AOPA Adds Maintenance and Manufacturing to Its Free High School Aviation Curriculum

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Foundation announced on July 14, 2026, that it will add maintenance and manufacturing to its High School Aviation STEM Curriculum — the free program that has reached more than 130,000 students since launching in 2016. The new coursework will complement existing pilot, drone, and career-preparation pathways, and like every other course in the curriculum, it will be offered at no cost to participating schools. The addition is funded by a donation from Gregory and Cindy Kozmetsky through their GCK Legacy Fund. Development is expected to take two to three years, with a field test as early as 2028.

The timing is not accidental. The aviation maintenance workforce is facing a shortage that industry analysts project will persist through at least 2035 — and the single biggest barrier isn’t training capacity or job demand. It’s that high school students don’t know the career exists. Here’s why this curriculum matters and what the data says about the problem it’s trying to solve.

What AOPA Is Actually Building

The AOPA High School Aviation STEM Curriculum currently offers four-year pathways in pilot training, drone operations, and aviation career preparation. The maintenance and manufacturing addition becomes the newest track.

Key details of the announcement:

Funding. A donation from Gregory and Cindy Kozmetsky through the GCK Legacy Fund makes the curriculum development possible.

Advisory board. The AOPA Foundation will form an advisory board of industry leaders and educators. Its mandate is twofold: ensure the curriculum genuinely prepares students for careers in aviation maintenance and manufacturing, and keep it workable within the constraints of a typical high school environment — a balance that has sunk plenty of well-intentioned CTE programs.

Cost to schools. Free, consistent with every other course in the AOPA STEM curriculum.

Development timeline. Two to three years of development, with a field test as early as 2028. Before release, the Foundation will identify the certifications and skills students need to enter the workforce, design hands-on learning experiences, and equip teachers with resources and training to deliver the material effectively.

That last point deserves attention. Teacher preparation is one of the most common failure modes in technical high school curricula. A shop teacher without aviation maintenance background can’t deliver A&P-adjacent content without substantial support. AOPA building teacher training into the development phase — rather than treating it as an afterthought — reflects lessons learned from a decade of running the pilot and drone pathways.

The Program’s Track Record

The AOPA high school program’s growth data is the strongest argument that this expansion will land:

130,000+ students reached since the curriculum launched in 2016
32,000+ students served in the 2025–2026 school year alone
1,500+ high schools participating
All 50 states — reached for the first time in 2025–2026 — plus two U.S. territories

That trajectory means the maintenance pathway won’t launch into a vacuum. It arrives inside an established network of schools, teachers, and administrators who already run AOPA aviation coursework and have the institutional buy-in to add a track.

Dan Justman, AOPA Foundation Programs vice president, framed the expansion in terms of that existing footprint: “We’re proud of the success the AOPA high school program has had. We continue to see strong year-over-year growth — and we hear from graduates every day about how this program changed their lives and set them on the path toward successful careers in the aviation industry. With this new pathway, we can open that same door for students who want to build and maintain aircraft and the industry is waiting for every one of them.”

Why the Mechanic Shortage Is Different From the Pilot Shortage

The pilot shortage gets the headlines. The mechanic shortage gets the aircraft grounded.

AOPA Acting Co-President Katie Pribyl made the member-facing case directly: “Like a lot of AOPA members, I’ve experienced the mechanic shortage firsthand. Between long waits at shops that are booked out for months and annual inspections that stretch on for weeks — not to mention the void that’s left when a trusted A&P retires — the mechanic shortage has a real impact on our members every day.”

She also framed the leverage math: “Every student in this course represents dozens of aircraft that can keep flying. That’s why the addition of this maintenance and manufacturing curriculum isn’t just good for students — it’s good for our members who depend on a healthy maintenance workforce to keep flying.”

That “dozens of aircraft” framing is the key structural difference. One new pilot flies one aircraft. One new A&P keeps an entire fleet airworthy. The multiplier on maintenance workforce investment is substantially higher than on the pilot side — which is precisely why the shortage compounds when it goes unaddressed.

The numbers back it up:

Demand. Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook projects 123,000 new aviation maintenance technicians needed in North America through 2044 — against roughly 161,000 total U.S. jobs in the field as of 2024, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Globally, Boeing’s 2025 forecast projects demand for approximately 710,000 new maintenance technicians over 20 years.

