[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
TROUBLED SKIES: THE AVIATION WORKFORCE SHORTAGE'S IMPACT ON SMALL
BUSINESSES
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONTRACTING AND WORKFORCE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
__________
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Small Business Committee Document Number 115-090
Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
__________
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, Chairman
STEVE KING, Iowa
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
DAVE BRAT, Virginia
AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American Samoa
STEVE KNIGHT, California
TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
ROD BLUM, Iowa
JAMES COMER, Kentucky
JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, Puerto Rico
BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
JOHN CURTIS, Utah
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member
DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
STEPHANIE MURPHY, Florida
AL LAWSON, JR., Florida
YVETTE CLARKE, New York
JUDY CHU, California
ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
VACANT
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Majority Staff Director
Jan Oliver, Majority Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Adam Minehardt, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Steve Knight................................................ 1
Hon. Stephanie Murphy............................................ 2
WITNESSES
Mr. Brett Levanto, Vice President of Communications, Aeronautical
Repair Station Association, Alexandria, VA..................... 5
Mr. Martin Lenss, Airport Director, The Eastern Iowa Airport,
Cedar Rapids, IA............................................... 7
Ms. Sarah Oberman Bartush, Chief Marketing Officer & Director of
Business Development, CI Jets, Camarillo, CA................... 8
Mr. Kenneth Withcer, Ph.D., Dean, College of Aeronautics, Embry-
Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, testifying
on behalf of the Aerospace Industries Association.............. 10
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Mr. Brett Levanto, Vice President of Communications,
Aeronautical Repair Station Association, Alexandria, VA.... 20
Mr. Martin Lenss, Airport Director, The Eastern Iowa Airport,
Cedar Rapids, IA........................................... 36
Ms. Sarah Oberman Bartush, Chief Marketing Officer & Director
of Business Development, CI Jets, Camarillo, CA............ 40
Mr. Kenneth Witcher, Ph.D., Dean, College of Aeronautics,
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL,
testifying on behalf of the Aerospace Industries
Association................................................ 43
Questions for the Record:
None.
Answers for the Record:
None.
Additional Material for the Record:
AIA - Aerospace Industries Association....................... 49
Avocet Aviation.............................................. 52
Golden State Air Charter, LLC................................ 59
Helicopter Association International......................... 61
NATA - National Air Transportation Association............... 64
NBAA - National Business Aviation Association................ 67
RAA - Regional Airline Association........................... 70
TROUBLED SKIES: THE AVIATION WORKFORCE SHORTAGE'S IMPACT ON SMALL
BUSINESS
----------
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
House of Representatives,
Committee on Small Business,
Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:01 a.m., in
Room 2360, Rayburn House Office Building. Hon. Steve Knight
[chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives King, Knight, Blum, Evans, Murphy,
and Clarke.
Chairman KNIGHT. Good morning. This hearing will come to
order. Thank you all for coming.
I would especially like to thank our witnesses for being
here today. I know some of you came from long distances and it
is very much appreciated.
So today's hearing will be a little interesting, but I
think it is very important to have hearings like this. Aviation
gets into your blood. There is no doubt about it. As a child,
we are told that the sky is the limit. I personally believe the
sky is not the limit, but the Wright Brothers pushed that limit
in 1903, on my birthday, not the same year, when they flew over
Kitty Hawk for the first time. These are the families steeped
in aviation that have developed a passionate network of small
businesses vital to continuing the existence of worldwide
commerce and geopolitics as we know it. Fixed based operators,
overhaul stations, maintenance operators, and other firms in
aviation are dominated by what many would consider mom and pop
operations.
But as Baby Boomers are beginning to retire, the economy
has begun to feel the strains of their departure. These highly
experienced and highly skilled employees are leaving the
industry at an exponentially faster rate than the new labor is
being brought in.
Studies and anecdotal evidence show that we are only just
beginning to experience the first effects of this shortage.
Reports currently project that by 2027, there will be a 9
percent fault between supply and demand for aviation mechanics
and a need to hire hundreds of thousands of new pilots in the
next 2 decades. With airlines growing and their need for pilots
and mechanics ever increasing, small businesses are
particularly vulnerable to losing their workforce at a faster
rate than their competitors.
Case in point; this Committee invited the owner of a small
charter company in my district to testify today. However, this
small business owner had to cancel his trip at the last minute.
He was unable to staff enough pilots today and had to fly
customers him or risk taking financial loss. The Small Business
Committee does not like financial loss so we were okay with
that. This Committee has unfortunately lost the opportunity to
hear his story as a direct result of this shortage.
In sum, we know far too little about how these shortages
are impacting the small businesses that support the aviation
industry. Small businesses have concerns and additional
complexities that need to be shared and explored. The point of
this hearing is not only to hear the stories of those having
boots on the ground, but to also inform those who are entering
the workforce that aviation is a viable option for their
future. Our economy needs pilots and mechanics, and our
witnesses are here to tell their stories they are having about
hiring people right here, like you, and right now. We look
forward to your testimony.
Remember, this testimony is to look at what is happening in
the economy today, not just from small businesses, but what is
going to happen in the future. We have talked about several
things in Small Business and in SST and in other Committees
about how aviation is going to change in the next 20 years. How
we are going to be flying across this country at Mach 2,
probably within 20 years. I would hope it is sooner than that,
but we have been flying at Mach .7 since 1961 across this
country and you can see that we are now trying to push this
envelope forward so that we can do these things. Aviation is
going to be growing in the movement of goods, in the movement
of people. We are seeing companies like Amazon--this is my
personal PSA, it is off the script--but we are seeing companies
like Amazon that are moving toward moving goods very quickly,
overnight, in 2 hours in some circumstances in some cities.
Goods movement and people movement is quickly growing and
quickly going faster. That is one of the purposes of this
Committee hearing is that we know this is not 1985 where we
jump into an L-1011 and we go across country. Aviation is not
just in our blood but it is everything that we do today as far
as moving goods and people.
So now I would like to yield to the Ranking Member, Ms.
