Bay Area high school students showed off their new aviation industry-related skills earlier this week at a graduation ceremony in a private hangar at San Francisco International Airport.
The ceremony on Wednesday marked the California expansion of a training program between private aviation servicing company Signature Aviation and Barrington Irving Technical Training School — a technical program created by Captain Barrington Irving, who was the first Black pilot ever to fly solo around the world and broke the at-the-time record for the youngest individual to do so at the age of 23 in 2007.
Over the course of six weeks, students received free hands-on experience on how to solder metal, connect circuit boards and learn about what jobs are required to keep the aviation industry running.
BITTS, as the program is commonly known, launched in 2023 in Miami and provides free courses for students interested in learning more about jobs in the aviation industry. The students being recognized at SFO are part of the first cohort in California. Irving used his own funds because he saw high-paying aviation jobs remain vacant because of financial and awareness barriers.
“If you want to do certain things like flight training or maintenance training and so forth, these things can cost a lot,” said Irving. “Although the pay professionally is amazing, if you’re a student or a parent and you don’t know how to navigate it, it can be hard.”
Signature Aviation Chief People Officer Amy Alexy said the company, one of the largest handlers of private and general aviation aircraft, was thrilled to expand its partnership with BITTS to the West Coast. She said those jobs will remain in demand even when many others are facing challenges from artificial intelligence.
“Employers are facing significant workforce shortages, driven by retirements, demographic shifts and a growing gap between the skills that many industries need and the training available to young people,” said Alexy.
Phil Derner is the regional director for the National Business Aviation Association, a group dedicated to the aviation industry. He echoed concerns about a shrinking pool of qualified candidates and how dedicated programs like BITTS can expose young people to careers they may have never thought about.
People are just people who will fight if you give them a chance and you just got to put some time and money to support them.
Captain Barrington Irving on expanding access to aviation careers
“Back during the ’60s and ’70s, the jet age brought a natural constant flow of people who were military aviators and bringing pilots and mechanics,” said Derner. “And some of that excitement has, for some reason, faded. The same way that we’ve been trying to recruit in the past will not work in the future. We need to be very active about developing programs like this that reach out to the community and rebuild these pipelines.”
The spirits of the students were as high as the planes they hope to be servicing in the future. Jake Vuong, 16, stood at a table with orange sticks meant to marshal aircraft into gates and the various other equipment needed while on the tarmac and servicing the airplanes. He regularly traveled from the west side of San Francisco to the airport over the summer and was excited the program exposed him to more careers than his high school had.
“My friends, they don’t do anything like this program,” said Vuong. “It’s a lot of hands-on stuff. We’re working with soldering, working with drills, working with tools and wrenches and screws. All that helps me get work experience.”
Jessie Yang from San Francisco went to support her son Skylar, who was showcasing his work with circuit boards and a small drone. She said he loves anything related to aviation, and having a program like BITTS has brought him joy and, in turn, her as well.
“He never liked studying and stuff like that, it’s not his thing,” said Yang, who added that Skylar had not been accepted into competitive internships. “But he likes hands-on stuff, and this one is really hands-on and available.”
Irving said sponsors began supporting the program after the first cohorts were successfully hired for their skills. He added that access to the jobs shouldn’t be determined by income or the neighborhood someone grows up in, but by their determination to succeed.
“When it comes to doing programs for poor or rough areas, there’s always this concept of it takes some type of magical wand or some type of extensive thing to make it happen,” said Irving. “People are just people who will fight if you give them a chance, and you just got to put some time and money to support them.”