Avionics News December 2016 - 30

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Continued from page 29

Skills and experience
Green Mountain Avionics is
located on Vermont's Middlebury
State Airport roughly 40 miles south
of Burlington, said Bill Hanf. "It's
not like a metro area where turnover
makes some experienced techs
available. When you have to grow
your own, attitude and aptitude
are more important to me than
experience."
Never miss an opportunity to
network. Talking to a new A&P
at an off-site job, Hanf mentioned
that he was looking for new techs,
"and he said I should call Seth
Armstrong, who was one of the top
kids in his class" at a local A&P

school. Just graduated from the
school's avionics program, "he had
zero real-work applications, but
he's a sharp kid, and he's working
out well," Hanf said. But training
new hires "is a double-edged
sword because it takes time to get
them up to speed; if it is the right
person, there is a payoff for the
investment."
Expanding on this, Dominguez
said, "new techs have book smarts,
but they don't have ramp smarts"
because school is about fundamental
knowledge on which experience is
built. "They don't know what to
expect when they are doing a field
test, or when an FAA inspector
shows up. It takes time to gain that
experience. And it is hard to keep
up because avionics technology is

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30

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december

2016

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changing in leaps and bounds."
To complete their training, San
Luis Avionics has created a oneyear apprenticeship program that
requires a three-year commitment
to the company, Dominguez said.
Starting from baseline knowledge
and skills, the apprentices work
with experienced techs and learn,
hands-on every day, "what Part 145
repair stations need day-to-day in
the field so they can become Jedi
masters out on the ramp."
Changes in U.S. public education
is another factor, Ranasingha said.
"New techs have experience with
CAD; they can do anything on a
computer," but they lack mechanical
abilities because many high schools
no longer offer shop classes.
"We gave one kid a ratcheting
screwdriver to remove some panels.
He worked with the ratchet rather
than against it, and because it was
making noise, he thought he was
making progress."
Regardless of experience,
Ranasingha looks for attitude,
aptitude, and a personality that will
meld with Avionics Installations'
informal structure and diverse
clients that range from warbirds
and government contracts. "Give
me someone who cares, I can
teach them," he said. To find them,
he asked his staff to recommend
candidates. The tech building the
wiring harnesses for a government
contract to install tactical systems,
including infrared cameras, in
three helicopters, started work
three months ago with no avionics
experience. "He was a golf pro,
but he had the drive, desire and
determination to learn."
With a degree in business, Ian
Hoffman was that golf pro when his
best friend, a 10-year U.S. Air Force
veteran, mentioned that Avionics
Installations was having trouble
finding new techs. "He thought I'd

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News December 2016