Murphy, for her comments.
Ms. MURPHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
While the U.S. economy has improved over the past decade,
small business owners across the Nation continue to face
challenges finding skilled, qualified workers. By 2020, it is
estimated that our economy will have approximately 55 million
job vacancies, and about 40 percent of those jobs are expected
to be new openings, while the remaining 60 percent will be jobs
left vacant by workers from the Baby Boomer generation. And
this is a staggering projection.
And today, we are going to focus on the workforce
challenges facing the aviation industry and its ability to
recruit and retain qualified workers to occupy jobs across the
aviation ecosystem. And I think that is a very important topic
for us to take a look at on this Committee.
Over 90 percent of the businesses in the aviation industry
are small businesses involved in airline transportation, air
transport support, and aviation manufacturing. And these small
firms provide the support and technical knowhow that is
necessary to ensure safe plan travel, operations, and
maintenance.
The aviation workforce helps communities across the country
access the global transportation network and generate economic
activity. For example, in my district, the Orlando Sanford
International Airport provides economic opportunities to local
small businesses, it increases local tourism, and it provides
additional transportation to the traveling public, which is
particularly important in a destination like Orlando.
As the demand for air travel continues to increase and
aircraft engineering becomes more innovative, some in the
aviation industry have expressed concerns about a growing labor
shortage.
And these concerns largely stem from a perceived decline in
the number of people pursuing certifications in the aviation
sector, combined with an anticipated increase in the rate of
Baby Boomer retirements within the next decade.
And there have also been concerns raised in the past that
outsourcing has negatively impacted aviation mechanics, so I
hope to learn from this hearing about ways to mitigate this
problem.
Additionally, I want to take a moment to make clear that I
believe that weakening critical safety regulations would be
misguided. When it comes to our pilot supply, it is important
that we focus our efforts on getting more young people excited
about the aviation profession and making financial aid for
their training more accessible.
From 2001 to 2009, we had six fatal crashes in regional
airlines, and since the new safety rules were implemented, we
have had zero. And so I think those results speak for
themselves.
While the impact of aviation workforce shortages on small
business is largely underreported and more data needs to be
compiled to provide us with a more holistic understanding of
the issue, I think the potential effect will ripple across the
aviation industry and have broader implications for the U.S.
economy. And today's testimony from our witnesses will help to
inform us about the steps that can be taken to ensure our
country's vital aviation industrial base is strong and
sustainable.
So I thank the witnesses for being here and look forward to
hearing how we can help support our aviation workforce and
ensure America's small businesses are empowered to move our
economy forward.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the remainder of
my time.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you very much.
And now we will introduce our witnesses.
First, I would like to introduce Mr. Brett Levanto, Vice
President of Operations for Obadal, Filler, MacLeod, and Klein,
and Vice President of Communications for the Aeronautical
Repair Station Association (ARSA). Mr. Levanto has been
immersed in public engagement and service throughout his
personal and professional life, actively volunteering in
support of aviation, military, and veteran services, and
previously working as a civilian consultant to the Marine
Corps. At OFM&K, Mr. Levanto's primary focus is on workforce
development, airman certification, and training matters.
We welcome you today.
Now, I would like to yield to Mr. Blum for Mr. Lenss
introduction.
Mr. BLUM. Thank you, Chairman Knight.
I am proud to introduce our second witness, Mr. Martin
Lenss. Mr. Lenss is the Director of the Eastern Iowa Airport in
Cedar Rapids, located within my district. He has 25 years of
airport experience, including having held similar positions at
regional airports in Minnesota and Wisconsin--and we will not
hold that against you, Marty. Mr. Lenss has created, organized,
and led a regional economic development forum on the pilot
shortage, focusing on impacts to Iowa's communities, and led
one of the first multistate airport forums on the pilot
shortage issue.
Thank you for sharing your time with us today, Marty, and
we look forward to your testimony.
And I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you very much.
Our third witness, Ms. Sarah Oberman Bartush. Ms. Bartush
is the Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Business
Development for CI Jets, the executive jet charter division of
Channel Islands Aviation located in Camarillo, California. Ms.
Bartush started her career managing the flight school at
Channel Islands Aviation founded by her parents in 1976. Since
then, she has obtained nearly every certificate or approval for
a flight school in the State of California, and created the
Youth Aviation Academy in 2012, to inspire youth to pursue
careers in aviation. Ms. Bartush is currently involved in pilot
recruitment, aircraft management, charter sales, and marketing,
while also supervising operation of Channel Islands Aviation
Flight School.
We welcome you here today.
Now, I would like to yield to the Ranking Member for our
fourth witness.
Ms. MURPHY. It is my pleasure to introduce Dr. Ken Witcher,
the Dean of the College of Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, right up the street
from my district. Dr. Witcher's aviation experience includes 20
years of service in the United States Air Force, during which
he was superintendent of an operational test and evaluation
squadron and field training detachment chief for multiple
aircrafts and supporting systems. Dr. Witcher previously served
as chair of the Nevada Aerospace and Defense Sector Council,
reporting directly to the Governor's Workforce Investment
Board. He received a Masters of Aeronautical Science from
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Doctorate in
Philosophy in Business Administration with a focus in Aviation
Science and Public Administration from North Central
University. He is testifying on behalf of the Aerospace
Industry Association today.
Welcome, Dr. Witcher, and thank you for your service.
Chairman KNIGHT. Okay. Okay. So a couple housekeeping. Upon
hearing that this Subcommittee would be meeting on this issue
today, professional aviation organizations reached out to my
office and this committee asking to submit letters for the
record. Organizations such as Helicopter Association
International, National Business Aviation Association, the
Regional Airlines Association, and the National Air
Transportation Association felt as though their small business
members were uniquely impacted and had specific concerns that
needed to be part of the proceedings today. At this time, I
would like to submit copies of their letters for the record.
If Committee members have an opening statement prepared, I
ask that they be submitted for the record.
