is enabling frontline employees to dress in the uniform that best aligns with their gender identity.
How Women Come to Aviation
The insights in this report analyze how girls and women are attracted to aviation careers and what makes a difference in pursuing aviation. For instance, not surprisingly, guidance counselors have little influence while parents do. In addition, mentors are better for retention than recruitment and youth outreach is an important influencer.
Fifty four percent of respondents said exposure to aviation as a child was instrumental in pursuing a career. “The Experimental Aircraft Association found most were introduced to aviation under 10 years of age with 64% under the age of 20. Only 15% reported being exposed to aviation in school,” said the report. “In a survey of professional women, 70% said they never considered an aviation career citing lack of familiarity, interest, misconceptions about needing STEM skills and ignorance of how to start.”
The Board recommended establishing programs fostering early exposure to aviation careers including the development of government/industry Virtual Resource Center. It wants a one-stop-shop for exposing students, parents, teachers and volunteers to aviation career pathways, education and scholarship resources. This is a good idea given time consuming research now involved in exploring aviation careers.
While government support is always welcome – especially when it comes to increased education funding – much of this work is already done by industry and state governments which long ago moved to fill the void in promoting aviation careers as recounted in this FA/AW News article – Industry Educational Resources Reaching Millions, Serious Education Reform Needed.
Indeed, hardly a week goes by that does not include a story on a new aviation program opening at the high school somewhere in America. But the industry has also developed hundreds of resources, much of it FREE, connecting young people to aviation/aerospace. These include the University Aviation Association’s centralized scholarship listings, Women in Aviation’s Girls in Aviation Day, AOPA’s high school aviation curriculum, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University’s free online coursework designed for girls and women, Experimental Aircraft Association’s online courses, the American Rocketry Challenge and state moves to develop career and technical education (CT&E) programming for aviation and aerospace. Last year, the National Aviation Hall of Fame teamed with PBS/Think TV to develop early education aviation programming providing an unprecedented opportunity to reach young children.
And, in a perfect example of connecting the dots between aviation education programs and industry funding, yesterday, FedEx announced a grant to support NAHF’s Discovery of Flight program. Similarly, the JetBlue Foundation also provides funding for such programming.
FA/AW News developed a list of aviation/aerospace education resources designed to connect the dots between industry programs, educators, museums and other STEM and aviation/aerospace oriented programs.
AAR Corp, Embraer, Airbus, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Southwest Airlines, Collins Aerospace, OneWeb, Boeing, Textron and GE Aviation are among those leading the creation of new community education programs and air camps to strengthen pipelines to their operations.
While calling for government and industry to develop and implement aviation-focused curricula and career education, it might be better to support the many programs already existing. The fact remains, that much of this work has already been done and only needs increased support. The one thing the industry keeps doing is re-inventing the wheel to attract people to their own organization instead of supporting with partnerships and funding current programming to make them accessible to under-represented communities.
Consequently, the Board recommended increased federal financial aid for aviation careers addressing the biggest need and greatest role government and industry can have in changing the diversity of the industry.
Equally important is the long-suggested public service campaigns promoting aviation careers across all channels including television, radio and, of course, social media. These should emphasize women and other under-represented groups, especially those who have achieved leadership roles.
Still, recommendations do address voids in workforce development:
Training for career workforce development professionals
Immersive confidence camps so young girls and women learn about opportunities in aviation.
FAA/Department of Transportation establishment of recruitment offices and career readiness partnerships with other federal entities
Coordination with state governments on nationwide workforce needs
Connecting students interested in aviation careers with educational resources.
Clearing pathways to funding for schools serving women, minorities, and veterans
Development of a Scholarship Program Toolkit, to easily implement scholarship programs.
Partnerships between FAA, DOT, and the U.S. Military, to enhance awareness of aviation career opportunities
Enhancing Career & Tech Education programs in high schools enabling students to earn an FAA certificate in high school.
Mentoring programs for students including a mentoring app designed specifically for the aviation industry will allow young women to easily access and connect with mentors.
