Media release from Georgia Northwestern Technical College:
About three dozen students and alumni attended GNTC’s recent 2025 Aviation Career Day.
Current students and graduates of GNTC’s Aviation Maintenance Technology and Aviation Maintenance Technician programs participated in the event at GNTC’s Aviation Training Center at the Richard B. Russell Regional Airport in Rome. The event enabled students to network with prospective employers and explore career options.
“As a kid, performing helicopter maintenance was always my dream career,” said Ricardo “Ace” Acevedo, a veteran of the U.S. Army who expects to graduate in 2026 with an Aviation Maintenance Technician certificate. “I was working as a postal carrier when I delivered a package to someone who told me about GNTC’s Aviation Maintenance program. I met Zac Fager, director of the Aviation Maintenance Technology program, enrolled at GNTC and have been loving every day I’ve been in the program.”
Representatives from Cirrus Aircraft, Crystal Air Inc., Delta TechOps, Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement Division’s Aviation Unit, Phoenix Air, Pratt & Whitney, StandardAero and West Star Aviation discussed career opportunities and accepted resumes for current and future vacancies. Georgia DNR provided a helicopter for attendees to tour, and staff from GNTC’s Career Services and Military-Connected Student Services were also on hand to provide resume and other career support services.
“West Star currently has two GNTC students performing weekend apprenticeships,” said Maranda Wright, senior Human Resources generalist from West Star Aviation. “We like working with GNTC because the candidates we’ve received have been excellent employees and because of GNTC’s proximity to Chattanooga.”
Wright said she attended the event to connect with alumni and upcoming graduates. West Star is a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) provider.
Jessica Rivers, Human Resources manager at StandardAero, attended the event to network. StandardAero provides comprehensive engine MRO capabilities and an extensive portfolio of component repair services for business aviation, commercial aviation, military, fixed-wing, helicopter and industrial power customers.
The company has hired three technicians from GNTC in the last two years and is looking to fill 20 Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic positions, Rivers said.
Cirrus Aircraft designs, manufactures and maintains aircraft and provides flight training services; the company’s closest location is Knoxville. Robert Harrison, director of maintenance for Cirrus Aircraft, said the company is hiring for all locations.
Carson Dolan, who expects to graduate in 2026 with his Aviation Maintenance Technician certificate, said his family has worked in aviation maintenance for generations. He chose GNTC because of its proximity to his home and the many good things he had heard about the program.
“I want to work in commercial aviation while also having experience in smaller aviation,” Dolan said.
Jesse Peabody, program manager at Pratt & Whitney, said he was recruiting mechanics to overhaul commercial and military engines at the company’s engine center in Columbus.
Peabody said his company, which makes and overhauls aircraft engines, offers an internship program for students who are still in school at the Columbus facility.
The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) has designated Aviation Maintenance Technology among dozens of high-demand careers where there are often more open positions than there are skilled workers to fill them.
In the photo from GNTC:
Ricardo “Ace” Acevedo poses beside a helicopter belonging to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement Division’s Aviation Unit.