A&P Certificate

Clear Skies in the Future for the Next Generation of Female Pilots

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See how WAI-SE WI Chapter, MKE, and AWA inspired future female pilots through a hands-on aviation event

On Saturday September 24th, an eager group of almost 50 girls woke up with a little extra energy to get to the airport where the fall Milwaukee air would soon be filled with the smell of jet fuel and the sounds of questions would be bouncing off the flight deck. It was Girls in Aviation Day. 

Girls in Aviation Day is a free event for girls ages 12-18 and is put on by the Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter of Women in Aviation, hosted by the Milwaukee Mitchell Airport, and supported by us (Air Wisconsin Airlines). This event gave the youth a chance to talk with aviation professionals, learn more about different careers in aviation, and of course get to test out the view from the left seat. This experience offers a behind-the-scenes look at the airport and airport operations, as well as asking real-time questions to women already in the industry.

“I witnessed the excitement and the energy of the girls gathered inside the airport, flying airplane simulators, exploring potential aviation careers, and talking with mentors. Potential aviatrices were eagerly asking questions, but once inside the aircraft, and especially sitting in the pilot seats, the questions were replaced with wide eyes and big smiles,” said Evan McMillen, Assistant Chief Pilot of Air Wisconsin Airlines, “What an amazing and uncommon opportunity for young women to explore a world that has mostly been male dominated, and to discover that a career in aviation is within their reach!”

Aside from the benefit of this event to the aviation community, it also brought joy to the our Domicile city of Milwaukee as well as most of the youth attending were from many local schools in the Milwaukee area. Mandi Neumann, Flight Attendant for Air Wisconsin Airlines, said “We were able to show the girls airport operations, have them fly flight simulators, and tour a Jet Out TBM and an Air Wisconsin CRJ-200. We also had representatives from the 128th Air Refueling Wing. The girls were very excited that they were able to sit in the flight deck of the CRJ-200 where they got to have their picture taken in the captain’s seat.” Mandi made note that one girl even exclaimed,

“This is so cool! I didn’t think I would actually get to see where the pilots fly the airplane!”

Not only did they get to see the cockpit of the aircraft, another Air Wisconsin flight attendant named Hope Frank was able to show the girls the cabin and the galley while Mandi led the tour of the flight deck.

Mandi is also the membership chair of the Southeastern WI chapter of WAI and said “Our chapter has at least two of these outreach events each year. I think it’s important to be involved in the community. A lot of the girls at this event had never been on an airplane before. This event gave them the opportunity to see that there are many career opportunities in aviation that they may not have considered before.”

We are honored to be able to help represent the commercial aviation industry at these events and be a reliable source to the future pilots of the world. Creating experiences that last a lifetime for the ones that will someday (hopefully) be in charge of the skies.

Special thanks to Mim R., Evan M., Robin B., Mandi N., Hope F. and Hanna B. & Sheila A. for assisting with bringing an aircraft over, assisting with escorting, giving the girls a tour of our a/c and working the swag table.

For more information on Air Wisconsin Airlines please visit our site at https://www.airwis.com/ and if you have any media inquiries or would like to share event photos please contact Kayla at kayla.floyd@airwis.com

For more information on Women In Aviation- SE Wisconsin Chapter and their outreach efforts please email wai.sewisconsin@gmail.com with questions

A&P Means Opportunity, Part 3: Technical Auditors

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If you missed Part 1: Maintenance Controllers read it HERE, or read Part 2: Maintenance Planning Coordinators HERE.

Safety is always the top priority in aviation. Air Wisconsin’s Tech Ops team follows regulations put in place by the FAA, DOT, OSHA and the EPA as well as company policies and procedures. Plus, we have an additional layer of oversite from the Quality Assurance Department to keep an eye on our operation and find ways to improve on processes.

As a Technical Auditor, you will become very familiar with all aspects of our maintenance operation since you’ll spend 75% of your time on the road visiting our base locations and vendors. The internal audits you preform will evaluate regulatory compliance and help determine the effectiveness of our policies and procedures. Using your past maintenance experience and excellent judgement, you can make recommendations for improvements to help our team work even safer and more efficiently.

