Where Do We Get Them?

I can state too that you can make a difference. I was an industry member of the New York City Board of Vocational Education at a time when there was one of their many budget crises. The school chancellor attended one of our meetings and blithely announced how he was going to literally screw the aviation high school by cutting its budget down to where it would have lost its FAA certification. It was fortunate that we had, as members, a flying traffic reporter for a major radio station and the aviation editor from the New York Times. Big guns indeed. After the chancellor finished, the flying traffic reporter said he thought that would make some excellent material for him to comment on as he helicoptered over New York. The New York Times editor ruminated that the story of the Board of Education perpetuating fraud on the students of the school by denying them the ability to get their FAA licenses would probably make page one although probably not at the top. It is rare that so high a public official can get so red and he revealed a tendency to stutter under stress. I can say that TWA, Eastern (me) and Pan American all chipped in, in our disgust. The chancellor folded and the cuts were restored.

Your presence at the school, at functions and maybe a little interaction with the teachers and students may get you a first crack at graduates. In our town, Volvo has a large truck presence. They even suck up aircraft maintenance graduates from the local technical community college as they have an insatiable demand for technically educated mechanics to work on their large over-the-road trucks. So it isn't all gravy and you may have to buck some competition, but at least you will be heard when the graduates look for jobs. Our future mechanics are out there. They just have to be informed that the opportunities exist and we are looking for them.