I would like to take a moment to explain what those lights
are in front of you and what they are going to be doing. You
will each have 5 minutes to testify today. As the yellow light
comes on you have a minute. And then as Chairman Chabot always
says, when you have the red light comes on that means start
wrapping it up. So we will be very flexible today and we would
like to hear your testimony. So just kind of take that with a
grain of salt.
Okay. Let's move on. And we are going to start witnesses.
Mr. Levanto, you can start, and you have 5 minutes.
STATEMENTS OF BRETT LEVANTO, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS,
AERONAUTICAL REPAIR STATION ASSOCIATION; MARTIN LENSS, AIRPORT
DIRECTOR, THE EASTERN IOWA AIRPORT; SARAH OBERMAN BARTUSH,
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER & DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, CI
JETS; KENNETH WITCHER, PH.D., DEAN, COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS,
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY
STATEMENT OF BRETT LEVANTO
Mr. LEVANTO. Thank you very much, Chairman Knight, Ranking
Member Murphy. I will be loyal to my 5 minutes because I am
dangerous if given leeway when it comes to time limits.
Thank you for having this discussion and involving the
Aeronautical Repair Station Association, an organization that
represents businesses from across the aviation industry
performing work and operating international and U.S. civil
aircraft around the world, and also performing work on
government contracts and military equipment. In addition to the
core independent repair stations, these are organizations
bearing certification from the U.S. FAA or other international
aviation authorities. ARSA also represents and works with
manufacturers, parts producers, airlines and other operators,
in addition to service providers and industry stakeholders to
maintain and perform work across the entire aviation system.
These companies form an international and interconnected
industry that in the United States employs nearly 300,000
Americans and produces $47 billion in annual economic activity.
The Subcommittee is well represented. The seven states on this
body employ nearly 80,000 men and women who generate $12
billion annually in economic activity. That means that those
seven states represent more than a quarter of employment in the
economy of aviation maintenance and parts production services.
For these businesses, recruitment and retaining of skilled,
technical individuals to perform work on aircraft has become
the industry's most pressing, strategic challenge. It involves
itself in every discussion and has become a part of doing
business. Now, the industry structure might be interesting to
most of the general public who view aviation as the bastion of
big businesses and large organizations from whom they buy
tickets and with whom they ship goods.
But the reality is that small businesses are the rule.
ARSA's data indicates that the average repair station employs
just 46 people, and that number is inflated by the few large
players in the market such that the typical repair station is
actually much smaller. They operate in small teams, using high-
tech capabilities to perform a specialized set of tasks and
passing both savings and increased quality onto their customers
in civil industry and the government, and on to the flying
public and the entire American community.
The aviation market is a hopeful one. ARSA's members plan
to capitalize on expanding growth and hopeful future workforce
projections by adding to their own workforces. However, they
have reported for years now nearly unanimous difficulty in
finding and retaining technically skilled workers. That work
does require a high level of skill, not just from certificated
personnel, but from different kinds of technicians with varying
levels of experience and responsibility and specialized
technical abilities in order to perform work on civil aircraft
and articles. Continuing the capabilities of this workforce
requires robust employer-managed training programs, not just to
onboard personnel, which can take years in terms of creating a
useful and profitable technician in the workplace, but also to
maintain continuing skills and technical capabilities to keep
up with advancing technologies and meet customer demands to
keep aircraft airworthy.
The greatest challenge facing this workforce was touched on
by Ranking Member Murphy in her opening remarks, and that is
that technician skills are attractive across every high-tech
industry, all of which are suffering to find personnel to fill
vacancies. That means that small aviation businesses, which is
four out of five of the 4,000 firms in the United States, must
compete for talent against the automotive, heavy equipment, and
even amusement park industry for personnel who find their
skills to be attractive. Considering the high demands and
personal responsibility placed on aviation workers, this is a
tough pull for small businesses who have tight margins and
heavy regulatory burdens of their own.
The impact is strong. ARSA's analysis indicates that right
now the open technical positions at U.S. repair stations are
already costing the industry $2 billion a year and forcing
businesses to increase time to complete their work, delay
accepting new orders, delay facility expansions, and even
rejecting new work opportunities.
The stark reality of this is as you mentioned, Chairman
Knight, projections do not even indicate that we are already in
a point of a workforce shortage. Our own data indicates that
the year 2022 is our year of reckoning because that is when
supply of available technicians will officially fall short of
demand from industry and will continue growing worse
thereafter. Considering that the numbers do not even show that
we are in a shortage yet and we are already suffering so
greatly at the challenge of finding technical talent, I think
it is clear that the industry is facing a gathering storm.
ARSA and its members look forward to working with you to
continue to foster industry and government collaboration,
stimulate investment in technical training, develop and nurture
technical skills and a cultural appreciation for hands-on work,
and establish robust aviation career pathways for certificated
mechanics and noncertificated technicians in order to help
remind the world that it cannot fly without us.
Thanks very much.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you very much.
And Mr. Lenss, you now have 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MARTIN LENSS
Mr. LENSS. Good morning. And thank you, Chairman Knight and
Ranking Member Murphy, and members of the Subcommittee. And
special thank you for Congressman Blum for the kind
introduction.
It is a privilege to testify about the most pressing threat
facing aviation today. Often lost in this discussion about the
shortage of pilots and aviation mechanics is the impact this
problem has on local economies. Thank you for including an
airport in a small community perspective in this discussion
today.
Now, airports do not train, we do not hire, and we do not
employ pilots or technicians, but we certainly depend on them.
Pilots in the entire aerospace industry enable our communities
to be connected, and connectivity to the national
transportation system is essential to ensure both our local
communities and small businesses remain vibrant.
The Iowa City/Cedar Rapids region is known as ICR Iowa. It
includes seven counties and is home to half a million people.
ICRI was also home to several key economic drivers. To name a
few: Rockwell Collins, Transamerica, World Class Healthcare,
ACT. Maybe many of you took the ACT exam to get into college.
Procter & Gamble, Cargill, Quaker Oats, CRST International, and
of course, our beloved Hawkeyes at the University of Iowa. CID
is very proud to connect these entities to the world.