Resources needed to develop and maintain partnerships for educational programs leading to aviation-related certificates.
Updating and industry support of the FAA’s website to include for curriculum resources, internships, scholarships, and pathway programs.
Advancement
The Board concluded the industry will be unable to achieve culture change without the advancement of women into leadership roles. Women must be included in decision making, in leadership roles and be visible.
Recommendations include:
Development of professional development programs purposefully designed for women
FAA provision of resources and best practices for implementing such programs
Development and promotion of affinity groups, communities of support, and employee resource groups that provide critical skills development and facilitate relationships, improve engagement and retention and necessary for career advancement.
Opportunities to participate in corporate strategic initiatives on innovation and problem-solving
Creating environments for recognition and advancement.
Advocate for women by adopting personal sponsorship plans to increase access and visibility for women and other underrepresented groups to stretch assignments and development opportunities.
Finally, the Board recommended continued data collection and one area might be in establishing whether the hundreds of women in leadership positions in the industry have really made a difference in changing the culture. After all, findings it cited on how little the participation of women in the industry have changed, suggest they haven’t.
Other gaps include:
Gender statistics in workforce data
Pay parity information
Data on women in aviation occupations and leadership positions
Gender data by race/ethnicity
Research into the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in aviation and the evaluation of recommendations implemented.
Not Up to Government to Change Industry
While government can play a role in many areas related to diversity, equity and inclusion, ultimately it is up to the industry’s self assessment of how it treats women and minorities, something that remains to be done. Still, the value of the WIAAB report lies in the follow through — realizing its recommendations. It provides a roadmap for change if the government and Congress don’t let it join the thousands of government reports now lying fallow.
Source: Mimi Thian via Unsplash
Consequently, it is up to us to collectively take up the baton. We cannot leave it to others to decide our fate. We can attract thousands to aviation but if we don’t change the culture, we will just have more of what we have now.
At stake is nothing less than the health and competitiveness of the industry, as WIAAB concluded.
“The continued strength and success of the U.S. aviation industry must not be taken for granted,” said the Board. “Aviation faces significant workforce challenges that threaten the industry’s sustainability, profitability, and ability to innovate. Identifying and recruiting talent from underrepresented groups is an obvious and necessary strategy to address workforce needs throughout the industry.”
Without widening the pipeline and changing the culture, the job simply cannot be done. Consequently, WIAAB and the Youth Access to American Jobs in Aviation Task Force, expected to report later this year, need to identify what can be done with or without government actions and make them happen.
The challenges of meeting the demand for aviation maintenance technicians just became a lot tougher, according to Aviation Institute of Maintenance Executive Vice President Joel English, who cautioned while there is theoretical capacity to produce enough technicians, there are roadblocks, because only about half graduate or pursue certification.
“The Boeing Technician Outlook this year forecast a need for 132,000 technicians within 20 years in North America alone,” he told members of the Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association (RACCA) during its recent annual meeting. “We’ll need 700,000 worldwide. The good news that is down from the 2019 demand which was 192,000 in North America. Still, that means we need to graduate 6,600 new technicians annually. There are 166 FAA Certificated Part 147 schools being relied on to produce that 6,000 and the average size of these schools is about 100 students, so the numbers look good.”
But, he cautioned, they quickly whittle down because only about 40% (6,209) are graduating annually while fewer than 60% (3,725) of those become certified.
“Over 20 years that’s 74,500, only about half of what we need in North America,” he said. “That’s a big problem. Prior to Covid, 77% of certified technicians were over age 50 but Covid took a theoretical near-future problem and turned it into reality since companies relied on early retirements to reduce the number of furloughs required. The good news is the average age of technicians has declined over the past two years, but the number of available technicians has declined even more. Airlines and MROs don’t have enough technicians to keep up with the business they currently have and could be making millions more if they had enough technicians.”
Pre-Covid, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), reported about $1.4 billion in business is left on the table each year owing to workforce shortages.
