Planes, Trains, And Rocket Ships

PIA Grads Find Many Different Pathways to Employment

When you hear the term “aviation maintenance,” you might picture a mechanic working on a jet engine. While that image is an accurate example of the work that’s being done by some aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs), it’s not the only way PIA graduates are building exciting careers. In fact, our alumni are working on a wide variety of important machines all across the U.S., all thanks to the remarkable versatility of their A&P certification.

An Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification is often referred to as a “license to learn.” This is because the basic mechanical principles learned during A&P training can be applied to almost any engine-powered machine. With an A&P certification, a mechanic can be hired to work on airplanes, helicopters, trains, boats, hovercrafts, drones, rockets, and more.

According to the 2021 Pipeline Report from the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC), the FAA issued more A&P certificates in 2019 than in any of the previous 17 years. While that number dropped 30 percent in 2020, presumably due to complications of the COVID–19 pandemic, it still means that more licensed mechanics are now entering the workforce than at any point since 2002. This is good news for airlines and repair stations, which have more job openings due to retirements than the country’s training pipeline is currently able to fill. But other industries are also actively seeking out talented new mechanics, which makes earning an A&P license more valuable.

Here are just some of the many interesting and rewarding careers that PIA alumni are enjoying beyond the world of airplanes.

NEVER FORGET YOUR TRAIN-ING

David Wesoloski (PIA Pittsburgh, 1998) remembers PIA instructor Gary Hoyle telling his students, “if we learned the info about motors, transformers, A/C voltage, etc., we would always have work.” For Wesoloski, this passing advice became crucial for his career. After working as an AMT for nearly 8 years, including stints at Raytheon in Wichita, Vanguard in Chicago, and Delta in Atlanta, Wesoloski was downsized during a 2006 industry downturn. He needed a new opportunity. “I had young kids and a growing family, so I was a little nervous, but I remembered that advice from my second quarter at PIA,” says Wesoloski. Deciding to cast a wider job hunting net, Wesoloski was hired in 2006 as a railroad electrician. Over the past 16 years, he progressed from journeyman to the top of his field: this year, he accepted a promotion to Supervisor of Facilities – Atlanta Zone for CSX Transportation.

“I’ve worked on so many systems and equipment electrically at the railroad, and it’s mind-boggling because it all goes back to the foundation I learned at PIA,” says Wesoloski. “The skills and knowledge are universal.”

FLOATING ABOVE IT ALL

Next time you see the Goodyear blimp floating above a stadium during a sporting event, you might feel a little extra pride in knowing that a PIA alumnus helped make it possible.

Shane Healey (PIA Youngstown, 2022) is an Airship Mechanic at Goodyear, where he has a wide variety of responsibilities that include inspecting and repairing the airship and serving as ground crew on travel days when the ship is in action, helping it take off and land.

“I was always interested in mechanics, but my brother Owen shifted my interest into aviation mechanics after he started attending PIA himself,” said Healey. He credits PIA not just with training him for his career but also giving him the tools he needed to ace his interview — literally: “Carrie Grimes in Career Placement helped me every step of the way during my interview process, from proofreading my emails to even giving up her desk for an hour so I could do an online interview. I would not have obtained my dream job without her help.”

PIVOTING TO POWER

After PIA, Hope Boschert’s (PIA Hagerstown, 2018) original goal was to work on trains, not planes. Instead, she now works on power generation equipment, which proves just how many different career paths are possible with an aviation maintenance & electronics training from PIA.