As important though are the many small businesses which
make these major employers successful. These are suppliers,
vendors, contractors, customers, and others, all depend on
CID's air service directly or indirectly. The shortage of
pilots is threatening this service, and therefore, these jobs.
The pilot shortage is very real and it is here now. The U.S. is
not producing nearly enough pilots to meet industry's needs.
Less than half the need is met each year. Passenger traffic is
increasing, yet our departures nationally are decreasing.
Despite a strong economy, service continues to shrink and CID
is just a microcosm of this. The Eastern Iowa Airport, we are
on pace for a record year in passengers this year. Our
unemployment rate is now under 3 percent, but our departures
are down 7 percent. Clearly something more is going on when
your economy is this robust and airlines are reducing service.
Frequent, reliable air service is critical for local
business. It keeps us connected to the global business system.
At CID, we can only withstand so many cuts before our employers
are negatively impacted. According to a survey conducted by
Iowa DOT, the top three issues affecting business decisions to
expand or relocate your communities are workforce, taxes, and
air service. To build on the air service a little bit more,
Peoria, Illinois, recently lost a key economic driver when
nearly after a century Caterpillar moved its corporate
headquarters from Peoria to Chicago for better transportation.
In 2011, Chiquita left Cincinnati for Charlotte. In 2013,
Archer Daniels Midland announced it was leaving Decatur for
Chicago. Each major employer's departure has a ripple effect
through the small business and philanthropic communities.
Small communities see this trend. The service disruptions
dominate our news. There is no silver bullet. Increased
collaboration is very much needed across industry, government,
and communities is absolutely imperative.
Some things for us to further talk about, and Ranking
Member Murphy spoke of lowing the financial profession barriers
to the profession. We believe that to be key. Increasing the
number of pathways to accrue the necessary training and
experience, modernizing the pilot training. All of this can be
done and improve safety within the existing regulatory
framework. Virtually every state has an airport that will face
the loss of service in the coming years. Already, 3 dozen
communities have lost air service. Another 2 dozen have lost 75
percent. Unless we mitigate this crisis, the damage to our
Nation's communities, our industry and small businesses will be
devastating.
Thank you again for including my perspective, and I look
forward to answering any questions you may have. Thank you.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you very much.
Ms. Bartush, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF SARAH OBERMAN BARTUSH
Ms. BARTUSH. Okay. Good morning, Chairman Knight, Ranking
Member Murphy, and other esteemed members of Congress here
today. It is a pleasure for me to be here.
My name is Sarah Oberman Bartush, and I am from Camarillo,
California. I have grown up in the aviation industry as my
parents, Mark and Janie Oberman founded our business, Channel
Islands Aviation, in 1976.
Our business is unique in the fact that we operate an
executive charter operation under our DBA CI Jets. We have a
busy flight school where we train pilots professionally, and we
also have a maintenance operation to maintain our fleet. The
workforce shortages are deeply impacting our business.
First off, our flight school does not have enough flight
instructors. We currently have 115 active students with only 10
flight instructors on staff. In the past 3 years, we have lost
19 flight instructors to either corporate or regional airlines.
Right now, we desperately need to hire, yet we are not getting
any resumes in the door. We have a waitlist right now for
flight students, 13 people long, so we desperately need to
hire. I need to have at least three more full-time instructors
on staff right now. If we are unable to find flight instructors
in the future, we will not be able to sustain our flight
training business.
Another problem facing our flight school is that becoming a
flight instructor is not a necessary step in a commercial
pilot's career anymore. Historically, commercial graduates
would go and flight instruct for a couple years before they
move on to say a corporate position or a regional airline.
However, right now, our graduates with as little as 200 hours
of flight time are taking jobs flying as copilot in jets for
charter operators. Just last week I got an email from a fellow
operator on our field that operates a large fleet of business
jets and he said that he had six position openings and they
were looking to hire our new commercial graduates. So our
graduates are looking at either flying the right seat of a jet
or they are looking at flying for us in a small, single engine
Cessna. And obviously, they are going to go fly something that
is bigger and faster. So we are losing those opportunities just
right in our flight school right there.
The next issue that we are facing in our maintenance
department is that we have been unable to hire and retain
aircraft mechanics. We have been continuously hiring mechanics
for the past 2 years, and due to the fact that we have such a
workforce shortage with mechanics, our flight school has
experienced many delays and flight cancelations due to the fact
that we cannot get aircraft out of the shop. We have been
operating sometimes with as little as only two mechanics on the
floor, and we operate a fleet of 12 aircraft in our flight
school, while also doing outside maintenance.
Over in CI Jets, our executive jet charter division, we
operate four jet aircraft and employ seven pilots.
Traditionally, when a pilot chooses to go corporate or fly
private aircraft, they maintain that course, or they might go
for the airlines. And traditionally, they will actually retire
in that position. However, right now we are seeing our
corporate pilots take the plunge and go fly for the airlines
because the packages and the sign-on bonuses and all the
benefits for the airlines is so compelling that they are making
a career change.
In the past year, we have had two of our highest paid and
most senior pilots give resignation to go fly for the major
airlines. Both were making about $200,000 a year flying a $20
million airplane all over the world to exotic destinations, so
that has been a big challenge for us in losing pilots to the
airlines. When we do lose a pilot, it is a financial burden to
us because the training event to bring on a new pilot costs
anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000, and so with the turnover and
the continuous cost of training, it is really, really hard for
us to sustain being in this business.
It is really important right now to get the word out that
it is a really good time to become a pilot. I mean, there are
so many job opportunities out there and companies like mine
could definitely benefit from that. But without enough flight
instructors to train incoming pilots, it is going to be
impossible to produce them. And without corporate pilots, many
businesses that rely on corporate aviation as a means of
conducting business and going to different locations, they are
not going to have that option.
So I really appreciate this topic being brought forth
today, and I look forward to taking all of your questions. It
is a pleasure being here. Thank you.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you very much.
