And In Related News...Aerospace Revitalization Act of 2006 Enacted into Law

[A.Member]

http://www.afa.org/grl/current.asp

The legislation establishes an interagency aerospace revitalization task force to develop a national strategy for aerospace recruitment, training and cultivation. The legislation recognizes that a skilled and educated workforce represents the most valuable asset of the United States economy. Concern was first raised in 2004 when total employment in the aerospace industry fell to its lowest point in 50 years. The task force will seek to maximize cooperation among government departments and agencies to establish partnerships with industry, organized labor, academia and State and local governments. An important provision of the bill also will publicize available grants, loans and scholarships for those seeking further study in academic disciplines required by the aerospace industry. Members of the task force now are to be appointed by the President and the Secretaries of various federal government departments. Meetings should start in the near future with an annual report presentation to Congress after the first year of business.

Wonder if they know about CAP?

[SAR-EMT1]

How would the President or Congress even remember what CAP is?

[flight dispatcher]

I'll chime in on this one. I've seen this first hand. I work for Jeppesen in Denver, Colorado. With the world going digital, many of our products, including charts have went that direction. We have went from being a publishing company to a information provider. Many of our jobs do now require some level of IT skills, but to find people with IT skills and an aviation background is hard. The group I work in primarily provides first tier support of flight planning and crew scheduling software used by commercial operators. Most of my colleagues are either former 121 aircraft dispatchers, instrument rated pilots, or CFI's. But the surprising thing is all of us are over 30 years old. A couple are over 40. Most of us have been with Jeppesen at least two years, but no more than five years (I'm going on four years). (Big Hint: not all aerospace education needs to be directed at the cadets/under 20 crowd)

     Every time we open up a position, my boss has a difficult time in finding a qualified person to fill it. There are dime a dozen kids out of college with IT degrees but no aviation experience or, there a people with a flying background but no IT aptitude. To tie in with some of the other threads discussing the state of Aerospace Education, outside of the cadet program, it isn't just educating the public on flying. Its also science and technology. One of our products installed on Boeing Aircraft, Electronic Flight Bag, uses both Windows 2000 and Linux.

     I think we could be a big part of this push if we took a different view of Aerospace Education. AOPA already has the safety angle. I think if we focused more communicating to the public on what encompasses aviation/aerospace, not just the flying aspect, we could help attract the right people to pursue careers in aviation/aerospace. And that would put us back to fulfilling our AE mission.

With Kindest Regards

[A.Member]

I'll chime in on this one. I've seen this first hand. I work for Jeppesen in Denver, Colorado. With the world going digital, many of our products, including charts have went that direction. We have went from being a publishing company to a information provider. Many of our jobs do now require some level of IT skills, but to find people with IT skills and an aviation background is hard. The group I work in primarily provides first tier support of flight planning and crew scheduling software used by commercial operators. Most of my colleagues are either former 121 aircraft dispatchers, instrument rated pilots, or CFI's. But the surprising thing is all of us are over 30 years old. A couple are over 40. Most of us have been with Jeppesen at least two years, but no more than five years (I'm going on four years). (Big Hint: not all aerospace education needs to be directed at the cadets/under 20 crowd)

     Every time we open up a position, my boss has a difficult time in finding a qualified person to fill it. There are dime a dozen kids out of college with IT degrees but no aviation experience or, there a people with a flying background but no IT aptitude. To tie in with some of the other threads discussing the state of Aerospace Education, outside of the cadet program, it isn't just educating the public on flying. Its also science and technology. One of our products installed on Boeing Aircraft, Electronic Flight Bag, uses both Windows 2000 and Linux.

     I think we could be a big part of this push if we took a different view of Aerospace Education. AOPA already has the safety angle. I think if we focused more communicating to the public on what encompasses aviation/aerospace, not just the flying aspect, we could help attract the right people to pursue careers in aviation/aerospace. And that would put us back to fulfilling our AE mission.

With Kindest Regards

Nice post.  I agree completely.  There are many aspects to AE that need to be considered and a lot of work is needed.

Interestingly enough, just last week we had a discussion about Jeppesen's new site for electronic charts - http://www.flyelectronic.net.

[afgeo4]

Well why aren't our AE officers working on recruiting colleges as AE members? We have almost no presence on campuses nation-wide. I know teaching 3 year olds about planes is great and all, but wouldn't it be nice to teach a 20 year old about real world aerospace applications?

