Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment, which establishes a voluntary pilot apprenticeship program for students at Part 141 flight schools.

Up front, I will stress that this amendment has wide bipartisan support, and providing yet another option to bolster the pilot pipeline shouldn't be a partisan issue. Specifically, for the proposed apprenticeship program, up to eight students enrolled at Part 141 flight schools would be eligible for a new apprenticeship program each academic year.

To emphasize, this is a voluntary program, meaning flight schools can choose to participate. Members might ask: Why establish an apprenticeship program at flight schools?

There are several reasons:

First, apprentices will receive an airline standard of training and will also be provided flexibility in pursuing career aviation opportunities.

Second, the bill will incentivize individuals that have an interest in aviation to attend their local flight schools, which in turn will provide a greater opportunity to bolster the pilot pipeline and a certified flight instructor pipeline simultaneously.

Third, this isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. The amendment provides flexibility to establish an apprenticeship program that fits the needs/curricula of the individual flight schools themselves. After all, a flight school in southwest Florida may have completely different operations compared to a flight school in Alaska.

Moreover, there are approximately 600 Part 141 flight schools in the United States today; however, only approximately 250 of these flight schools are active in a large way.

This amendment includes provisions to incentivize retired airline pilots and retired military pilots to give back, specifically by directing the Secretary of Transportation to develop methods to establish an expedited path that will allow retired pilots to become certified flight instructors. After all, the value of their decades' worth of experience speaks for itself.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Nehls).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Chair, I am prepared to close.

Mr. Chair, this is a great amendment with strong bipartisan support. I ask Members to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source