Qualified But Stuck

Trained. Qualified. Still locked out of the hangar. Avionics technician Adrian Otieno explains the aviation licence catch-22 facing young aircraft maintenance graduates in Kenya and across Africa. You finish your aviation training. To get hired, you need a licence from the regulator. To get the licence, you need logged, signed-off experience on real aircraft. And that experience only comes with the job. In this episode of African Aviation Conversations, we sit down with Adrian Otieno, a young avionics technician in Nairobi, to talk about what happens after graduation, and why so many trained technicians struggle to take the next step. The demand is real. ICAO estimates the industry will need to recruit around 665,000 aircraft maintenance technicians worldwide by 2037. In Kenya, an avionics (B2) aircraft maintenance engineer licence requires at least two years of practical maintenance experience, even after completing an approved training course. The talent exists and the demand exists. What is missing is the bridge between the two.

IN THIS CONVERSATION

• What an avionics technician actually does
• How the aircraft maintenance engineer licence (AMEL) experience requirement works
• Where young graduates get stuck between training school and their first job
• How other aviation systems move people from classroom to licence
• What airlines, maintenance organisations, training schools and regulators could do together
• What Adrian is looking for next, and how to reach him