The gap. The Aviation Technician Education Council’s (ATEC) 2025 Pipeline Report identifies a 10% shortage of certificated mechanics needed to support commercial aviation. The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) projects that even by 2035, the shortage will still sit around 7% — meaning supply lags demand for at least another decade.

The aging workforce. The average certificated mechanic is 54 years old. Every retirement removes decades of accumulated troubleshooting knowledge that takes years to rebuild.

The military pipeline is shrinking. Veterans transitioning into civilian maintenance roles fell nearly 14% in 2024, with fewer than 10% of experienced veterans moving into comparable civilian jobs. Military service has historically supplied about 14% of new mechanic certificates — a channel that is narrowing.

Fleet growth. The North American commercial fleet is projected to grow roughly 13% over the next decade, and an aging in-service fleet combined with high utilization is driving what ATEC and Oliver Wyman call an MRO “super cycle.” Bain & Company forecasts that aircraft engine maintenance demand peaks in 2026 and remains constrained through the end of the decade.

The Awareness Problem Is the Real Bottleneck

Here’s the finding that makes AOPA’s high school strategy the right intervention: about one-third of available aviation maintenance technician school seats sit unfilled.

Not because the schools don’t exist — there are roughly 220 aviation mechanic schools in the U.S. per the FAA, including 208 FAA-certificated Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools (AMTS). Not because the jobs aren’t there. Not because the pay is bad — the median aviation technician salary was $79,140 in 2024, roughly $30,000 above the median for all U.S. jobs, for a program that takes 18–24 months and costs a fraction of a four-year degree.

ATEC identifies the leading contributors to below-capacity enrollment as lack of awareness that aviation maintenance is a rewarding career path and instructor shortages.

Awareness is exactly what a high school curriculum addresses. A 16-year-old who has never met an A&P mechanic, never seen inside a hangar, and has never had anyone suggest that aircraft maintenance is a viable, well-paid, hands-on career will not spontaneously apply to an AMTS at 18.

There is evidence the awareness needle is already moving. Steven Sabold, executive vice president at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, told NPR in July 2026: “Five, ten years ago, our biggest struggle was awareness. We’ve gone so far past that, we can’t accept all of the applicants that we’re getting.” PIA now maintains a waitlist — a reversal from the era when it admitted essentially every qualified applicant.

ATEC’s data reflects the same trend: the FAA issued 9,013 new mechanic certificates in 2024 — the second-highest total since records began in 1999, just 4% below 2023’s record 9,401. AMTS enrollment rose 9.5%, and certification rates climbed to 63%.

Jim Hall, ATEC president, characterized the moment: “We’re seeing some measurably positive trends at the grassroots level, building interest in pursuing aviation maintenance and the training needed to earn an FAA certificate. Near-term challenges will include bolstering these trends while ensuring that we have enough specialized personnel, notably instructors and examiners, to support it.”

AOPA’s curriculum is a bet on bolstering those trends at the earliest viable point in the pipeline.

Why General Aviation Has the Most at Stake

The mechanic shortage hits general aviation harder than it hits the airlines, for a structural reason most coverage misses.

FAA figures show that certificated mechanics represent 86% of the general aviation maintenance workforce — compared to 61% of the air operator maintenance workforce and just 22% of the repair station workforce. Airlines and large repair stations can distribute work across non-certificated technicians working under certificated supervision. General aviation shops largely cannot.

That means when A&Ps retire, GA absorbs the loss almost one-for-one. It’s why Pribyl’s description of “annual inspections that stretch on for weeks” and shops “booked out for months” is the lived experience of AOPA’s membership rather than an abstraction.

It also explains why AOPA — a general aviation advocacy organization — is investing in a workforce problem that might seem like an airline industry concern. GA aircraft owners are the ones who can’t get an annual scheduled.