[sandman]

Well why aren't our AE officers working on recruiting colleges as AE members? We have almost no presence on campuses nation-wide. I know teaching 3 year olds about planes is great and all, but wouldn't it be nice to teach a 20 year old about real world aerospace applications?

Might have something to do with the communist socialist liberal bent of almost all campuses and the majority of teachers on those campi.

On those campi (yes, campuses is the correct plural), ROTC is tolerated only because the communists colleges recieve federal funds.

Why would they tolerate another "baby killer" military program invading recruiting in the hallways of enlightenment?

[afgeo4]

Umm because we, unlike the ROTC are NOT military? Besides, your experience with colleges being overly liberal is just that, your experience. There are very conservative institutions around as well. Please don't equate education to liberalism.

[A.Member]

Well why aren't our AE officers working on recruiting colleges as AE members? We have almost no presence on campuses nation-wide. I know teaching 3 year olds about planes is great and all, but wouldn't it be nice to teach a 20 year old about real world aerospace applications?

I don't know the answer to your question but it's a good one!  That is precisely the type of fresh, objective look we need.

[flight dispatcher]

Its not just reaching 20 year olds at colleges. Its reaching people in a position to transition from one career to another.

"An important provision of the bill also will publicize available grants, loans and scholarships for those seeking further study in academic disciplines required by the aerospace industry."

People do go back to college to assist in making career changes they hope to make.

[flight dispatcher]

I did a little research, and according to the Reserve Assistance Program attachment, we are supposed to be making a presence on college campuses already.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Fifinella]

Here's the legislation: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:4:./temp/~c109JdEYnw::

Perhaps CAP should create a presentation of its capabilities in this area, and work through the DHS channel to get recognition/resources for its aviation industry recruiting efforts.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Umm because we, unlike the ROTC are NOT military? Besides, your experience with colleges being overly liberal is just that, your experience. There are very conservative institutions around as well. Please don't equate education to liberalism.

OK, I'll make a deal with the Communists.  I'll stop equating liberalism to education, if they stop using educational institutions as indoctrination centers.

[sandman]

Umm because we, unlike the ROTC are NOT military? Besides, your experience with colleges being overly liberal is just that, your experience. There are very conservative institutions around as well. Please don't equate education to liberalism.

OK, I'll make a deal with the Communists.  I'll stop equating liberalism to education, if they stop using educational institutions as indoctrination centers.

Thank you...very well said!!

[sandman]

Umm because we, unlike the ROTC are NOT military? Besides, your experience with colleges being overly liberal is just that, your experience. There are very conservative institutions around as well. Please don't equate education to liberalism.

Umm...You wear a uniform.   

Them kollege grads don't know t' difference; Ya representn' t' same t'ing...

[flight dispatcher]

"Here's the legislation: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:4:./temp/~c109JdEYnw::

Perhaps CAP should create a presentation of its capabilities in this area, and work through the DHS channel to get recognition/resources for its aviation industry recruiting efforts."

I don't think this is the right link. I tried searching on that site and didn't find the right bill, HR758 . Here are associated links that may explain it better.


http://www.house.gov/tauscher/Press2005/10-25-05.html

http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=248693&Month=12&Year=2006

This link in a particular will take you to the correct link, but tell you it is not yet available for viewing:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d109:10:./temp/~bdbW1S::

Not to get on a soap box, but all we have been doing with our aerospace education is direct it at cadets and point them torwards military careers. Not a bad goal in itself, the broader spectrum of aviation and aerospace has been neglected. From my personal experience, the ten years I spent in the airline industry, I only met two people who were involved with CAP, one a former cadet and one an airline pilot. The only cadet I know that went into aerospace, is a former cadet who now works at my company. And he's a manager.

From the information provided in the links, it tells me that emphasizing aerospace with a younger age group is fine, but we don't have 10 years to wait.

Respectfully,

[Fifinella]

Thanks, flight dispatcher.  Looks like some of the links are bad, including the one I submitted.  The text of the approved resolution should be viewable at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:4:./temp/~c109B8k3Lp::  If not, folks can google Vern Ehlers (sponsor) and follow his legislation links.

Understand your concern.  Dwindling interest in aviation, aerospace, etc.  Lack of knowledge about careers such as aero. engineering, manufacturing, Aviation IT, airfield mgmt., etc.  Agree CAP can play a greater role here.  Do you happen to know what, if anything, the industry is doing to entice/inform college students, vo-tech students, computer people, potential cross-trainable talent?