FLIGHT TRAINING NEWS
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U.S. DOT Secretary Elaine Chao highlighted the concern for future aviation workforce shortages when addressing the Aviation Workforce Symposium attendees. |
Aviation Workforce Symposium
The shortage of pilots, CFIs, DPEs, mechanics, and other critical aviation industry personnel is getting national and high level attention. Called upon by U.S. DOT Secretary Chao, the FAA held an Aviation Workforce Symposium last week in Washington, D.C. at Reagan National Airport.
The Aviation Workforce Symposium brought together industry and governmental representatives from many sectors to identify some of the main factors causing personnel shortages, any lack of attractiveness of the profession, and identification of potential areas of address on which focus could be given to help build America's future pilot and mechanic supply.
There is no doubt that the shortage of aviation workers is affecting the aviation community and its business success at all levels in the United States and throughout the world. Panelists throughout the day ranging from airline presidents, to union representatives, manufacturers, and collegiate programs universally agree that the industry must do more to bring in talent to the industry.
The day consisted of five panels along with keynotes from Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation and Suzanne Markle, President of Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics. Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell engaged with participants along with addressing them at some points during the day.
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FAA Administrator Daniel K. Elwell addressing attendees at the Aviation Workforce Symposium |
Key questions the event addressed in the panels included discussing the overall scope of the challenge of the aviation workforce shortage, what we [as a whole industry] can do to attract new people to critical aviation professions?, how we can promote productive partnerships between the government, industry, and the community, how we can maximize efficiency in training and training to proficiency, and what government initiatives may be in place that could be of assistance. These questions were discussed by panelists representing multiple airlines, cargo carriers, collegiate aviation programs, governmental representatives, the U.S. Air Force, simulator providers, and even aviation focused high schools to name only a few participants.
Highlighted many times by panelists, the discussion of providing funding sources to individuals interested in career training for aviation focused jobs was evident. Multiple panelists noted the lack of funding availability outside the traditional collegiate environment for aviation focused jobs. Very little federal funding is available that is vocational in nature or focused on individuals seeking job training funding if they choose not to or already have a college degree and are looking to get into aviation as a career, or even change careers. Diane Auer Jones, a representative from the U.S. Department of Education even noted that she was unaware of any vocational or career technical funding from the U.S. DOE specifically focused on aviation careers. She noted that some programs were available that might be able to be used for vocational training focused on aviation, but no specific programs currently were in place.
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Jason Blair, FSANA Business Editor and FAA Designated Pilot Examiner discussed concerns that would be addressed from the flight training provider and pilot examiner viewpoints on a panel titled, "Pathways to Proficiency" |
FSANA believes this is a key and critical part of making our aviation workforce grow. Not every pilot, mechanic, or dispatcher wants to get, or get another, college degree. And not every flight training provider must offer 2- or 4-year collegiate degrees. The collegiate programs are wonderful parts of our aviation career pathways, but there are multiple paths to this aviation career and as an industry we must foster and support all viable paths that create good, high-quality, and safe pilots to serve our industry's needs. One of the ways to do this is to create funding mechanisms that allow for training to be secured without doing so on multiple credit cards or by mortgaging your (or your parent's) home.
FSANA President, Bob Rockmaker, was in attendance for the full day and spoke with many attendees, panelists, and speakers during the event.
The FAA created the Symposium to help identify the many career paths that aviation offers across a wide spectrum of aviation enterprises. There is no doubt that much work is yet to be done, and this symposium was not intended to find the solutions to all of the questions and challenges noted in one day. But it did bring together many interested parties who will endeavor to work going forward to address this concern more collectively if we are going to be successful at engaging all interested aviation parties in a solution for tomorrow's aviation workforce.
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FLIGHT TRAINING NEWS
Flight School Conference Program Doubling in Size
The 10th annual conference program is now available and registration is open.
Attendee Registration Now Open
Room reservations are now open for the 2019 Flight School Operators Conference Feb 13-15, 2019 at the Rosen Plaza in Orlando, Florida.
The FSANA conference committee has been hard at work. The 2019 conference will double the content offerings and many flight schools will want to send more than one person.
Please book your room now since the hotel will sell out. The 2019 conference & 10th anniversary celebration will be the place to be for anyone interested in the flight training industry.
To reserve your room,
call 800-627-8258 and request GROUP RATE
for Flight School Association Of North America 10th Annual Conference.
Ground Transportation
Ground Transportation to the Rosen Plaza from Orlando International Airport is available by Mears Transportation.
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FLIGHT TRAINING NEWS
 UPDATE on DPE Policy and Practices for Airman Practical Testing Changes
FSANA had previously noted that some changes in DPE policy were going to be forthecoming that would help expedite the provision of practical tests in some areas. We are happy to report that that work continues and that we have been updated that these changes should be rolled out in the very near term, our expectation from the communication is in the next couple of weeks.
