The training industry is adopting increasing innovative solutions through collaborations and adaptations to address the challenge of the shortage of AME’s.
Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, a job that practically involves dirtying your hands with oil and grease, toiling in the hot sun, pouring rains, or harsh winds – Be alert, lest an AOG situation arises, and get the aircraft back in the skies, in a safe and airworthy condition. The AMEs work in the shadows, away from the limelight and sparkle of the aviation industry. It is one of the most crucial jobs in the aerospace sector and the AME has to sign the certificate of release to an aircraft after completing its checks, only then can an aircraft take off. “The job of an AME is not a bed of roses; it is extremely challenging. It requires sharp precision, vigilance, and an analytical mind. The real satisfaction comes when you sign a certificate of release to an aircraft after completing its checks,” she further adds, “but it comes with a lot of responsibility,” says Neetu Sharma, AME from Air India Engineering Services.
The AME forecast and Global Shortage
As the aviation industry steadies itself from the aftermath of the pandemic, training, and supply of AME’s remains a critical question to maintain a sound aviation ecosystem. According to Boeing, about 626,000 new maintenance technicians will be needed over the next two decades to maintain the global commercial fleet.
“The Airbus Global Market Forecast also predicts the need for over 700,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers by 2040. There will be a massive demand for aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers over the next 15 to 20 years, but the risk of shortages is real,” says Christophe Ponnet, the maintenance training operations director for Airbus Customer Services. “This is due to such factors like the retirement of today’s aging maintenance personnel, the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on hiring and training, as well as less enthusiasm for a job that may not have esteem as being a pilot.”
The shortage of AME’s was already an impending question prior to the pandemic, the situation continues to grow worse as the operators try to replace new technicians and engineers with the ones that have left or will soon exit the industry through mandatory retirement, early retirement, recent layoffs and furloughs, and ongoing attrition.
The Opportunity
According to Oliver Wyman, for the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector, the market is being redefined by a fleet in transition, in part because of higher numbers of retirements of aircraft due to entering a period of intensive MRO expenses. MRO demand should recover to pre-COVID levels by 2024, but annual growth in the second half of the 10-year forecast period will be 2.8 percent. By 2030, MRO demand is expected to reach USD 118 billion, 13 percent below the pre-COVID forecast of USD 135 billion.
The global aviation industry will need to keep a sharp focus and engage in collective efforts to build a robust, diverse talent pipeline through more educational outreach and recruitment, development of new pathways to aviation careers, investment in early-career learning opportunities, and deployment and adoption of more efficient learning methods. Opportunities for aspiring aviators will abound while operators will face stiff competition in recruiting and retaining top-tier talent.
The gradually evolving AME training industry
The training industry is adopting increasing innovative solutions through collaborations and adaptations to address the challenge of the shortage of AME’s. Many training providers have transitioned their offerings to online and virtual formats where possible, allowing students to continue their learning safely and remotely. Immersive technologies, adaptive learning, and flexible distance learning methods have allowed the training pipeline to remain intact while evolving how training is delivered. Continued investments in these technologies will likely lead to a long-term fundamental shift in how training is conducted.
Online or Virtual Training
The rising need and demand of Virtual Training (VR)
With the rising demand for AMEs across the world, a large number of training schools have already started operations to meet the global demand. However, due to a lack of infrastructure, it is practically impossible to give real-life training to students on the actual fleet. “In countries like India, not at all training schools today are adequately equipped to provide on-job training to students and most of the training schools are not authorized to provide on-job training to students as per DGCA,” said Ajendra Singh, who worked as a GM at JAYANTI AVIATION PRIVATE LIMITED in India.
Besides the only viable way to practice so far was by using a real aircraft. An aircraft maintenance trainee could only pass the AME exam by performing repairs and maintenance under an experienced instructor. However, this module was not only costly due to the expense of access to aircraft and materials but also dangerous due to the trainee’s inexperience. A newbie with only classroom training, unfamiliar with the physical aspects of the work, could potentially waste materials or injure others, and could even completely ruin an airplane.
