A Hearty Congratulations to Our Industry’s Young Leaders

One of the best things about our industry is seeing how it attracts bright young people and then lets them flourish through the mentorship of people with a passion for aviation. The 41 young men and women featured in this AMT Next Gen Awards special issue are excellent examples.

Their well-deserved success at a young age — between 20 and 39 years old — comes from all sectors of the aviation industry: educational institutions, OEMs, MROs, and beyond. The winners represent the spectrum of career levels — from a student all the way up to a business owner — and hail from around the world.

Of course, I’m particularly proud that a number of employees from GAMA member companies are on this year’s list, including Fidraus Adris of Bombardier, Caleb Beck of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Garrett Billings of Elliott Aviation, and Benjamin Zemaitis of Cirrus Aircraft. Many winners also took training at FlightSafety International, another GAMA member.

It’s especially important that our industry work together to ensure we have a strong workforce well into the future, to fill the ranks of those who engineer, manufacture, pilot, and maintain our aircraft. Too often, we read studies and stories talking about the coming shortage in the aviation field — how there aren’t enough new employees to replace those who are or will soon be retiring. And as AMT readers know, most who enter the aviation field as a career do so through general aviation. That’s why GAMA is particularly concerned about this issue.

We’re not sitting on the sidelines. We’ve been working with the National Aviation Consortium (NAC) and encouraged them to come tell their story in Washington, D.C. In September, I was honored to speak at the National Aviation, Aerospace, & Defense Workforce Summit in Washington, which offered a chance to talk about the challenges in finding and training new employees and best practices to address them. Participants learned about the work of the NAC and the partnering with GAMA, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Aerospace Industries Association. You can learn more about the NAC’s work at naccareers.com.

GAMA is also proud to again offer our Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Aviation Design Challenge competition for U.S. high school students. Over the past three years, we’ve enhanced students’ knowledge of STEM through aviation at more than 150 high schools throughout the country. Schools interested in taking part in the contest this academic year can send an email to [email protected] for more information.

I remember the excitement I felt as a young boy flying with my aunt above the skies of Wisconsin, as a high schooler learning how to recover a cub while preparing to solo, as a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy learning aerospace engineering, and, most vividly, as an Air Force officer flying fighter jets all over the world, all before the age of 40. There’s something magical about aviation, which I was lucky enough to understand as a young man and which I still never take for granted after a half-century of flying. These outstanding men and women know it, too, and they are our industry’s future.

So, a hearty congratulations to all of the outstanding winners, and to Aircraft Maintenance Technology for recognizing their achievements. I look forward to seeing what they accomplish in the years to come. I know our industry will be better for their efforts.