English’s speech came on the heels of the Aviation Technical Education Council’s (ATEC) latest Pipeline Report showing the strong momentum for producing more technicians in 2019 was slowed with Covid despite ATEC’s efforts to help members pivot from in-person to online learning.
Source: Xi Wang via Unsplash
“In 2020, the FAA issued 30% fewer airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic certificates than it did the previous year—a devastating drop given the workforce development strides made in 2019 when more individuals achieved FAA mechanic certification than in any of the previous 17 years,” said ATEC Executive Director Crystal Maguire. “While the dip is likely an anomaly related to the COVID-19 pandemic’s ramifications, the long-term effect of the pandemic on the mechanic pipeline remains unclear. The 2021 Pipeline Report increases the urgency to the already-established priority of ensuring the pipeline is leveraging all available resources, including capacity in aviation maintenance technician schools (AMTS).”
ATEC reported the mechanic population is expected to increase 13% over the next 20 years, but ultimately fall 12,000 mechanics short of meeting commercial aviation needs in 2041. This optimistic scenario assumes pre-pandemic certification rates return.
“Despite the overall drop in newly certified A&P mechanics, 2020 did include some positive development. AMTS reported 11% of A&P graduates were female, compared to 2.6% representation in the broader mechanic population,” ATEC reported. “In addition, 40% of graduates represent a racial or ethnic minority. In addition, AMTS enrollments increased 5% in 2020—a drop over 2019’s increase, but still a welcome sign during an historic downturn.”
English reported AIM women students have quintupled as the school now has five times the national average of female tech students.
CT&E, Community Colleges Only Part of the Answer
With the growth of Career & Technical Education (CT&E) and community colleges fielding AMT curricula, an increasing number of resources are becoming available to train technicians. However, for community colleges, English explained, the discipline is only one of any number offered and, unless enrollment is robust, such programs are likely to be cut.
“Community colleges look at the costs of these specialist programs and some close nursing and aviation maintenance programs because they cost $15,000 to educate students while all they need is a desk for English majors,” said English. “You have to have 314 enrollments to make money on it.”
Some colleges, such as the Olive Harvey College on the south side of Chicago have teamed with corporate backers such as AAR Corp which developed programs to meet specific needs. But it also illustrates how important industry is in not only creating these programs but retaining the resource for their pipeline needs.
“One of the best things industry can do is partner with aviation maintenance schools to instill their identity among the students,” said English, pointing to AAR’s Eagle Pathway Program as an example. The program provides on-site mentoring, an externship course, $15,000 in loan repayments if employed, $2,500 tuition and other perks. Similar programs from other companies increases the pipeline for employment. English also noted United has a similar program with Teterboro School of Aeronautics while Piedmont Airlines is now paying tuition as a partial grant secured by working for the company for a certain number of years.
“Companies are putting their money where their mouths are in developing the next generation workforce,” he said. “I recommend companies work with the closest AMT school. You don’t necessarily have to donate money, just provide the brand recognition for students so they’ll become your future employees.”
He also pointed to the Launch Partnership for Veterans using the Part 65 Skill-Bridge Program which includes pre-graduation screening and hiring, a core team to collaboratively create student programs, tuition discounting and student mentoring. Viper Transitions is a similar program designed for Veterans as is Veteran Air Warriors, whose representative, Austin Kirkwood, spoke during RACCA, noting the scholarships take veterans through their private pilot license.
For both junior and senior high school programs, students complete 400 hours of general content preparing them to sit for the exam and then transfer to any AMT school, according to English.
Barriers High for Increasing Educational Capacity
To develop a new program is takes two years for the certification process alone, reported English. “There is also between $50,000 and $500,000 in equipment needs and $500,000 to $2 million in build-out costs,” he said. “All faculty must be certified A&Ps and, to qualify for Title IV Funds accreditation is needed from the state and Veterans Administration and that requires two additional years of instruction.”
Also a board member for ATEC, English cited the work the organization did in reforming Part 147 achieving a Congressional mandate for FAA to reform Part 147 which passed last December and has yet to be implemented. Reform means curriculum will be less restrictive and could ultimately accommodate the inclusion of emerging technologies, especially in propulsion.
