Time For a Road (Air) Trip

Greg Napert and I will be traveling to East Alton, IL on August 27th to help celebrate the grand opening of West Star Aviation’s Hangar 67. Weather permitting, we’ll be taking an air trip in Greg’s Sundowner from Fort Atkinson International Airport to East Alton. If Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, we’ll be taking a road trip to East Alton. 

West Star has been a long-time partner with D.O.M. magazine since our launch in 2008, and Greg and I are looking forward to the event.

What’s even more exciting is that West Star will also be celebrating the graduation of its inaugural class of students from West Star Aviation Academy (WSAA) (https://www.weststaraviation.com/wsaa-academy).

If I was a young kid thinking about pursuing a career in aircraft maintenance, I would seriously consider a program like WSAA. First of all, if accepted into the program, students work as full-time, paid apprentices at West Star during the 7.5 month program. During that time, they receive in-depth training in airframe maintenance, honing their skills through hands-on training in collaboration with Southwestern Illinois College and Choose Aerospace. Mentorship and job shadowing opportunities further bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world experience.

West Star says the ultimate goal of WSAA is to produce a highly skilled and work-ready pool of FAA licensed aircraft maintenance technicians while removing the barriers associated with gaining employment and fulfilling the educational and licensing requirements. In return, WSAA graduates will commit to continued employment with West Star to put their skills to work and unlock their career potential through future advancement.

There are other aviation companies developing similar programs and partnerships to help solve the challenge of hiring aircraft maintenance professionals.

Many in the aviation industry has been saying for decades that we have a shortage maintenance technicians. In 2002, I sat in on an FAA-led panel discussion where many of the alphabet aviation associations gathered to try to figure out how to solve the problem. 

22 years later, and the problem still hasn’t been solved.

Maybe programs like WSAA will help bridge the gap!

Thanks for reading!

Joe Escobar