One the the largest changes noted will be removal of geographic restrictions on DPEs from providing tests outside of their historic "FSDO district". This will allow DPEs, especially those who are close to those boundaries, to operate more freely and travel to applicants needing tests. While this doesn't solve the overall shortage of DPEs in some places, it does allow those locations to bring in DPEs from other less training saturated areas until more can be appointed. It is also expected that this change will more freely allow specialty testing needs, such as Sea-Plane or Glider, to be provided by allowing those qualified examiners to travel instead of having to move the aircraft to the examiner.
Another major change that is being made is the implementation of a new Designee Management System (DMS) that will implement an administrative tracking system DPEs will be required to use to schedule, notify, and track all tests they give. The expectation is that this system will allow the FAA to conduct oversight of the DPEs on a more "risk based' basis that may allow less administrative oversight to take place in the long-run. By doing this, the FAA expects it will no longer require extra oversight events of the DPEs based solely on a currently set number of 50-activities per quarter but instead base any extra oversight on a metric of multiple factors. This has the potential to eliminate the need for some oversight that FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASIs) conduct that at times has been challenging to complete and left many FSDO districts unable to keep all of their DPEs current and able to provide their services. More about DMS available in the article, "
FAA Rolls Out Automated Designee Management System."
Changes are also being made to the selection process for DPEs. The National Examiner Board (NEB) that was previously in place to select DPEs is being eliminated and a new National Appointment Process is currently in development. This is an effort focused on allowing selection and appointment of DPEs to more effectively address the testing needs in areas where the number of DPEs has not matched the training capacity.
These changes are the result of dedicated focus on the part of a FSANA lead industry task force which has been working in collaboration with the FAA. There will be continued changes beginning in the next month, but they will also be followed by more positive changes through April 2019.
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Don't Miss Out on FSANA Membership Benefits - If You are not already a member, Join Today!
The Flight School Association of North America (FSANA) is a trade association that provides member only benefits. Benefits include:
- AeroCamp
- AeroChapters
- AeroParty
- AeroSolo
- Airport relations guidance
- Aircraft renters insurance
- Background check programs
- Career advancement opportunities
- Contact data acquisition
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software
- Discounted rates for conferences and seminars
- Email marketing software
- Flight school accreditation
- Flight school awards programs
- Flight training advocacy
- Industry advocacy
- Loss of training expense insurance
- National marketing programs to attract new customers
- Networking
- Operational assistance
- Post-secondary aviation distance learning
- Public awareness of FSANA programs for consumers
- Technical assistance
- Tenant relations guidance
- Trade association support on flight training issues
- Youth programs
To learn more about becoming a member, Click Here.
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Be Recognized as a FSANA Supporting Partner
FSANA is a dynamic trade association that represents the interests of flight training providers. Our members are motivated and successful business operators that provide flight training in the United States and foreign countries. Your company, or a company you know, is encouraged to support FSANA in its achievements by becoming a "Partner."
FSANA's core platforms include:
- Helping flight training businesses operate successfully and profitably;
- Increasing the pilot population;
- Working with other aviation and aerospace industry associations and companies to promote quality flight training pipeline development;
- Providing programs and services that will assist FSANA members to better serve their customers and local communities;
- Promoting best practices in the flight training community;
- Reducing the general aviation incident and accident rates;
- Engaging both youth and adults to explore aviation and aerospace.
FSANA Partners receive year-round brand exposure in both print and electronic platforms in multiple channels and a host of other benefits.
To learn more, please contact
Debbie Sparks
, vice president, at
dsparks@fsana.com
or 561-767-6826 or Dave Eiskowitz, development director, at dave@fsana.com or 610-737-5207.
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University Air Center Flight School, Gainesville Florida
Looking for Certified Flight Instructors-Instrument for a full time busy flight school.
We fly Piper Warrior, Cessna 172 (G1000), Cessna 182 (Garmin glass), Cessna 210 and Piper Aztec. We have the option of time as flight instructor then move into the Caravan for Part 91 operations then to our Charter department flying Citation Jets. Come join the UAC team!
Flight Instructor Sought
Wanted CFI for 141 flight school, added ratings a plus, but not required. When not instructing, right seat on Navajo available for qualified applicant. Respond to Moyer Aviation, Inc. Pocono Mountains, Pa. 800-321-5890
vern@moyeraviation.com.
Charter Captain Wanted
Wanted Captain for 135 charter operation in Northeast. Flying Navajos & Seneca Minimum 1500 TT, 200 MEL. Respond to Moyer Aviation, Inc. Pocono Mountains, Pa. 800-321-5890
vern@moyeraviation.com.
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We welcome feedback from the readers of this newsletter! Tell us what is important to you
as a school owner, manager or chief flight instructor. We will share comments received
in an upcoming edition of
Flight Training News
.
Send your thoughts to info@fsana.com.
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