A new generation of aviation maintenance technicians outshone even seasoned professionals at the Aerospace Maintenance Council’s recent competition at Verticon in Atlanta.
A team of high school students from a recently established aircraft maintenance technology (AMT) program beat out 22 teams—including ones from university-level programs, the U.S. Air Force and an airline—to win the competition.
On the sidelines of the Aviation Technician Education Council’s annual conference in Portland, Oregon, the winning team’s coach spoke with Aviation Week about how Rising Aviation High School pulled off this accomplishment.
Pete Miller, maintenance instructor and coach at Rising Aviation High School, was working as an aviation maintenance technician at Southwest Airlines in Dallas and decided to retire from his more-than-40-year airline career to take a chance at teaching. The school in Addison, Texas, opened in 2022 and launched its AMT program two years ago.
Students are taught about aviation maintenance through Choose Aerospace curriculum, studying under a hybrid schedule that balances core academics with aviation. Miller has guided his students through building a Vans RV-12 aircraft, which he says provides good hands-on experience. “That’s the highlight of the day for them,” he says. “We spend about two hours in the afternoon [on building], and they really like that.”
Last summer, Rising Aviation High School was contacted by Southwest about putting together a team for the competition at Verticon. Miller says he was initially intimidated by the idea, but once he realized that the events would center around basic technician skills such as safety wiring and torquing, he agreed.
“Pretty much all year, we were preparing for that,” he says. Miller worked practice into class time, reviewing the council’s event guides to prepare for each event. “I leveraged Southwest to get help with some documentation and things like that,” he adds.
The team was sponsored by Pilot MRO CEO Adam White, and Southwest provided their transportation to Verticon. It was the school’s first appearance in a national skills competition.
Rising Aviation High School ended up winning seven out of the competition’s nine events. Team member Garrett Moore, who already holds a private pilot license and instrument rating, also won the competition’s professionalism award.
“I went in wanting to do well, and we were told that we would probably do well, but when we kept being called up to the stage for each event [during the awards ceremony], it was overwhelming,” Miller says. “Absolutely, I was in shock. I wanted to do well because I wanted to represent the school. Well, we represented the school.”
Miller says the school plans to send another team to the competition at Verticon again next year. He is also hoping to increase Rising Aviation High School’s AMT program enrollment and industry support.
“I tell people I retired to take this job, and I have never worked this hard,” he jokes. “But I love this job. It’s so satisfying, and I get a little emotional talking about it.”
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