CARIBAVIA 2025The workforce issue - connect the dots! |
“All we need to do is connect the dots,” when it comes to developing an aviation/ aerospace education ecosystem to support industry’s workforce needs, said Kathryn B. Creedy, editor, Future Aviation/Aerospace Workforce News and Women in Aviation International ambassador.
Chairing a workforce panel with Melissa Gumbs, Member of Parliament (Education, Culure, Youth and Sport) for St Maarten and Duncan van Heyningen, Manager ATS Training at Princess Juliana Airport , education needs to start at a young age, they agreed.
And that could be through model aircraft making, gaming - with aircraft simulator programmes - aviation art. Let’s push the A in STEM, suggested Kathryn Creedy. We already have an international aviation art contest from the National Association of State Aviation Officials which provides generous scholarships to winners. Aviation needs to have a voice in every corner of the USA, which communities need to get behind.
Recommendations included exporting initatives from AOPA’s High School STEM Curriculum and EAA’s pilot training school programme - all free. Developing a website to provide detailed career pathway information and exposing children to a raft of aviation careers through programmes like Girls in Aviation Day. Aged 8 to 12 years.
School tours / community engagement is important the panel agreed. So too are industry partnerships, internships (as NetJets has been actively engaged with all summer – just look at all their LinkedIn posts praising students.) Scholarships are brilliant but they have to be the responsibility of businesses.
The Workforce Panel
Melissa Gumbs highlighted that her Government (St Maarten) is exploring ways to working with industry to bridge the gap. How do we get the workforce we need – it’s critical for us. We need to build a frictioness aviation eco system. A big blocker is getting the access to airports, aviation companies – to learn. Air traffic controllers are in huge demand, added Duncan van Heyningen, noting CAE highlighted the urgency for this skill for the first time in its recent paper. How can we get young people to want a career as a controller? It all lies in education.
There are 1,000s of airports all around the USA why can’t we get industry to step up and find investment to start educational tours, the panel discussed.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to join the dots with STEM educators, careers and technical college professionals. It’s the industry problem to solve because governments have restrictive resources, the panel concurred.
Build a website
A broad website, as Kathryn advocates, could marry the work of FAA and NASA when it comes to careers. Not just airlines, but airports, business aviation, space.
Everyone tends to work in Silo, said Duncan - praising AOPA for the work they do - there are 80,000 young people in their programme and the strong aviation culture in Texas too with its integrated programmes in schools, community colleges and universities.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to join the dots with STEM educators, careers and technical college professionals. It’s the industry problem to solve because governments have restrictive resources, Kathryn concluded.
BlueSky Business Aviation News | 7th August 2025 | Issue #807