This is where virtual training comes into the picture. VR gives a safe environment in which a student can hone their skills, letting them run through a maintenance scenario multiple times until the process is familiar.
Advantages of Virtual Training
Virtual Training offers flexibilities like experimentation with equipment bays by which students can remove and install components in real-time. A fully functional virtual flight deck and virtual aircraft are needed for a technician to train. This not only reduces cost but also improves overall operational efficiency. As per a survey by Research and Markets, the VR-powered maintenance training is expected to reach USD 3319 million by 2024 from 403.3 million in 2018. Thus, the market is promising and worldwide adoption is already underway. Applications include virtual maintenance trainers that present 3D training scenarios to students. This will equip the students with better real-life, high-risk situational knowledge.
There’s also the challenge of keeping mechanics’ skills fresh. Consider a situation wherein an aircraft comes in with a very specific engine defect. What are the chances that a mechanic can remember how to fix it? Especially if the mechanic was trained three years back. Using Virtual reality in such a scenario gives newcomers additional practice so they can get through their mandated training faster, and also serves as a refresher for mechanics already on the job.
Practical Application – A student from the Singapore School of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering developed a project with SIA Engineering, that simulates aircraft walk-around checks to help trainees identify defects on an aircraft. 3DSmax and Unity are used to create this immersive and interactive VR simulation. This environment provides trainees with practice at their convenience without any negative consequences to the actual aircraft and hangars.
Types and Styles of Virtual Training
The VR experience has two modes:
- Training Mode – In training mode, the trainee is guided with visual hints and can restart, make mistakes, or watch the task being completed automatically.
- Examination Mode – In examination mode, various curveballs are thrown in to ensure the trainee can react appropriately to a variety of circumstances. The end result is a trainee with hours of practice, without the expense and danger of operating on real aircraft.
Major players developing VR technology
L3 Harris’ – Virtual Maintenance Trainer
L3 Harris has developed a simulation-based training tool used by airlines, MROs, universities, and training centers around the world called the virtual maintenance trainer. It helps reduce training costs and increase operational efficiency by teaching any number of aircraft malfunctions on demand. Maintenance technicians can now explore the aircraft using the fully functional virtual flight deck and virtual aircraft. They can navigate equipment bays and remove components to see the results in real-time. The software reduces training time spent in the actual aircraft and migrates more of the training course to the controlled classroom setting. Students can be free from environmental distractions and real-world limitations, allowing them time to focus on instructor-led scenarios and procedure training. With the convenience of the classroom, they can practice troubleshooting procedures, study systems theory, conduct simulated ‘return to service’ tests, and so much more.
CAE’s maintenance systems
On the other hand, CAE’s maintenance training systems apply blended-media techniques to create an immersive and adaptive learning environment for producing highly qualified technicians. Across a range of domains and platforms, CAE translates virtual learning directly to the physical world, taking maintenance trainees from the classroom to the field faster and more cost-effectively—and once there, keeping them proficient and productive.
CAE Simfinity Virtual Maintenance Trainer
CAE’s Virtual Maintenance Trainer (VMT) integrates theory with practical skills and delivers a high-fidelity immersive simulation of aircraft systems. A laptop/desktop training system, CAE’s VMT provides a learning environment for aircraft maintenance technicians to gain practical experience in aircraft systems and maintenance tasks. Web access to the simulation software allows training anytime and anywhere for review, refresher, and recurrent training.
Hardware-based Maintenance Trainers
CAE’s hardware-based part-task trainers (PTTs) allow maintenance trainees to perform hands-on maintenance diagnostics and testing without having to train on the actual aircraft or ground combat vehicle. When coupled with CAE’s Virtual Maintenance Trainer (VMT), maintenance technicians can accomplish up to 100 percent of their maintenance training prior to working on the actual platform. With this blended approach to virtual and hands-on maintenance training, hundreds of maintenance tasks can be performed enabling maintenance technicians to be well-prepared when they maintain and support an actual aircraft or ground combat fleet
Inlusion’s XR training module
With airplane mechanics in high demand, FL Technics wanted to strengthen the training for training personnel and perhaps even shorten training time. While regulations require each trainee to spend a certain number of months in training, trainees might not get to practice on certain aircraft due to lack of availability. And even if a trainee spends the required number of months, he or she might not get sufficient practical experience in every aspect of a mechanic’s job. Hence, they collaborated with Inlusion, (an SME working on real-time training solutions and creating a great VR training experience) to develop new, innovative virtual reality training experiences on aircraft repair and maintenance. For over a decade, Inlusion had been exploring XR (cross reality), which includes VR and Augmented Reality or AR. The result of Inlusion’s collaboration with FL Technics is a VR training system for the Boeing 737, where mechanics practice opening the thrust reverser using procedures from the aircraft’s manual.
