Program prepares students for job in demand

By Bryson Masse

mass0110@algonquincollege.com

With the creation of a groundbreaking program, Algonquin is giving students an avenue into a career that has weathered the economic turmoil.

With demand for workers high, the aviation industry seems at odds with the rest of the economy.

“It doesn’t seem to matter that we’re in a recession, it doesn’t seem to really matter that the stock markets are in the toilet,” Bruce Dwyer, administrator of the aviation management program says. Both Air Canada and WestJet posted increases in filled seats and a new aircraft-manufacturing center being opened near the Merivale airport.

So beginning fall 2009, the new aircraft maintenance program will help prospective students become an aircraft mechanic or avionics technician. In a joint program with Centennial College in Toronto, Algonquin will teach the first year of Centennial’s maintenance course.

Because of high demand from aviation industry employers and an interest in expanding the flight training programs offered by the college, Bruce Dwyer began inquiring if an aircraft maintenance program could be started.

Eventually, he found out the costs of an entire new program of that caliber would cost almost $20-million.

“It’s not likely we’d be able to offer [the program], unless we found some alternate means or some innovative way to making this work,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer began looking to other institutions for inspiration. This led him to Centennial College. The college offers one of the few aviation maintenance programs in the province. It teaches both avionics and mechanics in the same class during the first year while splitting the two professions during the second year.

“I thought, ‘That’s interesting,’” Dwyer says. “’Cause if we did the first year [at Algonquin] the students could go into either one.”

Because the first-year students don’t need advanced aviation equipment, it seemed natural that Algonquin could offer the first half the program and send the graduates of that to finish at Centennial.

“Seldom do we see colleges that actually work together. In fact, this may be the only one in Ontario,” Dwyer said. “And this is one of only a handful in Canada where there are colleges that are sharing programs, sharing lab facilities and working directly together in a joint program.”

A positive reaction from local aviation companies followed along with offers for the use of facilities at businesses like the Aviation Museum and First Air.

“The skills we’re looking for is exactly what the program is offering,” said Marc Ducharme, the chief of operations at the Aviation Museum.

Ducharme underscored the need for people who understand some of the older aspects of aircraft repair. He explains it’s a fading art in an aging workforce.

“In our conservation/restoration section we have four employees,” Ducharme said. “Three have been here a minimum of 15 years. Two of them have been here for 22. They’re getting to the end of their careers.”

As for Bruce Dwyer, he’s staying optimistic for the future of the aviation industry and his students.

“People are still going to travel. People are still going to fly,” he said.