The FAA Safety Team or FAASTeam is a group devoted to reducing aircraft accidents by promoting a cultural change in the aviation community toward a higher level of safety. This group is doing great things to improve the safety consciousness of the aviation maintenance industry.

This month FAASTeam is unveiling the new FAA Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Awards Program which will go online at www.FAASafety.gov. The AMT Awards Program was first introduced by the FAA in 1991 to encourage technicians and employers to participate in aviation maintenance training. Through the AMT Awards Program, the FAA recognizes eligible technicians and employers by issuing awards to those who receive or promote and foster initial and recurrent training.

This month, the FAA Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Awards Program will go online at FAASafety.gov

Individual mechanics with a minimum of 12 hours of career-related training each year may be eligible to receive a certificate of training at the entry or bronze level. There will be three levels, bronze, silver and gold — a slight change from previous years when there were five levels. The FAA also provides on-line training courses for maintenance personnel available in the Aviation Learning Center at FAASafety.gov. Each year the FAA will designate one or two of these online training courses as mandatory to earn an AMT award. For 2008 and 2009, this course is Failure to Follow Procedures.

Organizations that employ at least three full-time AMTs may also participate in the AMT Awards Program. These organizations will be eligible to earn an Award of Excellence each year, based on the percentage of eligible employees that participate in the awards program. If 50 percent of the eligible maintenance employees earn AMT Awards during a calendar year, the company is eligible to receive an Award of Excellence from the FAA.

If you haven’t already registered on FAASafety.gov, now’s the time. Simply click on the "Maintenance Hangar" link and enroll in the AMT Awards Program. Once enrolled, you will be able to complete online training courses, record other eligible training and claim your award at the end of the year. This will also become a free online resource for tracking your maintenance training history.

The FAA will soon release Advisory Circular (AC) 65-25E: Aviation Maintenance Technician Awards Program. The AC will provide the details of the revised awards program, including participation requirements. Participation in the awards program can also be found within the "Maintenance Hangar" link.

Last year the FAASTeam overhauled FAASafety.gov Web site, to make it more user-friendly and to incorporate more features for mechanics and maintenance providers. A quick look at the site shows the tab called Maintenance Hangar. Clicking the tab brings a drop down menu with choices such as AMT Information, AMT/IA Toolbox, IA Training/Seminar Search and IA Training Providers.

One particular amazing resource is the Failure to Follow Procedures online course mentioned earlier. The objective of the course is to review the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) applicable to responsibilities and requirements when performing aircraft inspections, a review of the maintenance personal minimums checklist, human factors and consequences of not following procedures when performing inspections.

The course uses an interactive scenario-based presentation involving a mechanic, an aircraft rental business and an aircraft incident. Interspersed with the scenario are questions relating to the regulations. I found the course to be engaging and realistic. Although somewhat elementary, it was a good review even for someone with years of experience. It’s always good to go over the regs and it’s something that isn’t done enough once a person has their certificate and is actually working in the real world.

Another helpful page is a list of seminars and their locations, dates and distance from the zip code entered (your location). The search function allows you to enter inspection authorization to refine the list to those courses specifically for renewing your IA. There is also a very thorough listing of training providers that includes more than 1300 companies and training courses.