“The new regulations focus on outcomes rather than prescribing instructional methods and hours on topics,” he said. “It also means aviation maintenance schools and universities can open satellite campuses at local high schools such as the partnership created when Clemson University adopted the Choose Aerospace Curriculum to encourage high school programs.”
English called on companies to take a two-pronged approach – community youth programming and support for political leaders who can help expand the pipeline.
“If all of us commit to new programming and youth awareness, we could be on pace to produce more technicians,” he said. “We need to double the number we are producing every year over the next 20 years to get to where we need to be.”
The National Aviation Hall of Fame and PBS partnered to deliver a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to an aviation/aerospace industry struggling with workforce shortages and creating pipelines for future workforce needs.
Aviation organizations from airlines to manufacturers, MROs, and the aviation/aerospace alphabet-soup groups in Washington need to grab on to this golden opportunity to sponsor, promote, fund and otherwise support this effort because it brings PBS – the most trusted name in education – into aviation education.
But aviation/aerospace companies are not the only ones that can leverage this opportunity. Anyone working in aviation education can help scale this to a national effort and at the same time, introduce yourself as the resident aviation education expert at your local PBS station. That’s what I intend to do here in Central Florida.
While elementary school programming exists, nothing has the potential of the NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV initiative delivered through their PBS-created, in-classroom curriculum; the NAHF and PBS websites; social media; PBS Kids programming; and PBS Learning Media. The program, called Learning with Will and Orv, is designed to support teachers and inspire students both in and outside the classroom and emphasizes development of aviation education at remote, rural and otherwise under-represented or under-resourced schools.
The NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV initiative results from the pivot NAHF President and CEO Amy Spowart took at the beginning of the pandemic. “In 2019 I met with former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and he shared his belief that the gap in STEAM education was in the younger, elementary grades,” Spowart told Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce News (FA/AW News). The effort was further supported through two webinars moderated by Spowart and National Aeronautic Association (NAA) President Greg Principato. During the two-part event Inspiring the Workforce of Tomorrow, Panelist John Langford, founder and CEO of Electra.aero, encouraged Spowart’s plan further when he observed it is assumed kids will get to aviation/aerospace through STEAM education. But Dr. Langford thinks it should be the other way around, that aviation/aerospace is a perfect way to get young thinkers into STEAM concepts. Spowart realized to build the aviation workforce of tomorrow, we need to make aviation the primary focus.
Their approach is refreshing since every industry is pushing themselves as STEM/STEAM delivery systems. But aviation/aerospace has already stepped up to ensure kids of all ages are exposed to aviation and aerospace. With PBS we have a way to amplify them.
“The pandemic shut-down truly made it all happen for us,” Spowart explained to FA/AW News. “We used the lull to create an education plan called Discovering Flight: Learning with the National Aviation Hall of Fame. For the curriculum, called Learning with Will and Orv, we joined forces with PBS/ThinkTV. We wanted a multidisciplinary approach. Our friends at PBS/ThinkTV even came up with the idea to include some of the etiquette from a book the Wright’s wrote. Our goal is to make the curriculum free to under-resourced schools and the program so flexible that teachers can do it for a week, month or spread out longer. PBS/ThinkTV have, unsurprisingly, included everything from step-by-step guides to providing activity instruction and worksheets.”
Spowart, who recenty posted a video about the new program, explained it was PBS’s idea to make Will and Orv heroes of the curriculum and build them to become as iconic as Curious George or Arthur in an effort to teach kids about aviation and STEAM principals. To do that, PBS/ThinkTV is creating 53 one-minute vignettes which will make up a one-hour video to be shown on PBS affiliates and available on PBS, the NAHF website and in its Heritage Hall and Education Center.
“We are eager to find partners to share the digital media on their websites, in airports and other museums,” Spowart said, adding through PBS/ThinkTV, teachers will have a dedicated 1-800 number to answer any concept questions they may have.