Where This Fits in the Broader Workforce Push

AOPA’s curriculum expansion joins a notably active period of aviation workforce investment:

FAA Aviation Workforce Development Grants — $26 million opened in May 2026, split between pilot and maintenance technician training programs
Bladen Community College’s aviation programs — including North Carolina’s first community college air traffic control program launching spring 2027
Cirrus Aircraft’s Talent Center — a multi-million-dollar Hermantown, Minnesota facility opened June 26, 2026, explicitly targeting military transition and first-career candidates for manufacturing roles
MOSAIC’s expanded Light-Sport Repairman privileges — effective phases in October 2025 and July 24, 2026, expanding who can legally perform certain maintenance and inspections
The FAA’s 2026 Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan — 2,200 hires targeted in 2026 alone

The pattern across all of these: aviation has finally recognized that its workforce problem is a pipeline problem, and pipelines start earlier than most people assume. AOPA is going upstream to the high school level, where career trajectories actually get set.

What This Means for Students, Parents, and Educators

For high school students: Aviation maintenance is one of the more accessible high-paying technical careers available. Training takes 18–24 months post-high-school, requires only a diploma or GED to enter most programs, and leads to a median salary of $79,140. Roughly 36% of graduates start at regional carriers before moving to majors, per PIA data — a well-worn pathway.

For parents: The economics compare favorably to a four-year degree. AMTS programs typically cost far less than a bachelor’s, take half as long, and lead to a federally certificated credential in a field with documented multi-decade demand.

For educators: Schools already running AOPA pilot or drone pathways should watch for the field test window in 2028. Schools not yet in the program can explore the existing curriculum now at AOPA.org — the maintenance track will be easier to add once the aviation STEM infrastructure is in place.

For A&Ps and shop owners: The advisory board AOPA is forming is worth engaging with. Industry input during the development phase is what will determine whether the curriculum produces students who are actually employable — or students who know aviation trivia.

The Bottom Line

AOPA’s addition of maintenance and manufacturing to its free high school curriculum won’t fix the mechanic shortage. Development takes two to three years, field testing starts in 2028 at the earliest, and the students who take the course won’t reach the workforce until the early 2030s.

But the shortage is projected to persist through at least 2035, and the primary constraint isn’t training capacity — it’s that a third of A&P school seats sit empty because students don’t know the career exists. A free, nationally distributed high school curriculum reaching 32,000 students a year across all 50 states is a direct, structural attack on exactly that problem.

Every student who finishes that course and pursues an A&P certificate represents, as Pribyl put it, dozens of aircraft that keep flying. For a general aviation community where 86% of the maintenance workforce holds a mechanic certificate and annual inspections routinely stretch for weeks, that math matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AOPA adding to its High School Aviation STEM Curriculum? The AOPA Foundation announced on July 14, 2026, that it will add a maintenance and manufacturing pathway to its High School Aviation STEM Curriculum. The new coursework will complement the existing pilot, drone, and aviation career preparation courses. Like all AOPA STEM curriculum courses, it will be offered free of charge to participating schools. The addition is funded by a donation from Gregory and Cindy Kozmetsky through their GCK Legacy Fund.

When will the AOPA maintenance curriculum be available? Developing the curriculum is expected to take two to three years, with a field test as early as 2028. Before release, the AOPA Foundation will identify the certifications and skills students need to enter the workforce, design hands-on learning experiences, and equip teachers with resources and training to deliver the curriculum effectively. An advisory board of industry leaders and educators is being formed to guide development.

How many students has the AOPA high school program reached? The AOPA High School Aviation STEM Curriculum has reached more than 130,000 students since it launched in 2016. In the 2025–2026 school year alone, the program served more than 32,000 students at more than 1,500 high schools and — for the first time — was taught in all 50 states, plus two U.S. territories.

How severe is the aviation mechanic shortage? Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook projects demand for 123,000 new aviation maintenance technicians in North America through 2044, against roughly 161,000 total U.S. jobs in the field as of 2024. ATEC’s 2025 Pipeline Report identifies a 10% shortage of certificated mechanics for commercial aviation, and ARSA projects the shortage will still be around 7% by 2035. The average certificated mechanic is 54 years old, and about one-third of available A&P school seats remain unfilled — driven primarily by lack of career awareness and instructor shortages.

How much do aviation maintenance technicians earn? The median salary for an aviation maintenance technician was $79,140 in 2024, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data — roughly $30,000 above the median wage across all U.S. jobs. Most A&P training programs take 18 to 24 months to complete. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects faster-than-average growth for aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians from 2024 to 2034.

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