Kerrigan Batsa’s love of travel and her desire to earn a rewarding career for herself is what inspired her to pursue the aviation industry, most specifically, the maintenance of aircraft.
The mechanics Batsa worked with at her first aviation job, Carl Schaefer and Kevin Boarts, motivated her to get into aviation maintenance by how much they loved their jobs and they both were there to answer any questions she had during her time in school.
Batsa started in aviation as a guest service agent for Spirit Airlines and was trained as an operations agent and a station lead, where she worked before and during most of A&P school. She currently works as an aircraft maintenance technician for PSA Airlines. In this position, she is responsible for doing maintenance in the hangar overnight or working the line and responding to maintenance calls to get flights out on time during the day.
Batsa graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, Myrtle Beach Campus, just this year, in January of 2020. She has won scholarships during her time in school from Piedmont Airlines and the Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance, of which she is a member, but hasn’t had the opportunity yet to attend a conference.
Getting others involved in the world of aviation is important to Batsa.“I continue to spread word of this career path through my friends and family, high school guidance counselors and to women and students online through social media,” Batsa commented. She wants to be a resource for others who might not know about career in aviation. “Until I started working in aviation, I wasn’t aware that there were schools for aviation maintenance and want to encourage others to consider a career in aviation.”
For the future, Batsa says her goal is to learn and do something new each day. “Eventually I would like to work in inspections and be a person that my coworkers can rely on if they need help,” she explained.
“Kerrigan is a new and eager technician,” noted Jim Mathers, maintenance manager, PSA Airlines. “She seeks more in-depth tasks to increase her knowledge, where her peers shy away from. She comes in early and stays later to complete tasks or to do something new that she hasn’t done before. She has been a positive asset to the team and company,” he continued.