“To share this outside of Dayton, we hope to have the support of industry and beyond,” she said. “We are looking for partners to help fund this initiative to begin the aviation and aerospace pipeline in elementary grades. We seek to ignite that spark and keep it going throughout their education because we know we may lose them in middle and high school. Just because you introduce aviation to kids once, doesn’t mean it will stick. Our goal is to create on-going relationships and touch points throughout their education. In elementary school kids absorb new information like a sponge, aren’t afraid to fail, and we want to dig into that fearlessness. Aviation is about being fearless. That’s why our partnership with PBS/ThinkTV is so impactful. It works because PBS knows how to meet kids where they are.”
Spowart also explained other ways aviation companies and organizations can help. This is actually where everyone interested to aviation/aerospace education fits in by contacting local PBS affiliates to urge adoption of the Learning with Will and Orv effort. Teachers in the new program can talk about about opportunities for kids to continue their aviation education in middle and high school, such as through the AOPA High School Curriculum as as well as high-value, high-paying aviation/aerospace careers. This would ultimately create a relay-like education ecosystem the industry so sorely needs.
“Scaling this will be the challenge, and this is how the rest of the industry can help,” she said. “We want our Learning with Will and Orv partners to connect with us and help our reach to the most vulnerable schools and beyond in markets that matter most to them. We will work with their local PBS affiliates to support the media content. Once we move it through PBS, kids can watch the content at home, or the library while teachers have it in the classroom.” Or in the dozens of home-grown aviation education programs throughout the nation.”
Help can also come via in-kind opportunities and Spowart shared the initiative includes curriculum binders containing support materials like balsa airplanes, an opportunity for co-branding and exposure in the schools. Entities with experienced aviation employees could help with the quarterly on-going professional development programs for educators. There is also a plan to make field trips to airports, maintenance facilities and air traffic control towers part of Learning with Will and Orv to illustrate that aviation is about much more than being a pilot since the FAA recognizes 53 different jobs related to aviation career fields.”
Teaming with Education Departments and Career & Tech Ed
Spowart plans to meet with the Ohio Department of Education to build a relationship and to learn how Learning with Will and Orv can meet its needs as well as ensure teachers are supported. Reaching out to government officials as well as those developing Career & Technical Education (CT&E) programs is extremely important as the demand for such programming increases. Parents see it is a way to get a college education without incurring the crushing debt it now entails. The idea is to get their kids into certification programs such as aircraft and powerplant or manufacturing programs that lead to jobs while leveraging corporate higher education benefits to gain that college degree.
The importance of technical education is illustrated in a recent article highlighting the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics. Employment rates for its graduates exceed 80% compared to just 50% for graduates of more traditional colleges. A recent survey by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce showed PIA had a better 40-year return on investment than the median average ROI for all US postsecondary schools.
Learning with Will and Orv
The NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV Phase One Grades 1-3 programming – available for the 2021/22 school year – will be beta tested in one of the key birthplaces of American aviation – Dayton, OH – where Wilbur and Orville Wright, with their mechanic Charles Taylor, toiled away to invent the airplane and where Katherine Wright ensured her brothers’ success and legacy. Indeed, Learning with Will and Orv – leverages America’s two earliest aviator/inventors as a springboard, with Hall of Fame inductees, to learn about American innovation in aviation and aerospace.
Rollout has been slowed by the rise of Covid’s Delta variant but formal launch and live websites will be coming soon.
NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV are already developing plans to expand the program with PBS in 2022 to include curriculum for grades 4-6. The next phase will include a focus on sustainability in aviation and aerospace.
“The National Aviation Hall of Fame is known for honoring its Enshrinees who contributed so much to aviation,” Spowart told FA/AW News. “But that is only part of our mission. We want to really dig into the other part of our mission which is to inspire. We will take inspiration from our greatest aviation pioneers and incorporate them into our educational programming.”
Learning with Will and Orv is a multidisciplinary curriculum of standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans that partners NAHF’s mission with the educational expertise of PBS/ThinkTV. A kids workbook has already been created. The Wrights are informal guides to lessons within the curriculum as they interact with other famous aviation and space leaders from history to deliver fun, educational experiences for the classroom. It hopes to inspire kids to pursue future achievements in air and space frontiers.
