Page 16 - Reaching New Heights - Volume 5

Q
A
& program including the local amenities available, which also support our students. We are very proud
NEIL LAVOIE - RRC STEVENSON CAMPUS
Red River College - Stevenson Campus has
been a longstanding tenant at Southport
and operates its Aircraft Maintenance
Journeyperson (AMJ) Program out of
Hangar 4. Their 2,200 m campus is
2
well-equipped with a wide selection of
training aircraft, repair shops and classrooms.
Neil Lavoie is the current Program Chair at
Red River College - Stevenson Campus and
has been with the college for more than 23
years. Lavoie has skills and experience in
Aircraft Maintenance, Commercial Aviation
Operations and Business Management.
16 Southport: Reaching New Heights
Q Can you explain the Red River College AMJ
Apprenticeship Program?
A The Aircraft Maintenance Journeyperson (AMJ) Program
is an apprenticeship style/work-based post-secondary training
program recognized by Transport Canada as an approved aircraft
maintenance training program, which also leads to a Manitoba
Apprenticeship “Certificate of Qualification” in the skilled trade of
Aircraft Maintenance. Like many other trade programs, it takes
approximately 4 years to complete and it combines paid-on-the-job
training with technical training in the classroom.
Q What makes becoming an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
(AME) rewarding?
A Often the maintenance side of aviation tends to be
overshadowed by the pilot/aircrew side of the industry, however,
AMEs tend to be incredibly versatile in their role where they
utilize their transferable technical skills and apply the sum of their
knowledge in a variety of tasks. I can only speak for myself,
but in combination with an appreciation for the aviation industry.
I feel that becoming an AME is a very responsible career where
individuals can have an opportunity to push themselves to build
knowledge, new skills, and face new challenges – and there is
always a sense of pride/accomplishment whenever you see your
work has resulted in another successful flight of an aircraft you
were involved with.
Q What type of classrooms do you have?
A We have 4 modern classrooms, several customized training shops, and amazing hangar
space available for our training programs. The space is perfect for what we do and Southport’s
supporting amenities (Mynarski House residence, Central Plains RecPlex gym, etc.) help support our
students. We are very happy with all the support we receive.
Q
How has the Southport and Red River College partnership evolved over recent years?
A
We greatly appreciate everything that Southport has to offer us and our unique training
of our close relationship with Southport and the partnerships we have developed over our many years
of operations.
Q
A What makes the Red River College AMJ Apprenticeship Program unique?
My understanding is that AMJ is the only program of its kind in Canada where the program
supports aviation businesses and their newly on-boarded individuals entering the aviation industry.
The program helps develop, support, and lead these new workers down a path into an exciting
career. Apprenticeship programs in aviation are extremely rare and provide the opportunity to allow
apprentices to “earn while they learn”.
“ AMJ is the only program of its kind in Canada ...
the space is perfect for what we do and Southport’s
supporting amenities help support our students. ”
Q Tell us about the students that attend the program. Where do
they come from and are they already employed? What is the average
class size?
A Students attend AMJ from across the nation (Coast to Coast to Coast).
Generally, all of the AMJ participants are already employed before attending
training and the normal class size is approximately 12 students.
Q What does the AME workforce landscape look like? Is there
a need?
A Before the on-going pandemic there was a looming national shortage
of experienced AME’s available to the aviation community. Today the current
aviation marketplace looks quite different and although many air cargo, air
charter, flight training, and aerial work operations appear to remain steady and
on-going, the larger and medium-sized air carriers (airlines) currently appear
restricted in their operations, which has resulted in a slowing effect on the
current aviation job market. Alternatively, AME’s are still out there doing their
part to keep the aviation world safely moving ahead and we look forward to
a post-pandemic environment with a returning long-term increase in aviation
traffic where the aviation job market will quickly recover and AME’s will once
again be in very high demand.