Specialized Technology and the acquisition of the FCC general radiotelephone license. The AET program concentrates on advanced avionics. Our industry advisory committee has told us that they need technicians who can accurately troubleshoot and diagnose problems with today's sophisticated avionics and electrical systems. That's what our AET program has been created to do. To meet the current needs of the industry, we get deep into the systems, even down to learning some of the basic component level systems such as how to identify resistors and AC-to-DC power conversion - it's well out of the scope of typical avionics technician training. We understand, and so do our advising companies, that a lot of times when you are working on a modern airplane, the technicians are only going to be replacing components and not repair them. But knowing how the systems and components work certainly helps them troubleshoot systems when they understand what the real problem is. Our graduates come out as much more competent technicians. Avionics News: How many students have you graduated? Sabold: Since 2005, there have been 286 graduates from our AET program. Avionics News: Where do you see your program in five years? Sabold: We see the enrollment for all our programs increasing for a number of reasons: The biggest is an increasing awareness by the public and by high school career counselors of the value of a two-year technical degree. These "skill jobs" are becoming more popular as people realize you don't need a four-year degree to get a good-paying job. Continued on following page avionics news * january 2018 59