Age: 32
Years in Aviation: 12
Chad Symington is currently the maintenance training manager at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND. He attended Northland Community & Technical College in Thief River Falls where he acquired his FAA A&P Certificate and also has his Private Pilot Certificate.
He began working at the University of North Dakota in the fall of 2003 as a part-time student aircraft technician. In 2007 he became a full-time aircraft mechanic at the University of North Dakota and advanced to lead technician in 2011. He began his current job as training manager in July 2015 and now is responsible for initial and recurrent training of all maintenance personnel, developing new and recurrent training programs as required by personnel, equipment, products, or policy changes. He also maintains all of the personnel training files within the maintenance organization and the technical data required by the repair station.
Symington says, “My grandfather was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 in WWII so as a young child I always saw photos and books of aircraft and was instantly drawn to them. I also developed my love for flight while taking rides in my uncle’s Cessna 150.”
Symington is a North Dakota FAASTeam representative. He interacts with the local A&P school, and regularly attends the Minnesota Aviation Technician Conference. He says, “Working at the University of North Dakota I have the opportunity to work hand in hand with our part 141 flight school. I assist in maintenance days which bring students from all levels of our flight courses into the maintenance hangar where we take a hands-on approach to learning the various aircraft systems. I also spend time in the classroom setting covering various topics from the maintenance side of aviation.”
Symington’s career goals are to continually gain more knowledge about the aviation industry while continuing to pass on the knowledge he has learned to those moving up through the ranks in aviation maintenance.
