The need for a career change is what prompted Daniel Tillery to join aviation. He was teaching high school while attending grad school with the intentions of eventually teaching post-secondary education. “My uncle is an A&P mechanic who enjoys his work and gets to travel around the world, so anytime a student was trying to decide what field to go into, I always tried to steer them towards aviation,” he explained. “When I realized that I was teaching high school far longer than I originally intended, I decided to take my own advice and enrolled in the Alabama School of Aviation.” He says his goal was to get the necessary experience to be able to return to an aviation school as in instructor. “I did not anticipate the variety of opportunities available in the industry or that I would enjoy working outside of the classroom as much as I have,” he stated. “Here at CAS, I have been given the opportunity to combine aviation with my passion of instructing and helping the next generation succeed.”
Tillery has received a Bronze and Silver Award in the FAA Aviation Maintenance Technician Awards Program. Each level of award is based on the hours of training accumulated throughout the year, with certain qualifying mandatories. CAS has received the Diamond Award in the FAA Aviation Maintenance Technician Awards Program every year that Tillery has been training manager. To achieve the Diamond Award, every eligible employee at the company must achieve an individual award of Bronze or higher.
Beginning in 2019, Tillery has hosted students from local high schools that are enrolled in the A&P training program on tours of the CAS facilities. These tours serve to not only demonstrate the responsibilities of an A&P in a repair station environment, but to also show the many different career opportunities available in the field of aviation. His goal was to show the students that there is more to being an A&P than “turning wrenches” and that they have control of the direction they want to go with their career. “I began a program at CAS in which I would take a few of the top students from each touring class and bring them into CAS as ‘Mechanic Helpers’ working with our techs after school hours. This lets them get real world on the job training while building their resume to better their futures and earning some money while they are at it.” The program has been showing great promise he explains and he hopes to continue encouraging the next generation of aviation mechanics.
Tillery plans to continue learning everything about aviation that he possibly can. “Even though it feels like I have my hands on many things here at CAS there is still so much I don’t know,” he said. “There are departments at CAS that I have yet to learn and I wish to know the ins and outs of the entire business. I plan to continue to grow, to advance and use the skills and knowledge obtained to better myself and the company.”
