Legislative Priorities

  1. Ensure FAA airman certification standards (ACS) are maintained in support of aviation safety and industry workforce needs. The ACS are a product of a highly successful, decades-long collaboration between the FAA and industry stakeholders to clearly define what a person needs to know, say, and do to obtain airman certification. ATEC asked Congress to ensure FAA Reauthorization Act provisions (Sec. 406) are implemented including directing the agency to carry out industry recommendations on maintaining and updating ACS and reengaging the ACS working group to ensure testing and training remain correlated.
  2. Support a skilled and dynamic aviation workforce by increasing workforce grant program funding. In the 2018 FAA reauthorization bill, Congress established the Aviation Workforce Development Grants program, authorizing $10 million in funding for pilot and maintenance workforce development programs. The 2024 reauthorization bill (Sec. 440) allocates $20 million for each of the three programs (pilot, maintenance, and manufacturing) for FY 2025 through 2028. ATEC encourages Congress to appropriate funding as set forth in the reauthorization legislation.
  3. Implement initiatives that will expedite service member transition into civil aviation careers. ATEC estimates the civil aviation industry is capturing less than 10 percent of exiting veterans with aviation maintenance experience. More can and should be done to ease the burden experienced by veterans with valuable experience but no clear path to civilian certification. ATEC encourages Congress to ensure implementation of 2024 reauthorization bill provisions (Sec. 426) directing the agency to create a military competency test and associated ACS and better leverage the Joint Services Aviation Maintenance Technician Certification Council (JSAMTCC).
  4. Include aviation technical programs as STEM fields across all federal agency classification systems. For example, the Department of Homeland Security does not include all aviation maintenance programs to be considered a “STEM field of study,” which limits students’ ability to apply for visa extensions to work in the U.S. after graduation. Aviation technical program codes are absent from similar lists maintained by the Department of Labor, meaning they cannot take advantage of STEM-focused programming or all the downstream benefits of having that categorization. The council asks congressional representatives to support and encourage designation of aviation maintenance programs as STEM programs across all federal government agencies.
  5. Oppose threats to educational institutions. ATEC opposes legislation that limits aviation technical schools from serving students and veterans, including public, private non-profit, and private proprietary institutions. The industry is facing a massive technical workforce shortage, all FAA-certificated aviation maintenance trainings schools are vital to industry’s growth and prosperity. ATEC asks legislative leaders to oppose any legislation masked rhetorically as student protection aid (e.g., 90-10 rule, borrower defense to repayment, etc.) that instead threatens a vital source of aviation maintenance professionals and negatively impacts aerospace companies looking to hire technical personnel.
  6. Promote aviation technical career paths and meet rising workforce demands through expansion of secondary education opportunities. ATEC, in collaboration with Choose Aerospace (www.chooseaerospace.org), has developed curriculum designed to create direct pathways into aviation jobs or FAA-certificated aviation maintenance technician schools. ATEC members are committed to working alongside congressional offices, community partners, and school districts to implement these programs and raise awareness of aviation technical career opportunities.