The Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC) has filed a petition asking the FAA to allow holders of the ATEC General Aviation Maintenance Credential to take the FAA Aviation Mechanic General written knowledge test before satisfying the experience requirements for mechanic certification.
The credential is awarded only after a student completes the Choose Aerospace Aviation Maintenance Curriculum, receives a teacher endorsement verifying readiness, and passes the ATEC Credential examination, ATEC officials said. The non-profit organization has been deploying the Choose Aerospace curriculum into high schools across the country for the past several years.
If the petition is granted, eligible credential holders could take the General knowledge test within 12 months of earning the credential. The exemption would change only the timing and documentation requirements for that test. Students would still have to satisfy every experience requirement and pass all required written, oral, and practical examinations before receiving a mechanic certificate or rating, according to ATEC officials.
The proposed exemption would give students in high schools and other non-Part 147 programs offering the Choose Aerospace Curriculum an opportunity to complete their first formal FAA testing milestone while their General knowledge is current.
For FAA-certificated aviation maintenance technician schools, a passing General knowledge test report would provide standardized, FAA-administered evidence of an incoming student’s foundational knowledge. That validation could allow qualified students to enter directly into the Airframe or Powerplant curriculum.
Because attrition often creates vacancies after the General portion, this pathway would allow schools to fill seats later in the program, make better use of existing capacity, and increase the number of students progressing toward certification, ATEC officials said.
Employers could use the pathway to support “grow-your-own” programs, apprenticeships, and recruitment for non-certificated technical positions, ATEC officials noted. Earlier testing would give participants a tangible connection to mechanic certification and encourage them to continue through training or qualifying employment.
Choose Aerospace has served more than 2,800 students since its launch. During the most recent academic year, 1,237 students from 52 programs across 23 states enrolled in the curriculum.
According to ATEC officials, 37% of students who complete the curriculum plan to attend an aviation maintenance school, 34% are seeking immediate employment, and 15% have already been hired or received an offer from an aviation employer.
Among students at participating aviation maintenance schools that used the curriculum as the primary means of delivering General knowledge, 96% passed the FAA General knowledge test, officials added.
ATEC anticipates that the FAA will publish a summary of the petition in the Federal Register and open a public comment period.
For more information: ATC-AMT.org
Letting them sit the General while the material is still fresh is the right call, and that 96% pass rate is the whole argument for it. We run a job board for traveling trades workers, and aviation has one big advantage most of our people don’t get: the mechanic certificate is federal, so it’s worth the same thing in all 23 of those states. A state-licensed electrician or plumber who moves finds out their card stops at the state line and they’re testing again. So when folks say the trades should copy this pathway, half of what makes it work is that nobody has to re-earn it. We track the other half at how far a trade card travels before a state makes you test again.