Senator also called for FAA to take action on safety measures following Wednesday’s Safety Summit

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, discussed the importance of building a pipeline of aviation talent to meet the growing demand for commercial air travel and expanding efforts to recruit, educate and train more women and minorities for career opportunities in aerospace. Her remarks came at today’s Commerce Committee hearing on strengthening the aviation workforce.  

“Over the next 20 years, to meet projected growth in commercial aviation, we will need 128,000 pilots, 134,000 maintenance technicians and 173,000 crew members in North America alone,” said Sen. Cantwell in her opening remarks. “Now more than ever, we cannot afford to leave good talent on the table…Women represent roughly 5 percent of airline pilots and less than 12 percent of aerospace engineers yet make up 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce. So we got to bridge the gap.”

“The cost of flight education, as I mentioned, is one of those barriers. A traditional four-year institution can range past $100,000, subject to rising tuition fees. And that is why we should consider policies that will help drive down those costs and get more students into the aviation talent pool. In 2018, we led efforts here on an FAA grant program to help develop a more inclusive talent pool of aviation pilots and aviation technicians,” Sen. Cantwell continued.

Watch Sen. Cantwell’s Opening Remarks

Sen. Cantwell also addressed Wednesday’s FAA “Safety Summit” which Acting Administrator announced in response to several recent “close calls.”  Nolen made the announcement during a Commerce Committee hearing earlier this month on the implementation of the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act.

“Among the critical action items, is ensuing that we increase training to account for human factors in the cockpit and in the control tower,” Sen. Cantwell said. “…[A]s we bring in a new safety workforce, we must double down on the human factors and training. We also must have the right safety equipment to identify and prevent runway incursions and near-misses. …[A]irport surface device detection systems that are deployed at some airports and other technologies like them can help air traffic controllers track the movement of aircraft on the ground and facilitate communications between tower and the cockpit.”

“The FAA, I believe, must move forward with these safety upgrades,” she added.

Senator Cantwell’s Remarks as Delivered:

Yesterday, at the FAA Safety Summit there was agreement that there has been an uptick in safety incidents, from near-misses to runway incursions. Among the critical action items, is ensuing that we increase training to account for human factors in the cockpit and in the control tower. We’ve always had a risk of human error, but as we bring in a new safety workforce, we must double down on the human factors and training.

We also must have the right safety equipment to identify and prevent runway incursions and near-misses. And these airport surface device detection systems that are deployed at some airports and other technologies like them can help air traffic controllers track the movement of aircraft on the ground and facilitate communications between tower and the cockpit.

These types of investments are needed for situational awareness and to prevent incidents or accidents. The FAA, I believe, must move forward with these safety upgrades. 

As Captain Jason Ambrosi can tell us, this means having also enough qualified and talented individuals, trained with the most up-to-date expertise, in every workgroup, not just pilots.

The FAA workforce must keep pace too. And that’s what we’re here to discuss this morning. We must continue to invest in an FAA that has 45,000 employees, including 14,000 air traffic controllers, 5,000 flight standards workers and 1,500 aircraft certification personnel. So I look forward to hearing from David Spero, representing the FAA safety professionals on this issue.

And from airlines to airports to aerospace manufacturing, Americans go to work each day basically depending on these individuals.

According to the FAA, aviation contributed to more than 5 percent of our GDP, $1.9 trillion in total economic activity, and supported 11 million jobs.  The subcommittee ranking member, Senator Moran, knows this well. He and I work on a lot of issues trying to train and scale a workforce for tomorrow.

And as this footprint continues to grow we see the economic opportunities for our nation. According to the Department of Transportation, the U.S. airline industry employed 787,328 workers in January 2023, nearly 8% more than in the pre-pandemic time period of 2019.

The U.S. aircraft manufacturing sector is expected to hire more than 10,000 workers in 2023 as production increases, continue to rise. And careers in this field offer highly skilled, good-paying jobs, with an average salary of over $106,000, about 40 percent above the national average, according to the Aerospace Industries Association.

So we’re proud of the talented workforce, particularly in my home state. The State of Washington is home to more than 130,000 aerospace workers and the supply chain that works with more than 1,500 suppliers.

With post-pandemic aviation growth, we face new challenges and we need to develop a pipeline of qualified workers to replace those who either retired or voluntarily left the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the next 20 years, to meet projected growth in commercial aviation, we will need 128,000 pilots, 134,000 maintenance technicians and 173,000 crew members in North America alone.

So big opportunities for us to skill and train a workforce for the jobs of tomorrow that are already here today.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how we can expand access to aviation jobs for all parts of America.

Now more than ever, we cannot afford to leave good talent on the table. Dr. Becky Lutte will tell us that women and people of color and how they are still underrepresented in aviation careers and that bridging this gap is key to ensuring we have a strong aviation system. And certainly, making education and pilot access to that diverse workforce more affordable so that they can get this skills set of the future.

Women represent roughly 5% of airline pilots and less than 12% of aerospace engineers yet make up 47% of the total U.S. workforce. So we got to bridge the gap and I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today.

I want to thank Ms. von Muehlen for being here from Alaska Airlines. We talked last week and she had a very compelling story about her own career and what they are trying to do to [close] the gap locally in the Pacific Northwest. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 15% combined of pilots and engineers are Black, or Hispanic, or Asian.

And we are going to hear about what we can do to build this pipeline for the future.

The cost of flight education, as I mentioned, is one of those barriers. A traditional four-year institution can range past $100,000, subject to rising tuition fees. And that is why we should consider policies that will help drive down those costs and get more students into the aviation talent pool.

In 2018, we led efforts here on an FAA grant program to help develop a more inclusive talent pool of aviation pilots and aviation technicians.

And today, I have letters for the record from two recipients of the 2023 FAA workforce grant in the State of Washington – Aviation Technical Services, Inc. in Everett and Red-Tailed Hawks Flying Club in Mukilteo, part of the Black Pilots of America.

This funding will help Aviation Technical Services, Inc. develop and train new airframe mechanics and support military veterans transitioning to the civilian workforce.

And it will enable the Red-Tailed Hawks Flying Club to help underserved and underrepresented students access aviation education.

These Washington-state organizations are training the next generation of aviation professionals and Congress should consider ways to build up this successful program.

I think we’ll also hear about how the ROTC can play a very vital role too. And we should consider that.

Strengthening our aviation workforce, having the right people, having the right skillsets, making safety in aviation the number one priority, that is what we’re here to discuss this morning. Thank you again to our panelists.