Aircraft maintenance technician

Because this matters to sit for the FAA's airframe and power plant knowledge tests, you need to qualify through one of three paths.

First path, you can graduate from an FAA-certificated aviation maintenance technician school, what the regulations call a Part 147 school.

Second path, you can document at least 18 months of practical work experience on airframes or 18 months on power plants, or 30 months if you want both certificates at once.

Third path, military training and experience in aircraft maintenance.

But the GAO's concern is specifically about programs that are not Part 147 certificated to begin with, namely the high school career technical programs.

Those students are falling into a gap, and the GAO is saying, look at this gap, fix it.

Why does this matter to you as a pilot? Because the aviation maintenance technician shortage is not a future problem.

It is a right now problem.