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Salina partners develop the Aviation Innovation and Maintenance Center of Excellence
A new kind of program to learn aviation mechanics and maintenance is being developed in Salina as industry partners and local entities look to address an ongoing worker shortage in the field.
The program will work to equip people with the skills to become aircraft mechanics and service technicians, and aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging and system assemblers at a time when the industry is evolving.
Dubbed the “Aviation Innovation and Maintenance (AIM) Center for Excellence,” this new program is unique across the nation as it takes a nontraditional approach to becoming a skilled worker in the aviation industry.
“It is one of a kind,” said Lindsey Dreiling, a consultant of the Salina Airport, referring to the AIM Center. “It is the only one we know of that exists today.”
AIM Center looks to address worker shortage in aviation
For a while now, there has been a shortage of skilled workers in the aviation industry across all specialties, which has hindered its local growth and competitiveness.
This new program was developed as a means to recruit and build up the aviation maintenance workforce, especially on the local level, as more aviation companies start to call Salina home.
“(Local aviation companies) growth has just shown such a demand for trained aviation-oriented employees that this has been clearly a growing need within the community,” said Mitch Robinson, CEO of the Salina Community Economic Development Organization. “We see a lot of people coming in from across the country to take some of (1 Vision Aviation’s) jobs.”
1 Vision Aviation is a company located on the airport grounds and specializes in maintenance and repair work.
With Salina’s existing reputation for aviation education, through Kansas State University Salina and others, a new education program addressing this need became the next logical step among partners who developed the AIM Center.
“This will help us be in a more competitive position to be able to retain and grow the workforce at Salina,” said Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority.
What will students learn in Salina’s new aviation program?
As a consultant for the Salina Airport Authority, Dreiling helped develop the concept of the AIM Center. She said it will function as a pre-apprenticeship program that ties into jobs and specialties that already exist at airports.
“Really the vision for this center is a complementary program that serves as just another pathway to get into aviation,” Dreiling said. “All of this will be in preparation for those types of pathways — for those wanting to go do more formal education or if they want to go directly into an apprenticeship position in aviation maintenance.”
The program will focus on a few key fundamental areas: sheet metal, basic electricity in avionics, composites repair, and codings and paint technology.
“We’re really calling this more of … an aviation fundamentals curriculum as it serves aviation maintenance,” Dreiling said. “Focusing on these key areas was in collaboration with our partners out on the Salina airfield asking: ‘What are you needing in your skilled workforce? What competences are you wanting your workforce to come in with?'”
Kirsten Zoller, executive director of strategic initiatives at Kansas State Salina, said the program will allow students to explore a variety of different aspects of what critical needs are in the aerospace industry. When they successfully complete the program, students are awarded with a micro credential.
“Micro credentials are a short learning experience that is assessed,” Zoller said. “That micro credential is something they can take with them even if they don’t come to K-State later on … so that employers and other institutions can know the type of learning experience they’ve been provided.”
Micro credentials are awarded through a virtual transcript or digital badge that will travel with people wherever they chose to go.
The program structure will consist of six-week instruction periods with 25 individuals per cohort. When the program is up and running, the AIM Center would look to offering these twice each semester: two offerings in the fall, two in the spring and two in the summer.
Instructors will be a mix between industry partners on the Salina Airport, and instructors from Kansas State University and Salina Tech.
The program is still being developed and details like program cost and exact dates are still to come.
“Our expectation and our goal is an aggressive goal. We’d like to have our first session late fall,” Dreiling said. “But we are still in the creation phase. Getting those finer details of the exact date is to be determined.”
Aviation is an economic driver in Salina and across Kansas
The airport was awarded a $3.325 million Aviation Learning Opportunities and Funded Training (ALOFT) grant through the Kansas Department of Commerce to go toward the AIM Center. Salina Airport Authority was one of seven recipients and received the largest award possible.
Partners at the Salina Airport are looking to hire an additional 250 skilled workers in the next year. The Salina Airport industrial complex supports just fewer than 300 jobs, but projected growth within the next two years brings that number to 750 jobs.
Seeing this kind of economic impact, the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce is helping recruit people into the AIM Center program. Efforts will focus on high school students, transitioning workers and military veterans as key candidates who might be interested in a career change or beginning a career in the aerospace field.
“As we’ve proven, over and over again, I think (community partnerships) are a really successful way to address some of the biggest challenges that Salina and Saline County are facing right now,” said Renee Duxler, president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.
The AIM Center will be self-sustaining through the airport and its partners, but the ALOFT grant will help supplement the program for two years. According to the airport, grant funds will largely go toward equipment, development of curriculum and facilities.
“What we’re hoping is that this will be a catalyst for future growth for the airport and be able to … meet future expectations of business growth that we see happening,” Dreiling said. “We really want to broaden access to aviation.”
Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on Twitter (now known as “X”) @calfee_kc.
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