By BOB COX
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH - For three days last week, two dozen representatives of the U.S. military and the civil-aviation industry began hammering out a set of standard educational requirements for aircraft electronics technicians.
The task, an exercise in self-regulation, could lead to better-trained technicians, save the military and airlines money and even improve the safety of air travel worldwide, participants said.
"What we're doing here will probably have a global impact," said Chief Petty Officer Chris Doherty, head of the Navy's avionics-technician training program in Pensacola, Fla. Foreign governments and industry usually follow the United States' lead in setting aviation standards.
Modern airplanes are marvels of digital and fiber-optic technology, with glass cockpits - video monitors - replacing most of the dials and instruments used in past years.
Pilots spend most of their time monitoring the work of ultrafast computer chips that, processing millions of data bits a second from a myriad of sensors, control the aircraft's speed, direction and altitude.
Pilots and aircraft mechanics, who fix and repair the airframe and engines, have long had to meet standardized, government-sanctioned educational and training requirements.
But there are no standards for the people who maintain, repair and upgrade the electronics systems, commonly called avionics.
The group, operating as the National Center for Aircraft Technician Training, met Tuesday through Thursday at Tarrant County College to begin setting standards and the educational requirements to meet them.
The effort is funded by the National Science Foundation, which provided a two-year, $499,950 grant to establish the center, with TCC taking the lead role.
Setting standards is "long overdue," said Chuck Tays, of Texas Aviation Services in Fort Worth, which provides aircraft maintenance, repairs and installations of cockpit electronics systems.
Development of new avionics systems has advanced dramatically with improvements in digital technology, but the aviation industry hasn't kept pace with technician training. "The industry now is still living in the 1930s and '40s," Doherty said.
Airlines, aircraft owners and repair shops all have their own ways of recruiting, hiring and training electronics technicians. Texas Aviation recently hired six graduates of the TCC aeronautical-technology program. Three of them are now being trained as electronics technicians.
The armed forces invest heavily in training their own technicians only to see them leave after a few years to work in the private sector.
"Probably 80 percent of the technicians in the country come from a military background because they do it so well," said Floyd Curtis, chairman of the TCC aeronautical and industrial-technology department
Once standards are in place, Curtis said, institutions like TCC and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will be able to tailor their educational programs to provide students with the right academic and technical programs. The national group would accredit the colleges and technical schools.
If the program works, Curtis said, it's likely the Federal Aviation Administration would eventually adopt the standards and require certification for electronics technicians, just as it does for pilots and engine mechanics.
"We're working with the FAA on this," Curtis said. "This is one of the first efforts by the aviation industry at self-regulation."