In addition to developing and conducting audits for our base locations and maintenance offices, you will also audit vendors. Currently, Air Wisconsin uses a handful of outside facilities for heavy check maintenance and some on-call maintenance repairs. You will also inspect our fuel service providers to ensure they’re meeting specifications.

Here’s a photo from our operation in Chicago at O’Hare.

This career opportunity is great for someone with previous experience in a FAR Part 121 Air Carrier environment and a comprehensive understanding of the General Maintenance Manual system who also likes to travel. Like our Maintenance Planning Coordinator position, you don’t need an A&P certificate to be a Technical Auditor. But, this is an option to consider if you have an A&P and are looking to do something other than maintain aircraft.

It’s also worth mentioning that our Technical Auditors have flexibility when choosing a home base. You could be based at one of our maintenance facilities in Appleton, WI; Milwaukee, WI; Dayton; OH; or Columbia, SC or even in Chicago, IL where we use an on-call provider.

Learn more about the various positions we have on our Tech Ops team HERE.

A&P Means Opportunity, Part 2: Maintenance Planning Coordinators

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With an A&P certificate, you could work on aircraft or even behind-the-scenes in one of many different roles. Most people don’t realize that there are career opportunities available beyond performing aircraft maintenance. Last week, we explored what Maintenance Controllers do (Read it HERE), and this week let’s check out the purview of a Maintenance Planning Coordinator.

Maintenance Planning Coordinators work on a living puzzle. Analytical skills come in handy when interpreting detailed aircraft maintenance reports to help forecast scheduled maintenance for that day and looking as far as 18 days out. The Coordinator needs to be aware of the manpower available at each Tech Ops facility as well as what tools and parts are available to help craft and coordinate the scheduled maintenance plan.

Of course, as new information becomes available, the plan might need to change. A Maintenance Planning Coordinator may decide to defer some maintenance, within the requirements of the approved maintenance program, to provide relief during Irregular Operations. Or, some scheduled maintenance might be deferred to maximize another opportunity when requested by a maintenance supervisor or station manager. Timely, accurate analysis is crucial in the Coordinator’s role as final authority for deferring tasks and coming up with realistic solutions to achieve performance goals.

Here’s an inside look at one of our GE engines.

During a typical week, a Maintenance Planning Coordinator will work four 10 hour days, and the Coordinators all take turns rotating weekends. Like Maintenance Controllers, Maintenance Planning Coordinators work in the Systems Operation Center located at our headquarters in Appleton, WI, alongside Aircraft Dispatchers and Crew Schedulers.

While an A&P certificate is not required for this position, it is desired and will make you stand out as a candidate. Explore this opportunity and all of our career opportunities HERE.

Read on to learn about Technical Auditors HERE.

A&P Means Opportunity, Part 1: Maintenance Controllers

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You might be surprised to learn having an A&P certificate opens more doors than you think. Everyone pictures the mechanic working on the GE engine—which is an excellent and rewarding career path—but, did you know 30% of our Tech Ops team is made up of support roles? Many jobs are available beyond working on the aircraft.

Maintenance Controllers are the primary point of contact for all maintenance issues on our fleet. They work in the brain of our operation, the Systems Operation Center. If you’ve ever been on a flight waiting to takeoff when suddenly there is a maintenance issue, a Maintenance Controller is the one who determines the airworthiness of the maintenance issue, and if needed, sends a mechanic to fix the problem. They ensure airworthy aircraft are available for every flight and direct contingency maintenance during operations as needed.

While these detail oriented individuals never touch the aircraft, they are very familiar with how to fix aircraft, and most of them have past experience doing so. Our typical Maintenance Controller is a former A&P or Avionics Technician who was drawn to the position for the schedule (four days on, four days off with 11 hours shifts), interested in a “desk job,” and ready to do something a little different with their knowledge and skill set.

All of our Maintenance Controllers are based at our headquarters in Appleton, WI. Learn more HERE. Explore all of the openings on our Tech Ops team HERE.

Next, let’s explore what it means to be a Maintenance Planning Coordinator HERE.