While developing the VR experience, the Inlusion team came across an unforeseen challenge: during the procedure, the mechanic has to lie down and slide under the aircraft. Such a move could be awkward and uncomfortable for a user, especially if wearing a tethered headset. After many discussions with FL Technics, Inlusion landed on the approach of lifting up the virtual aircraft for that portion of the training.
FL Technics hopes that such training modules will one day reduce the mandated three-month training period for mechanics to three weeks.
De-icing in VR
The procedures for de-icing and anti-icing are another natural fit for aviation maintenance training in VR. These procedures require the crew to spray specific quantities of liquid chemicals onto the aircraft, lifting a hoist with one arm while spraying with the other. Besides precision, speed is also a factor, since the procedure is often performed on an aircraft close to its take-off time.
In practicing these tasks, the inexperienced crew could mishandle the spraying equipment, spray too much or too little liquid, or fail to follow safety procedures. Cost can be a big issue—the price of liquid for each de-icing/anti-icing procedure is around USD2,500, and the wrong amount of liquid in the wrong place can ruin an aircraft completely.
During De-icing training, the instructor can start the trainee off with the most basic scenario, then add complications—bad weather, an incorrectly positioned sprayer, a truck riding into the spray zone—until the trainee can deal with many different situations. By the time the crew member uses an actual sprayer on a real airplane, he or she has had the opportunity to solve problems and build muscle memory in a variety of optimal and non-optimal scenarios.
Airbus is using VR technology through its portable RHEA kit which comes with a virtual reality headset, touchpads, and infrared cameras that allow its mechanics to inspect and repair aircraft in a completely immersive environment.
ICAO’s steps up the accelerator with DCTP
Recently, ICAO and the Government of Singapore signed a three-year extension to the Developing Countries Training Programme (DCTP). The agreement will permit the DCTP to continue augmenting the capabilities of aviation professionals in lesser developed countries, thereby improving the States’ overall levels of air connectivity through improved ICAO compliance.
A projected 340 training professionals are expected to benefit from the DCTP’s extension, which will be implemented through the ICAO Technical Cooperation Bureau.
His Excellency S Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister of Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations said, “Capacity building is critical in rebuilding our aviation workforce and preparing them to manage the demands of the future. Singapore has long been an advocate of human capital development, which enables opportunities to extend the benefits of aviation to all States. The renewal of the Singapore-ICAO Developing Countries Training Programme for another three years will support the growth and development of future aviation leaders and professionals.”
Thus, training methodologies continue to progress toward a holistic approach that focuses on competencies rather than prescriptive tasks. As commercial operators and training providers look toward the future, we expect to see continued investments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mixed reality technology that will help tomorrow’s students more quickly, efficiently, and effectively close their knowledge gaps. This will lead to a better, safer, and more efficient aviation industry.
Becoming an aircraft maintenance engineer takes lots of time and dedication and you will need to obtain relevant engineering qualifications. If you excel in maths, physics, and technology subjects, like engineering science, and enjoy problem-solving this could be the career for you.
Recently, the entire aerospace industry celebrated Aviation Maintenance Technician Day to celebrate those who have contributed a lot to an airplane’s everyday operations and focus on innovations that improve its use and features.
We at MRO Business Today respect and appreciate the hardworking AME’s across the world and thank them for our safe flying.
Courtesy, with inputs from – Boeing, Airbus, Oliver- Wyman, ICAO, FL Technics, Air Baltic, Inlusion, L3Harris and CAE
