Southern Union State Community College’s new two-year aviation maintenance program has gotten a major boost thanks to a new memorandum of agreement with Auburn University and state funding toward a $4.1 million teaching hangar to be built at Auburn University Regional Airport.
The program offers interested students the opportunity to enter a career field that’s in demand and pays well, says Todd Shackett, president of SUSCC. Potential employers in Alabama alone include Airbus, GE Aviation, Fort Novosel, airports and commercial airlines. “Starting salaries for those who complete a two-year aviation maintenance technology degree (and pass FAA tests) typically range from $75,000 to $80,000, with salaries rising to six figures within five years,” he says. “It’s a healthy living.”
Becoming an aircraft mechanic might not appeal to some with “book smarts” who like to study and take tests, Shackett says, but it could be a perfect for those more hands-on, who have a keen interest and ability to figure out what to do when something breaks. “Plus, the cost for a two-year degree ranges from about $12,000 to $15,000, much less than tuition at a university,” he says.
The aviation industry demand for both technicians and pilots is growing in part because the pipeline for aviation industry workers was negatively affected by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, says James Birdsong, the interim director of the School of Aviation at Auburn. “After 9/ll, there was less travel so there was less demand,” he says. “It’s been called a lost decade. Now there’s lots of opportunity. Many current technicians are in their 40s and 50s already, and now a new generation is coming in.”
The 2024 Boeing Technician Outlook projects there will be a need for 123,000 technicians for commercial carriers in North America over the 20 years ending 2042 and a demand for 716,000 technicians globally.
Auburn aviation leaders, including recently retired Aviation Director James Witte, were instrumental in helping kick off the aviation maintenance program, Shackett says. “Auburn approached us four or five years ago about the growing need for aircraft technicians,” he says. “For every pilot you need five or six maintenance technicians, and no local school was producing them. Here we have a major airport with the potential of students interacting with experienced technicians.”
The relatively new SUSCC program started small last fall and has a waiting list, Shackett says. The first year, an initial 24 students attended the college’s Opelika campus and now are in classes held at the Valley campus. A second group of 24 students started this fall at the Opelika campus.
The program is designed to prepare students to be able to repair, service and maintain all components of aircraft except avionics and instruments. “We already have hired an additional instructor,” Shackett says. “After the teaching hangar is completed, we will have plenty of space to continue expanding the program.”
The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new hangar, which garnered $3.4 million in state funding, was planned for Oct. 31. Construction is expected to take about one year. “Another plus is that the airport will be able to use the hangar on game weekends when there is an overflow of aircraft,” Shackett says. “There are hundreds of aircraft at the airport on game day. So, there really are three pieces to this partnership.”
The SUSCC hangar, which will be located next to the Auburn Aviation hangar, will expand the aviation campus that is developing, says Bill Hutto, Auburn airport’s executive director. “This is a very exciting program that will benefit the students of Auburn and Southern Union, as well as the community and state, as these students seek employment after graduation,” he says. “Southern Union’s graduates that work for Auburn have the opportunity to take advantage of Auburn’s tuition benefit program to earn a four-year degree while working full-time. This is a win-win for everyone involved, and the hangar will be a great addition to the airport’s facilities.”
Those who wish to continue their education at Auburn for a bachelor’s degree in aviation management after earning their two-year degree in aviation maintenance can earn even higher salaries, Shackett says. “If parents and students are looking for a four-year degree, that can be an option.”
Auburn’s School of Aviation, one of the nation’s top-rated programs, is located at the airport with the flight program on the west side and administration on the east side, Birdsong says. The flight program has one maintenance hangar for its 50 airplanes next to the Delta Air Lines Aviation Education Building. “We have our own maintenance technicians for those, and the program is expected to increase its fleet to 64 by October 2025. Our flight program enrollment is up to 800 this year.”
The new memorandum is an understanding between Auburn and SUSCC that they agree to work together to leverage their strengths, Birdsong says. “The relationship will evolve and change over time, but there is a ton of synergy in the partnership. There’s lots of possibilities in being co-located, including research.”
Birdsong says Auburn’s airport, a federally funded FAA public airport, is also evolving as it continues to upgrade. “Auburn University bought the airport, which was basically a field, for $375 in 1939,” he says. “We’ve come a long way since then.”
Kathy Hagood and Stew Milne are freelance contributors to Business Alabama. She is based in Homewood and he in Auburn.
This article appears in the November 2024 issue of Business Alabama.