Dr. Witcher, you have 5 minutes. We look forward to your
testimony.
STATEMENT OF KEN WITCHER
Mr. WITCHER. Thank you, Chairman Knight and Ranking Member
Murphy, and members of the Committee. Thank you so much for
allowing me to come here today to talk about this topic that is
certainly very important to us. Aviation is in my blood as
well, Mr. Knight, and this is an important topic to us at the
university as well. I have had the chance for the last 5 years
to lead the College of Aeronautics at the Embry-Riddle
worldwide campus, and it is an exciting time to be in aviation.
Embry-Riddle as a whole has been in this business for about
90 years educating this workforce that we have out there. We
offer degrees. We also offer professional education to
companies out there as well that we are able to support as we
move forward.
The big picture, and I think you guys have captured this in
your testimonies you had this morning and the testimonies from
our previous Committee or panelists up here, is if you look at
the research, going back as far as in the early 1980s, there
was clear research that connected an economic impact to the air
service of the community. So there is a connection here to the
small businesses and to economic growth without a doubt.
So what is happening with the industry today? And if you
look at it from a global perspective, as the large
manufacturers produce a forecast each year, they are saying in
the next 20 years or so we are going to need about 790,000
pilots globally. Here in the United States that would be about
almost 200,000 pilots, and about 754,000 maintainers globally
just to match the growth that is happening in the industry that
was mentioned previously. That is a lot of folks, and these are
skilled labor forces, so this is not just--there are really no
nonskilled labor forces here in the area.
So as we talk about this as a whole, let's come back to the
pilot shortage in particular. And by the way, you mentioned a
report that you got from the National Business Aviation
Association. I think that one is an important one to pay
attention to as well. The folks that they represent, about 97
percent of their companies are small to medium businesses. As
you are hearing up here today, that is a big impact out there,
not just to the Boeings of the world and the Deltas of the
world, but also to the small businesses that we have out there
that we support.
So the pilot shortage in particular, Sarah was just saying
there is usually two tracts to become a pilot. One is through
the military, of course. They produce about 1,000 pilots a
year. They are growing as many of you might have heard just in
the last week or two, that Secretary Wilson, Heather Wilson had
mentioned that they were trying to grow I think 73 squadrons is
what she was saying. So they are going to put a burden on that
training pipeline into this that is usually typically supported
this commercial world. And then there are the flight schools.
And many of those flight schools are small businesses, but then
there are flight schools that are larger. What you are hearing
from Sarah in particular is what our flight schools are
experiencing. So as the large organizations, the Deltas,
Uniteds of this world are out there and they need resources,
they need pilots, they have resources to attract that talent.
If you look at pilot pay in the majors, over the last few
years it has increased. I think that is a pretty good indicator
of them trying to bring in good talent. Now, where do they take
their pilots from? Well, they are taking their pilots from
these corporate aviation organizations and from the regionals.
And when we take pilots from the regionals, what are we doing?
Well, we are reducing service. That was mentioned here by one
of the other panelists. And it keeps going down until you get
to this problem that Sarah very clearly identified, which is
that CFI problem. And without the instructors, how do we
educate and train the students and the pilots of the future? So
that is where that problem really does kind of become a
significant issue for all of us that are wanting to support the
aviation industry.
And that has two impacts on small business. Like I was
mentioning, reduced services out there and then the things that
Sarah identified, the ability to support these small flight
training schools and those type of organizations that rely on
this talent and this workforce.
So the technician piece of this house is very similar. It
has been identified by our first witness down there as well. If
you look at just the United States, we are saying about 154,000
or so. Some of the reports out there indicate that we will need
that kind of talent. The interesting thing here though is that
with the pilot problem, the pilot issue challenge that we are
facing, there are a lot of people that want to be pilots. We
heard that. And there are aircraft out there to do that. What
we are missing is that CFI part of this.
In the technician piece of the house it is a little
different. We have got capacity in those schools and we have
got to figure out a way to get that talent in there and through
that capacity the technician problem could be as big to small
businesses as we heard earlier with some of the MROs as the
pilot shortage is.
So just to kind of summarize this thing, there are
challenges out there without a doubt. There are a lot of people
out there, including up here on the Hill, that are working very
hard to solve those challenges. And one of those things that we
have been able to get very excited about recently is this
opportunity to look at our career skill bridges that happen out
there. It is where we take and we are separating military folks
and we are bringing them in with certain types of training and
getting them into these areas. In particular, these areas where
they are wanting this 3 to 5 years' experience in these skill
sets.
So a lot of opportunity out there. Some answers to some of
these challenges, and I look forward to your questions. Thank
you.
Chairman KNIGHT. Very good. We will go through the
Committee up here and ask a few questions. We try to keep our
questions to 5 minutes, too, and if we can, we come back for
another round.
But I have got a question kind of for the panel. We see
that if there is a pilot shortage and there is an instructor
shortage, which I firmly agree that there is, but the
technician shortage of maintaining the aircraft, of making sure
that we are putting safe aircraft in the air, where are we
looking to get them? So if I go to Embry-Riddle and I get
pilots out of there or I get them somewhere else across the
country, where are I getting my maintainers? Maybe Mr. Levanto,
you can help me with that. I am betting some come from the
military, so I am going to take that one kind of off the board.
But where are the rest coming?
Mr. LEVANTO. Sure. Well, answering that question requires
very briefly understanding the different types of individuals
that perform work in maintenance facilities. So certificated
mechanics, A&P, airframe and power plant mechanics attract the
most attention and are the gold standards. They bear individual
certifications from the FAA to perform work on civil aircraft
and they have a variety of privileges and responsibilities that
go along with that. There are also individuals holding
repairman certificates who have not necessarily gone through
the same pathway to get to their certification, but they have a
specialized skill that makes them particularly valuable and
effective in performing work on a civil aircraft. And they get
their certificate under their employer's endorsement. And it is
tied to that employer and tied to the specific work that they
perform in order to be a part of the civil aviation landscape.
