<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1BNTNU_1GoPRZD500" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1BNTNU_1GoPRZD500" width="767" height="533" ><figcaption>PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS</figcaption></figure>If Skyborne gets its way, Vero Beach will soon be home to the region’s first federally certified aircraft maintenance academy. According to members of the Airport Commission, the flight training school at Vero Beach Regional Airport has applied to the federal government to open an academy and begin training a new generation of airplane mechanics.The Federal Aviation Administration is planning to set aside resources in the first or second quarter of 2027 to help launch new Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools (AMTS) across the United States, Airport Commission Chair Arthur Hodge told the other members of the commission at the group’s quarterly meeting in October.Hodges said that Skyborne Airline Academy has already applied for the AMTS program. “If this goes well, we will have an aviation maintenance academy at our own airport,” he said.U.K.-based Airborne Aviation Group purchased FlightSafety Academy in 2021 for an undisclosed sum. FlightSafety had been in operation in Vero Beach since 1966, training more than 25,000 pilots during its half century in operation here.Skyborne chose Vero Beach for its first U.S.-based training academy for the same reason many residents choose to live here – the weather. A flight training course that can be completed in just 15 months here, can take more than two years in England, due to more bad weather that interferes with flying light aircraft.The company leases 10 acres from the airport for its offices, hangers, student dormitories and taxiway leading to airport runways. Skyborne plans to set up its maintenance training program using the same facilities, Hodge said.Because there is a shortage of inspectors available to walk Skyborne through the process of developing approved facilities, curriculum and instructors, it could take a year or 18 months before Skyborne can move ahead with the program, Hodge said.There are two parts to the federal initiative. One division of the Federal Aviation Administration manages the Aviation Maintenance Technical Workers Workforce Development Grant Program.Awarded funds are used to create new curricula, purchase advanced training equipment, recruit instructors, establish apprenticeships and do whatever else it takes to get a new school certified.A separate division of the FAA oversees a demanding, five-part certification process. Winning a grant gives a school the funding to build a program, but the school must still jump through multiple hoops to attain certification before graduating licensed commercial aircraft mechanics.Those mechanics are in short supply. Studies estimate there will be a shortage of 60,000 aviation maintenance techs by 2029. Three main causes are cited – a wave of job cuts and early retirements early in the COVID-19 pandemic; an increase in attrition to higher-paying industries; and the current field of technicians aging out. The average age of an AMT is 55.Looking further ahead, the commercial aviation industry will need to hire 123,000 aviation maintenance technicians in North America through 2044, according to a forecast in Boeing’s “Pilot and Technician Outlook.”That helps explain Skyborne’s eagerness to open a school. It’s also great news for potential maintenance academy graduates. Students may have some skinned knuckles by the time they get their diplomas, but they will be virtually guaranteed employment once they complete their training. And aircraft maintenance technicians cannot easily be replaced by A.I.“Aviation maintenance is a rare bright spot against that grim backdrop [of A.I. sucking up jobs], a field of skilled physical labor that needs a new generation of young workers,” according to a recent report on National Public Radio.These are secure jobs with good pay, according to the report. The median salary for an aviation maintenance technician is $79,870, roughly $38.40 per hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s $15,000 above the median wage for all full-time jobs. Not bad for a program that takes less than two years to complete.Skyborne representatives declined to answer questions for this story.Photos by Joshua Kodis</div></body>

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If Skyborne gets its way, Vero Beach will soon be home to the region’s first federally certified aircraft maintenance academy. According to members of the Airport Commission, the flight training school at Vero Beach Regional Airport has applied to the federal government to open an academy and begin training a new generation of airplane mechanics.

Skyborne hopes high for aircraft upkeep facility

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If Skyborne gets its way, Vero Beach will soon be home to the region’s first federally certified aircraft maintenance academy. According to members of the 

Skyborne hopes high for aircraft upkeep facility

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