Article by the Aero News Network staff originally appeared on the Aero News Network website on July 29, 2023 To view the original article Click Here.
Turn of a Friendly Wrench
The need for aviation mechanics is even more acute than the well-publicized and documented pilot shortage. There’s a current and worsening aviation mechanics shortfall expected to exceed 600,000 jobs in the next two decades.
The new King Schools Cleared for Aviation Maintenance product includes a fully-integrated home-study course, written exam test prep, and a complete syllabus that meets the requirements for aviation maintenance technician schools under the new FAA FAR Part 147. This new curriculum fits in perfectly with aviation maintenance programs at high schools, colleges, universities, and maintenance schools. Flight schools with their own aircraft maintenance facilities now also have the opportunity to extend their schools from just pilot-training to include learning mechanics.
King Schools Co-Owner and CEO Barry Knuttila explains “King Schools has a long history of preparing learning mechanics for their General, Airframe and Powerplant written exams. In this new program, that test prep has been extended to include a complete mechanics training curriculum including all the knowledge and skills required in a Part 147 training program.”
Barry continued, “For example, a military crew chief that has wrenched on aircraft for years in the military but is not an FAA-licensed A&P has a clearly defined fast-track. When they bring their experience to a mechanics shop, it will be a win-win since the shop can charge the student for the mechanic training and benefit from their help in the shop while the learning mechanic will come out with an FAA certificate much quicker than they can by traditional means.”
The new King product is designed for flight schools, colleges and universities to use in conjunction with extant or inchoate A&P programs. The Part 147 focus and syllabus make it easy for those schools and businesses to be able to use the King Schools product for their respective instructional programs. Moreover, King Schools offers a free concierge service useful to institutions seeking to develop and implement new instructional programs.
The home-study portion of Cleared for Aviation Maintenance is divided into three units: General, Airframe, and Powerplant. After the fashion of other King Schools courses, the aforementioned combine short video sessions with self-test through quizzes, flash cards, and full-scale practice tests, thereby rendering learning easy and enjoyable. Lessons are followed by FAA-style questions that ensure learning mechanics are familiar with the types of questions the FAA will use to test their knowledge. An interactive record of questions correctly answered and ones needing review helps learners invest effort where it’s most acutely needed. The course also includes free access to the KING Companion App and the KING Test Prep Companion App, which make it easy to download and take lessons and test prep even when offline.
The Cleared for Aviation Maintenance product is priced at $599 per-student-kit and the web-based course tracking software is free for schools to use. Student kits are discounted for profitable resale at participating schools.
