2018, Aero Skills (II) Season, a Major Success

The 2018 Aero Skills National Finals are in the books! On Saturday, December 15, 2018, at the Old Tucson Studios, in Tucson, Arizona, 15 of the best of the best, Regional Aircraft Structures Technicians competed for the overall title of “National Champion, and it was close!!”

> The Winner of the Junior class was Gabriela Rodriguez Gil from KF Aerospace in Kelowna, B.C. Canada, winning with a 9-point difference over second place. Along with the National Champion title, Gabriela was also the only woman competing in the best of the best!

> The Winner of the Senior class was Allan Peckford from Bombardier Aerospace Mobile Repair Team in Brighton, Ontario, Canada, winning with a 4-point difference over second place.

Aero Skills is a competition bringing Schools, Industry and Communities together to educate and demonstrate the aircraft structures technicians’ skills based on industry processes and best practices. In addition, it showcases the numerous career options the industry has to offer. For competitors, it’s not only competing with their peers from around the country and experiencing the thrill of serious, but good-natured rivalry that motivates them to participate, but it can quickly open the door to rewarding employment opportunities within the industry today. The need to attract individuals to the trades is important and, in fact, critical as senior techs retire.

This year’s sheet metal project seemed, at times, to be a bit of a challenge for some, but perseverance paid off and all projects were completed satisfactorily. One competitor, Dave Burridge, is quoted as saying, “This event was very challenging … , but it was also a great learning experience.”

Jay Logie, ATG CEO, says, “This second year of international tournaments have allowed ATG staff the opportunity to meet some great people, technician competitors, students, instructors, judges and school personnel. It’s been wonderful seeing the camaraderie grow between individuals who

had previously never met one another. The 50,000 miles of RVing and hauling the Aero Skills trailer, the thousands of phone calls, emails and planning meetings have all been well worth the effort when we see the tremendous success of each event and especially the National Finals.”

Regional events were held in Kelowna, BC, Toronto, ON, Titusville, FL, Dallas, TX, Wichita, KN, and Riverside, CA culminating in the fabulous setting of Old Tucson, AZ for the National Championships. Following are the National Final results:

Senior Level

1st – Allan Peckford

2nd – Daniel Oelrich

3rd – Scott Flegal

4th – Joey Bartek

Junior Level

1st – Gabi Rodriguez Gil

2nd – Carlos Gomez Nieto

3rd – Xavier (XO) Ojeda

4th – Brandon Koon

Over 40 schools have competed during these first two years. The Regional events encourage audiences from the local communities to attend the demonstrations whereas the National format is for the Top Gun Fab and Build project participants. The four rounds of competition were: 1 - manufacturer part fabrication, 2 - manufacturer part build (riveting parts together), 3 - fabricating repair parts and the 4th round, the (riveting) assembly of the repair parts onto the manufacturer fab parts.

The Nationals saw junior competitors from:

* Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Chesapeake, VA

* Broward College Aviation Institute, Pembroke Pines, FL

* Gordon Cooper Technology Center, Oklahoma City, OK

* Hallmark University Inc., San Antonio, TX

* Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, CA

* Okanagan College, Kelowna, BC

* Vincennes University Technology Center, Indianapolis, IN

Our sincere thanks go out to:

* Inspectors Miguel Dion and Ryan Geddes

* Byron Strope – kept the compressed air flowing, the vises clamped down, and other support to ensure everyone stayed focused and working

* Volunteers Hailey Strope and Josh Klugman for being there for other emergencies

* Vee Logie and Cheryl Levesque for exceptional score and record keeping and project timing, as well as keeping track of the 15 competitors and

* Everyone else that supported the events at the schools, and regions and with the industry and communities

ATG’s Aviation NETWorX platform features a new autonomous, heuristic work force validation and development program in partnership with CertTEC as our performance-based testing platform. Both are the industry sponsors for the Aero Skills Tour. Aircraft Technologies Group

specializes in providing work force support to the heavy maintenance and manufacturing industries with highly skilled engineers, technicians and teams for; streamlining consulting service, workforce supplementing, apprenticeship programs and designated fixed price (DFP) programs.

For more information about ATG and NETWorX workforce development programs please visit: www.myATG.aero

To learn more about the Aero Skills Tournament please visit: www.myATG.aero/schools/tournaments