Those certificated individuals are supported by noncertficated
technicians who have knowledge and skills, and in fact, are
required to have knowledge and skills and access to necessary
data to perform work and they do so in coordination with their
certificated coworkers who provide supervision support and sign
off on work for return to service. So understanding all the
pieces of that pie show that there is actually a variety of
pathways through which individuals can get into a maintenance
environment.
Chairman KNIGHT. So we are looking at maybe four or five
steps of people that work on aircraft for their certain skill
level, their certain certification, and their certain education
that they have in that arena?
Mr. LEVANTO. Yes, sir.
Chairman KNIGHT. Are we finding that the--I do not want to
say the lower step, but the step that is not certified, that
is, as you say, the repairman that goes in there, is working on
a specific aircraft and a specific place, like maybe Ms.
Bartush's business, is there a huge shortage there or is that
kind of an on-the-job training of we are trying to grab people
and they are working for us and we are putting them into this
position?
Mr. LEVANTO. Actually, in many ways that is a resource we
can take further advantage of. Aviation businesses tend to
focus on certificated personnel, and there is some sense behind
that. But those are the individuals that are getting those gold
standard skills that are then getting poached out of their 147
programs or they are experienced to go work in other
industries. The groups that we have worked with, the
organizations that have had a lot of success are those who have
developed robust internal training to turn noncertificated
personnel who are eager to learn, have the character necessary
to show up to work every day and perform exemplary, and growing
them through the experience requirements of part 65 into
individuals eligible to get their personal certification. And a
great example of that from Alaska, Warbelow's Air actually has
a helper program built into their training program which they
are required to have under their own certification, and they
have been growing technicians over the course of 3 to 5 years
into individuals who are ready to take their tests and take
their own A&P certification.
Chairman KNIGHT. Okay. So let me expand this out a little
bit.
In my district, we build a lot of airplanes. We have a lot
of aviation in my district. We are doing some innovative things
over the next 20, 30, 50 years, and we needed some folks. So we
built a program though our junior college. It is called the
AFAB Center, and it is for basically basic fabrication of
airplanes. Need to be able to show up, need to be able to pass
a urine test because it is a DOD job, and need to be able to
have a basic understanding of schematics. And we have a very
robust group there that is being hired now by many of the
companies at about a 97 percent clip. So if you make it through
this program, you are probably going to be hired, and it is
going to be a good job and good benefits and all of that.
I think, because of the economy and just kind of follow me
here, we need to look at some of these kind of connections to
our junior colleges. We all have junior colleges. We all have
tech schools. We all have universities in our districts or in
our state that are very willing to open up certified programs.
We all know about the 4-year degrees, but we also know that we
need people in jobs to put the square peg in the square hole
quicker sometimes. And that means getting the certification
that you need, getting the training that you need, and getting
into the job. So I think that that is part of our goal in
Congress is making sure that we are getting the workforce in to
work. And that is obviously a goal here at the Small Business.
We want the opportunities to be filled by folks that can take
advantage.
So I will come back to me, but I would like to go to the
Ranking Member, Ms. Murphy.
Ms. MURPHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just as Mr. Chairman said, I am very interested in seeing
that we get folks into jobs, but particularly veterans. And so
I have a particular interest in the Department of Defense Skill
Bridge program that you mentioned. Specifically, we just were
able to pass into law some changes to the Transition Assistance
program to enable greater emphasis on educating service members
as they transition into civilian life about career
opportunities, career and technical training, education
options, as well as entrepreneurship potential. So hopefully,
that will be an opportunity to highlight a program like the
Skill Bridge program.
But I was wondering, you know, is it for all types of
aviation skills, not just pilots? Also, what kind of throughput
are you currently seeing? And then finally, the witnesses have
talked a lot about certification. How do we translate military
experience into civilian certification in a way that is
portable?
Mr. WITCHER. Yeah. Thanks, Ms. Murphy. That is a great
question. And you are right. The Skill Bridge program is part
of the transitioning service member program. It is approved. It
is very exciting. And what we are looking for, as Mr. Knight
mentioned, we need skill sets. We need the square peg in the
square hole here. We do not necessarily need a 4-year degree,
although that is a valuable product in this business. But we
need to get the skillsets out there. So we have these folks
that spent 3 to 5 to 7 to 20 years in some cases serving in the
military, working on these high performance aircraft. Why could
we not take them out and fill some of this need that we have
out there. And in particular, a lot of the smaller businesses
that are out there that are in the MO world, they are looking
with somebody with 3 to 5 years' experience because, as we
mentioned, that cost to train somebody internally. So somebody
that comes with experience would be a big benefit. These are
those folks. And to Mr. Knight's comments there, they can pass
a drug test typically, and they know how to show up for work
showing out of the service. So these are the folks that would
meet that bill.
Now, there is no direct correlation, unfortunately, from
their experiences in the service to the certificate from the
FAA, but that is not a game killer there. There are still some
opportunities there. The part 65 that was mentioned earlier is
a way that we can take that skillset if they have enough to
pass, to meet the experience criteria, we can provide the
education part of this and very clearly close that gap.
But even more important than that, what we are hearing from
the industries that we are talking to now about starting this
career skills gap program with the A&P mechanics is that they
do not necessarily need the A&P certificate. They are looking
for the capability, the skillset that is coming out of there.
So we can quickly cross that gap with some of these processes,
some of these programs, such as this transition program that
you mentioned. So, and in some cases, they are not even needing
folks that have experience on aircraft. They want somebody that
is mechanically inclined. Some of these large manufacturers--
and I apologize. I am under an NDA. I need my job. So I cannot
tell you exactly who we were talking to there right now. I
would love to later. But these companies, large companies, are
seriously looking for any type. They are getting kind of
desperate to look for bus drivers in some cases. Not anything
wrong with bus drivers. But they are looking for a skillset
that has a capability out there. So anybody coming out of a MOS
or an AFIC that has a mechanical inclination, they believe with
us, our help and their training programs, we can make them a
productive member to meet this gap that you so clearly
identified.