NAHF includes the arts in the program because aviation STEAM-based early education encourages kids to explore aviation no matter their interest. After all, aviation/aerospace related jobs now encompass the arts, community planning and even wrangling animals transported by air from Pandas to thoroughbreds. Ensuring lessons take in the entire STEAM concept, activities include language arts, mathematics, social studies, journal writing, short story assignments and even comic book development.
NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV teamed with Crayons to Classrooms, a free store for teachers from under-funded Pre K-12 schools that serve students living in poverty and underserved classrooms, to develop and distribute 100 binders of the curriculum which will include the workbook. Complementing this will be creations from Digital Studios and Interactions for PBS Learning Media and a Discovering Flight PBS KIDS engagement page. There will also be an NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV social media campaign, spotlighting Hall of Fame enshrinees with online curricular assets and an interactive website to host content and engage young learners.
Junior Collier Challenge Joins American Rocketry Challenge to Inspire Kids
With the National Aeronautics Association (NAA), the home of one of aviation’s most coveted awards – The Collier Trophy – and the National Air & Space Museum (NASM), the program launched the Junior Collier Award. The Junior Collier Challenge invites students to develop a concept/idea inspired by a Collier-winning technology, challenging not only students but education and community organizations whose focus is on traditionally underserved and under-resourced communities.
Instead of emphasizing fabrication and build out, the challenge will focus on the original thought and design behind the technology to inspire students. Each year a NASM leader, NAA Awardee or NAHF Enshrinee will promote the Junior Collier Challenge which will begin as a regional effort, with the eventual goal of expanding annually to a national audience, in conjunction with the Collier Trophy winner. A Junior Collier trophy will be presented to each winner and the official Junior Collier Trophy, with the names of the winners permanently attached, will be displayed along with the actual Collier Trophy in the NASM. This is a perfect opportunity for companies to work with local schools – which many are already doing – to develop teams.
Other Elementary School Programs
Certainly, NAHF is not the first to target young children, but the power of the NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV effort can only strengthen other programs already in existence by giving them much needed national platform to make local school boards and schools more receptive to such programming. FA/AW News has heard far too many stories of local efforts to include aviation/aerospace in schools only to be shut out by unreceptive school boards. That is why working with state aviation and career & tech ed officials will likely yield better results.
The number of organizations targeting youngsters are legion and in every corner of America, as illustrated by the Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce News Resources for Education and Workforce Development Programs for Aviation/Aerospace but it is doubtful they know about each other, how they can amplify their efforts or how to access corporate workforce development programs for support.
For instance, we have seen the national effort surrounding the 100th anniversary of Bessie Coleman pilot’s license launched in June by Aerostar Avion Institute to support its pipeline K-12 curriculum.
These programs, such as Space Kids Global, target younger kids and works with the Girl Scouts to inspire and empower girls to go into science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education and jobs. It recently worked on a challenge designing a new Girl Scout Space patch and developing an experiment that launched on the recent SpaceX mission.
Flight Schools Association of North America (FSANA) sponsors AeroCamp for which it developed a tool kit for members to help in planning and budgeting. Launched in 2009, FSANA Chair Lisa Campbell estimates more than 5,000 young aviators have attended one of the many AeroCamps around the country where campers are exposed to every facet of aviation and gain a strong foundation for piloting but also learn about everything from air traffic control, airport operations, maintenance, avionics, firefighting to weather reporting and engineering. While most are held at flight schools, Campbell recently met with a community college and aviation companies interested in forming camps.
The FAA has long had curriculum and activities for kids. All this dovetails nicely with the AOPA Foundation High School Aviation Curriculum, which just passed the 300-school mark having reached 8,000 students spanning 44 states, the next step in the lifelong relay to aviation/aerospace careers from Learning with Will and Orv to AOPA High School curriculum to Civil Air Patrol and beyond. AOPA, too, offers teacher professional develop as well as helps them learn to fly. There are also online programs for youngsters such as Experimental Aircraft Association AeroEducate. The industry needs them all but the earlier we attract kids to aviation and the more we mentor them through that education, the more successful we will be.
