▲ CEO Sohn Jong-woon

Both American futurist Thomas Frey and an Oxford University research team have predicted that 47% percent of current jobs will become obsolete in the near future. Officers, accountants, bankers, reporters, lawyers, doctors and professors are all included in this category. The research team, however, pointed out that mechanics and engineers are likely to survive the next twenty years, marking aviation specialists as one of the highly promising job sectors. 

Acamtec joins hands with US SSC (South Seattle College)

The American Colleges Aviation Maintenance Technology Education Centre (Acamtec) is an aircraft maintenance crew academy in Korea. The academy signed a business partnership agreement with SSC to run the same one year SSC prerequisite learning program made by six professors of the aviation maintenance technology department. 

Completing the one year course in Korea followed by another two years at SSC can give eligibility for students to apply for an aviation mechanics Airframe and Powerplant license (FAA A&P license) issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Students who have finished the one year course at Acamtec can also be transferred to one of sixteen different prestigious universities across the US, including UC Berkeley and Eastern Washington University. 

An FAA A&P license is recognised by airline companies globally, and a letter of recommendation is written by question designers and superintendent professors for those who obtain FAA A&P. A working Visa can also be issued from the US government for successful candidates. The role of Acamtec, in this respect, is to lay the springboard for students in Korea to have the opportunity to obtain the certificate at a rational cost and within a short period of time before moving on to their course in the US. 

“You need Acamtec’s one year course certificate with a score of 64/120 in TOEFL to be eligible to apply for SSC without a further examination.” said CEO of Acamtec; Sohn Jong-woon. Acamtec is in partnership with Time English Academy and Gyeongbuk Aviation High School, and Sohn visits SSC with the high school students on a regular basis for English competency, practical training and a tour of the Boeing Flight Museum. Apart from being the CEO of Acamtec, Sohn has been serving as a professor at Yeugjin College in Daegu Metropolitan City for the last eighteen years. 

Fostering global Korean aircraft maintenance crews

Eight sets of graduates have passed through Acamtec so far and nineteen individuals are currently studying at SCC. Three of the most recent graduates are also to join SSC from March 22nd this year. Meanwhile, some of the original graduates have been working for the United States Air Force and affiliates of Boeing. 

Sohn completed his military service over four years as an officer at the Republic of Korea Air Force. After discharging, he joined Korean Air and travelled to America on twenty separate occasions to receive training. He completed installations of ‘overhaul’ facilities at Gimpo International Airport, supplied 200 500MD helicopters to the Republic of Korea Army, and produced and supplied both the front and mid body of aeroplanes and vertical tail wings of F-16 to US General Dynamics during the period he was working for Daewoo Group. 

In recognition, he was invited by General Dynamics to give a presentation to air officers on ‘The Fastest Case to Make F-16’. The national defence industry declined from then on and he quit the job to start Acamtec, from which he hoped to see fulfilment of his dream through fostering global Korean aircraft maintenance crews.

Sohn states “The aircraft industry is the result of technological integration. The navigation techniques widely used since the year 2000 in fact were already in use in the aircraft industry from the 1960s. I hope Acamtec will make constant contributions to promoting the excellence of Korean aircraft maintenance crews to the rest of the world.”