Ms. MURPHY. That is great. Thank you so much for that
thorough answer.
Mr. Levanto, I had a question on a separate issue. You
know, I understand that there have been concerns about a
growing share of aircraft maintenance being offshored to repair
facilities located overseas. Does competition from the overseas
repair facilities affect your industry's ability to retain
employees and attract new employees to the maintenance
workforce?
Mr. LEVANTO. Thank you for that question. It is important
to remember that maintenance is taking place all over the
world, and in fact, it is a requirement that facilities bearing
FAA certification are available to perform work on U.S. flagged
aircraft wherever they go. In many cases, the facilities that
are performing work overseas are actually connected to our own
by U.S. companies. So in a way we have been able to educate a
lot over the past decade or so about the fact that so-called
outsourcing or offshoring actually ties into the very capable
network of American businesses that are performing work on
aircraft. And the fact of the matter is that those
organizations that are performing work overseas, just like here
in the United States, are meeting equivalent standards of
safety that are overseen by the FAA often in partnership with
its bilateral partners or other civil aviation authorities.
That means that the individuals required to work there need to
have the same kinds of technical knowledge and skill that we
need here. And training and program resources that help grow
that technician pool wherever they are located, whether they
are coming from the military or civilian service or education,
is going to be good for all those organizations, particularly
by creating flows of personnel that can support needs for our
aircraft, our U.S. flight aircraft wherever they go.
Ms. MURPHY. Thank you.
I yield back.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you.
Now I would like to recognize Ms. Clarke from the great
State of New York.
Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I thank
our Ranking Member.
Dr. Witcher, I would like to just ask you a couple of
questions because I am I guess a bit concerned about how we
view sort of the pipeline to getting the 21st century workforce
in aviation that we need and sort of build the momentum for
growth in terms of aviation occupations being viable into the
next century. I happen to come from New York City where we
actually have an aviation high school. And I was wondering
whether you are seeing similar types of high schools around the
Nation that can provide that pipeline that we are looking for.
And I also wanted to add that I would like to hear a bit more
about how we make it accessible to minority and disadvantaged
populations that have historically had a difficult time
bridging the gap from education to employment. How can we
better engage and prepare these communities to be pilots or
aviation mechanics?
Mr. WITCHER. I thank you so much for that question. And it
is a great question. The good news is right now the aviation
industry is an exciting industry. I mean, we have got the
coolest toys for sure. We have rockets that are coming back.
First stages are coming back here. We have the UAS industry,
the drone industry that has got a completely different
demographic that usually we do not have a real valuable
conversation in aviation. Now we are able to break into that
demographic and have a better conversation about the future of
aviation. So it is exciting. But you are right. We have got to
start early. There is a lot of competition for the talent that
we need in this aviation industry out there to go into other
industries, like the tech industry, of course, which certainly
needs the talent as well. But we have got to fight for that and
ensure that these young folks in the high school programs, and
there are many high school programs around the country, and my
understanding is they are very successful. Understand that
there are great opportunities coming in.
An interesting thing is in the pilot area, what we see
today, and this is different than just a few years ago, because
of what we are talking about up here and the opportunity for
jobs, not only will we have young high school graduates come to
us and say we want to be a pilot and let's go, but also their
parents come to us. And before, it was hard to convince their
parents that we had a future. There were not a lot of jobs. The
pay was not quite as good as it is today. It had a little
slump. But today that is completely different. A lot of
excitement out there. Our challenge is how do we get this
excitement into a typically nonaviation demographic? Things
like this new technology, unmanned systems, when I take that to
school, I love to have that conversation because they look at
that opportunity in aviation and it is not just, you know, the
pilots that they have seen, the stereotypical pilot that they
have seen or stereotypical maintainer. Anybody can get excited
about this technology. There are no stereotypes around it. We
are leveraging tools like that to get into that level of the
education system to try to get folks excited about how it is
coming forward.
We have work to do. We have got to be able to, especially
as an aviation aerospace educator, to get into some of these
communities that we historically have not gotten into. Things
like online education or given this opportunity, to in there at
a cost, that is that opens up this opportunity of aviation
education to a completely different market, and we are excited
about that. Great question. Thank you.
Ms. CLARKE. Absolutely. Because I think it is something
that can be, you know, can be prompted in urban, as well as
rural communities where young folks are looking for
opportunities, but they are not accessible. I just think about
unfortunately these young people who have been breaching
security and jumping in and actually piloting aircraft. And
they have learned some of their skill online. And
unfortunately, it was criminal what they did, but it indicates
to me that there are ways that we can do distance learning.
There are ways that we can promote to nontraditional
communities to be able to get that workforce of the 21st
century. So I look forward to more of a conversation in this
space because I think it is really important that we not throw
our hands up and we not believe that we are limited in terms of
where we can access the talent to be able to reinvigorate the
industry.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman KNIGHT. Thank you very much.
I think this is a good part of the conversation, too. You
know, we all go to schools and we all talk to young people and
see what their dreams are these days. And the UAS kind of
explosion over the last 10 years has really invigorated a lot
of young people. We have a robotics team in my district that
started about 12 years ago. I was there when it started and it
was 100 percent boys. Today, it is 47 percent girls. So you can
see that there is kind of a shift in maybe looking at a career
that maybe 12 years ago the girls did not think that they could
do that or they were not looking at that.
One of the things that Ms. Murphy brought up was military
education. And I think that we have talked about this until we
are blue in the face of how do we get people in the military
that do something very well in the military that works in the
civilian world, and how do we transfer them from the military
life of not wearing camo to wearing jeans and getting paid? So
we would love to hear great ideas on that. We have tried to do
that. I am sure that at the state level everybody has tried to
do that. I know that Florida is very involved. California is
involved. And New York. And all of the states have tried to do
it at a little bit of a level, but I think the Federal
Government has really got to be involved. That if you got
somebody in there and they are working on helicopters and they
want to transfer out when they ETS from the military, why would
we not want them to work on helicopters? That is exactly what
we want them to do. So those are always ideas that we are
trying to kind of filter down and work on, but literally, the
military has got to give us some pathway, too. They really do.