Those already providing programming need to think bigger and the NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV provides a golden opportunity to leverage this national platform to gain local support for their programs by piggy-backing off the PBS imprimatur to illustrate the importance of aviation/aerospace education in their local communities and to opportunities to be had in aviation careers.
Indeed, local PBS stations already have funding to create programming featuring their local communities and this could be a prime opportunity to create links to publicize all the wonderful Pre-K-to-College programs already in existence. The more we promote Learning with Will and Orv and link it to efforts providing local hands-on programming for kids, the more likely we are to build the next generation.
Call to Action
I’ve written before how different aviation constituencies – manufacturers, airlines, maintenance, business aviation – are all developing workforce development programs and creating education pipelines. When asked why they don’t get together to amplify the wonderful programs already existing rather than reinventing the wheel they demur saying they focus on the needs of their members.
Fair enough but the workforce crisis affects us all. Isn’t it time for us to destroy silos in favor of a unified effort to start as young as possible to encourage kids into aviation and aerospace? Isn’t that what we are doing when we call on members to support the National Center for the Advancement of Aviation (NCAA) bills now before Congress? If we get NCAA, will we retain our silos?
The NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV and AOPA Foundation efforts are sterling examples of what aviation can accomplish individually but imagine what could happen if we worked together to amplify all of these programs by providing sponsorships, paying for materials needed to support them, donating to organizations creating education programs and yes, planting your logo in the hearts and minds of the next generation. The industry is already doing it so why can’t we do it together? This isn’t about competition, it’s about collaboration and amplification of all these programs.
Check out all the programs already in existence. Resources include contacts for career & technical education, state aviation education officials and corporate workforce education programs designed to attract the next generation. Even small companies can contribute to opportunities in your local area and, right now, there is probably a program already available to support.
Certainly, the NAHF-PBS/ThinkTV initiative will plow new ground and amplify our efforts and, as Spowart said, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not to be missed.
Population declines increases urgency to create new pipelines including immigration
American competitiveness at risk
Job seekers exclude companies not meeting their diversity goals and will raise diversity issues in interviews
A quarter of global companies do not have diversity programs
30 top employers, including the highly regulated, make compelling business case for including those with criminal records
Diversity recruiting experts in high demand
New pipeline sources needed, affinity groups recommend partnerships
Retention of diverse workforce remains a challenge
Source: Hey Lagos Techie via Unsplash
Twenty five aviation and aerospace companies made the list of the Forbes America’s Best Employers for Diversity 2021 and top among them was Delta at 112 but besting the Atlanta-based carrier was Raytheon Technologies at 78.
The publication considered thousands of companies for inclusion on its fourth annual list and reported not only did these companies receive the most recommendations, but also had the most diverse boards and executive ranks as well as the most proactive diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Raytheon topping the list of aerospace companies is no surprise given its strong emphasis on education programs designed to increase those pursuing aviation careers including its recent funding of cybersecurity high school programs. In addition, its subsidiary, Collins Aerospace, is heavily involved in educating the next generation including a mobile STEM lab and generous grants to get computer science curriculum into elementary schools. (See FA/AW News’ Education and Workforce Development Resources for Aviation/Aerospace for details and other corporate programs.)
Population Declines Create New Urgency
Lost in the entire diversity debate is the impact on population declines on fulfilling workforce needs in the future. The Center for Disease Control reports US population fell for the sixth consecutive year in 2020.
“Without raising immigration levels now, the US will no longer be the world’s largest economy,” said a new report from George Mason University. “Expanded immigration will ensure the US workforce can continue to outperform global competitors. [Otherwise], the US will sacrifice its position as the world’s largest economy by 2030. In fact, if current US population trends continue, the US economy will fall behind China’s by 2030 and be only three-quarters of China’s economy by 2050.”
futureaviationaerospaceworkforce.com 