Andrew Michael Arena has been around general aviation his entire life. He loves to work with his hands and maintaining aircraft is a great passion for him.
Currently, Arena works for AeroGuard Flight Training Center at their Central Texas location. He has worked for the company for more than four years and is an AMT A&P I.A. He says he helps maintain “... a growing fleet of nine aircraft at this campus, and have had my hands on almost all 75 of our companies aircraft at one point or another.”
Arena completed A&P school in Glendale, AZ, at West-MEC. In addition to this schooling, he has taken many online courses to further his understanding of aircraft maintenance.
For the past four years, Arena has received the bronze award through the FAAST AMT award program. The online training program awards bronze, silver or gold recognitions based on the number of credit hours the participant completes. Arena notes his company also received the diamond award because every mechanic received a bronze award or higher through the FAAST AMT award program.
Arena says he tries to share his passion for and knowledge of aviation with everyone he can. “I live to give tours of my current work space and share stories and educate anyone with aviation maintaining questions.” Additionally, he tries to get to know as many people in aviation as possible to learn everything they have to offer.
His career goals are to continue to immerse himself into as many new aviation opportunities as possible. “I plan to obtain my Private Pilot with hopes to have an IR and Commercial License.” He also hopes that when his sons grow up, they serve the less fortunate in remote parts of the world by becoming pilots or mechanics for the Mission Aviation Fellowship.
Shawn Arena, assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Arena's nominator for this award, says Arena is one of the top up-and-coming AMTs in the country. "While in A&P school, Andrew was one of 17 students ... and was the first one in his class to earn the A&P certification — all while working a side job as an automotive mechanic, after finishing high school a year early," Arena said. He was also impressed that Arena paid for his training all on his own. "In 2019, he was asked by the director of maintenance at AeroGuard (KDVT) to consider moving to the KGTU facility to assist in the ramp-up of that operation ... That is why I believe Andrew should be [an] AMT Top 40 Under 40 Awardee," Arena concluded.
