Prior to the worldwide economic shut-down in March, there was widespread agreement that finding maintenance technicians was difficult. The same problems that plagued pilot hiring impacted maintenance facilities as well. Experienced techs were retiring while businesses were growing but newly trained technicians weren’t coming out of the military and schools fast enough.
Depending on the type of facility and what they are looking for, that assessment either remains somewhat true today or things have improved significantly, and shops are able to have their pick of the best talent.
“We’re starting to get more people available that weren’t available before,” said Tim Tobey, Winner Aviation’s maintenance manager. Tobey recalled that prior to March it was typical to be competing with up to a dozen other facilities when making an offer to a technician, but now they are able to bring on their top choices. A campus of the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics is on the airport, and Tobey can work with their staff to select the best students coming out of school. But what he’s always looking for is technicians who either have dual skills in airframe and avionics, or a passion for doing metal work. “If I see experience in sheet metal work, I’m going to suck those guys up,” he said.
When someone comes on board at Winner, Tobey and the other leadership people each work with the new-hire on multiple jobs. They then sit down together to make sure the technician is up to their standards and fits in with the team.
In Arizona the technician market isn’t quite as attractive for shops looking to hire, but that may be changing. Greg Laabs, the maintenance general manager at Gemini Air Group, said business is picking up and although companies in the area have laid people off, the right experience remains elusive. Laabs likes to hire technicians with type-specific experience and they are still hard to find, but he is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. “It was really an issue before, but now I think there’s people out there,” he said. Laabs just hired a technician with Twin Commander experience to support that growing business.
Like others interviewed for this piece, Laabs sees an uncertain future. He thinks things will get worse for technicians looking for good jobs before they get better, but when things do open the jobs will come back strong. In particular, he sees airline mechanics in a difficult position. “There’s a big influx of heavy metal mechanics,” he said. But that work doesn’t necessarily translate.
Matt Isley, the general manager of Aero Air, agrees that sometimes general aviation experience is preferable to heavy metal experience. He’s also seen some resumes from airline mechanics, but those with extensive GA experience are still somewhat hard to come by. “There’s more lag on the technician side,” he said. Unlike pilots, who are furloughed very quickly, Isley thinks technicians stay on longer as companies increase their in-house workload during downtime.
Aero Air has been extremely busy this year with the fire season. Isley said they’ve hired 20 people in the last six months and they’re looking for more. He likes people with military experience. “There’s an acknowledgement that you’ve had training and know what it means to keep an aircraft flying and sign your name to it,” he said. Like Laabs, Isley expects that we haven’t seen the bottom yet but that when things do come back, they will come back very strong. “The demand is still going to outplace supply for many years to come.”
