'Every day is a new adventure' AIM Center welcomes fifth group seeking aviation careers
By Tim Unruh
A fierce desire to know how things work pushed Dinah Roth towards a career in mechanics and an exciting encounter with aviation sealed her budding career.
“I love taking things apart, figuring out how they work, and putting them back together,” said the 22-year-old from Ottawa County.
“I got interested in planes at 15,” Roth said.
Now working as an apprentice at 1 Vision Aviation at Salina Regional Airport, her sights are on aviation, specifically becoming certified and working as an airframe and power plant mechanic.
“It’s been a dream of mine for a while, and now I’m living it,” Roth said. “Every day is a new adventure.”
Her journey began Jan. 29 as one of nine students in the inaugural Aviation Innovation and Maintenance pre-apprenticeship program — AIM for short.
Upon graduation March 7, when Roth and eight others received their micro-credentials, she and four classmates joined the 1 Vision program, the next step to A&P status, or other levels, including aircraft painting.
Through this year, AIM, a Salina Airport Authority program, has sent four cohorts — 22 students total, 21 of whom graduated — through the six-week course. The fifth cohort began Oct. 28. It is the first class to be based in the new AIM Center in Hangar 626.
“It’s going very well,” said Shelli Swanson, the SAA’s director of administration and finance.
“We stood up this program very swiftly and were fortunate to get the $3.325 million ALOFT Grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce,” she said.
ALOFT stands for Advanced Learning Opportunities for Training.
“That (grant) has allowed us to procure the necessary equipment, hire instructors, develop the curriculum and the marketing program,” Swanson said. “The main challenge is raising awareness about the program and educating potential students on the opportunities it offers.”
AIM “started off great,” said Jim Sponder, CEO of 1Vision Aviation, a maintenance, repair and overhaul firm at Salina, that also provides aircraft painting services.
The company operates in the 130,000-square-foot Hangar 959, a.k.a. Big Bertha, at Salina Regional Airport and Airport Industrial Center, and does aircraft painting in Hangar 606. The company also has a division in a 32,000 square foot hangar at Sioux City, Iowa’s Gateway Airport.
Interest in 1 Vision services in Salina was high from its ribbon cutting in September 2019 and has continued to expand. The Salina roster contains roughly 250 workers, and needs to grow fast.
“I could take 100 people today. We need A&P’s and painters,” Sponder said. “The demand’s skyrocketing.”
Joining the industry is easy, Swanson said.
“You don’t have to have any aviation-related experience, or know a fuselage from a cockpit,” she said. “(AIM) is allowing students to experience a trade that is off their radar.”
The airport authority, and partners, such as Kansas State University at Salina, the Salina Community Economic Development Organization, and the chamber, are including more than one demographic and age group in their search for workers.
“We’re also pursuing as potential students, those transitioning from military to civilian life, targeting the First Infantry Division at Fort Riley,” Swanson said.
Thanks to the ALOFT grant, and tuition assistance from the Skill Bridge program for transitioning military, help from Kansas Workforce One, a state employment agency covering 62 counties, the cost has been held down to $200 per student. They are also gifted with a set of tools necessary for the first level of certification each student seeks — among them A&P Mechanics, Aviation Maintenance Technicians, and aircraft paint preppers.
“We are working behind the scenes to secure additional funding from state grants and private scholarships,” she said.
Scott Thomas, an A&P, and the former head of the 1 Vision painting division, praised the AIM program.
“It’s a way to have a career without having to go into debt,” he said.
While family issues have forced Thomas to move closer to home in Mississippi, he pledged “to promote the AIM program wherever I’m at.”
The AIM course first teaches basic aviation maintenance vocabulary, then sheet metal and composition, avionics/electronics, and aircraft coatings, a.k.a. paint.
“The last week is industry week, where we take students up and down the flight line,” Swanson said.
They will visit 1Vision, Schilling Aviation Services, K-State-Salina’s A&P program, and Garmin International.
“All of those are future employers or higher learning institutions,” she said. “Their last day is graduation, where they receive their K-State-Salina micro-credentials.”
These days, Dinah Roth works in 1 Vision’s Avionics Department, learning more about aircraft maintenance every day.
“The 1 Vision mechanics in class gave me a step up. They were my mentors,” she said. “AIM gave me those contacts. A lot of things I didn’t really know about, made we want to work in it, giving me a deeper curiosity.
Roth will remain an apprentice until she receives her airframe license in 13 to 14 months.
“I will take all my training records to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration),” she said.
Officials will determine if Roth is ready to test for her airframe certificate, and then her power plant certification. She also has the option of finishing her training in college.
“There is a closeness there. I’m very happy to be part of the club,” Roth said. “I’ve never done this before, but I’m getting the textbook and the helping hands from experienced workers at the same time.”