So that is not a cut on anybody. It is just maybe a little bit
more homework for us.
And then the last thing I would like to bring up because I
think it is going to cross is aviation in this country, it is
the absolute safest thing I do to get to work. I was telling my
wife, my 3-hour drive to LAX is by far the most dangerous thing
I do all day. And I only live 60 miles from LAX, so you can see
what the traffic is in Southern California. Once I am on the
airplane, I am safe. I am good to go. It is the safest mode of
travel. We are very proud of what happens in America, and I
think that Ms. Murphy said something in her opening statement,
we do not want anything to affect the safety of travel, either
at the GA locations or at something like LAX. We know that when
we get in an airplane, we are in a very, very safest mode of
travel and we are going to get to our destination. And that is
a testimony to not only what you folks do, what the airlines
do, and what the mechanics to keep the airplanes in the air do.
And then the last thing is cool toys. Boy, we have really
got a hit on that. I just firmly believe that. The kids that
are going into computers and things like that today, and I know
that there is high pay in a lot of these areas, but literally,
these are the cool toys. These are the coolest things you can
possibly do is fly an airplane. Teach somebody to fly an
airplane. It really is, not just because I grew up around it,
but it just is. And how we motivate those kids to say this is
an opportunity, and how do we get to kids that are in the inner
city to do that and how do we break through the gender gap is
difficult, too. But we have got to do that. And I think that we
are starting to. And I think the UAS explosion, the drone
explosion is starting to get people involved. You can go out
and buy a cheap, cruddy drone for 60 bucks and fly it and see,
you know, kind of characteristics of flight and things like
that. And it gets them involved. And that is a good thing. That
is a good thing.
So, okay, Ms. Murphy, how are we?
Ms. MURPHY. We are good.
Chairman KNIGHT. Okay. All right. Does anyone want to react
to my statements or--that is very good. Thank you, Vivian. I
was just kind of rambling, but I figured that everybody was
nodding their head and I was going down the right road.
Go ahead, Mr. Levanto.
Mr. LEVANTO. If I may just briefly second you point, and
particularly in getting individuals out of the military where
we can take advantage of these noncertificated pathways where
they have valuable specialized skills that may not meet the
full criteria for an A&P certificate, but we have so many ways
to get them into our workforce. And the way this Committee can
help with that, not just for the military but for all personnel
looking to get employment in small aviation businesses, is by
helping to stimulate resources, begin conversations, create
connections and collaboration. And I do want to share that you
can actually help us with that outside of your Committee work
today if you support the FAA bill. It actually has a program
that is supported by just about every organization that is in
this room to pilot an AMT grant program that would facilitate
local community engagement and collaboration to help with
veteran transitions and getting personnel in all different
types of backgrounds into technician careers. And I would like
to implore you to support us in that effort.
Chairman KNIGHT. I think veteran transition is something
that everyone agrees that that is a big part of how we make
sure that our veterans are getting into work cuts down on the
problems that we see from veterans. We are losing 21 veterans a
day to suicide. All of those issues are the bigger problem
here. But the solution is getting them into a job as fast as
possible and getting them into transitioning into civilian
life.
So I agree with that. And I think that, you know, when I
was in the military, I was a track systems mechanic. That does
not really transition over to a helicopter mechanic or an
airplane mechanic, but it is a mechanical skill that I acquired
in the military that probably, because I had some skills, you
could transition into that or you could put into a training
program. Boy, we talk about this and talk about this, and I
think there are little incremental changes. But we have really
got to have bigger changes. I know the TAPS program and things
like that are good programs and they start to move our young
people from ETS into work, but boy, we have really got to have
a good connection to that. And so, we will look into that a lot
closer.
Okay. I think we are set unless anyone else has anything to
say. We are a free-flowing Committee in here. We do whatever
the heck we want till the Chairman comes in and says do not do
that.
Mr. LENSS. Mr. Chairman, I was just going to add on the
cool toys something to be aware of is our regional airline
industry, as well as even the major carriers now, are doing a
significant outreach to middle schools, high schools, and
bringing in some cases simulators out to the schools so the
kids get that love of aviation bug instilled early. And so
there is some active work being done within the industry, but
again, I think that is a program we can take even further with
continued industry collaboration with government and
communities.
I would also point out that the need to reduce the cost of
training, particularly flight training in getting at some of
the nontraditional communities is critically important, and the
need for more government assistance in the form of low-interest
loans, loan forgiveness programs, those sorts of things are
desperately needed as well to reach more kids.
Chairman KNIGHT. Yeah, it is a good point. I can tell you
when I was working on my private pilot's license at 16 years
old, I was funding it by mowing lawns. You could not do that
today. So it is a great point. And it is a difficult point,
too.
Ms. BARTUSH. Mr. Chairman, I wanted to add that we are a VA
approved school, and about 30 percent of our flight training
business is for veterans. But the funding that they receive is
not enough. They are not funded for the private pilot
certificate. They have to complete that on their own, so that
is a barrier to entry of $15,000 to $20,000. And then from
other the program setup only gives them $10,000 per academic
year towards their flight training. And they are looking at
anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 in investment of their
training. So we need to figure out a way to get them more
funding because they have earned that funding.
Chairman KNIGHT. I absolutely agree.
Okay. Well, I think it is evident from the testimony we
have heard today that small businesses are suffering from this
labor shortage and bear a disproportionate burden of losses.
Without highly skilled and qualified employees, small
businesses operating flight schools, maintenance and repair
shops, and a host of other essential services critical to the
aviation sector will disappear. Without these small firms,
there can be no aviation industry. Without a healthy aviation
industry, the U.S. economy suffers.
I look forward to continuing this dialogue with our
witnesses, learning all that we can do to combat this shortage.
And thank you for your testimony today.
I ask unanimous consent that members have 5 legislative
days to submit statements and supporting materials for the
record.
Without objection, so ordered.
This hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:01 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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