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For the first time, American Airlines’ first all-female team will be competing in the Aerospace Maintenance Competition (AMC), which brings together aircraft maintenance crews from across the United States to test their skills and knowledge. The event, which recognizes and celebrates aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs), puts the aviation industry and the AMT profession on a national stage.
AMTs Elena Gonzalez, Meylin Concepcion, Pari Soneji, Allison Codd, Malinda Hamm and Regina Patronie are coming together from across the country to represent American’s first all-female AMT team, named Women in Tech Ops.
The team is looking to make a change, not only in a historically male-dominated competition, but the profession as a whole.
“Sometimes some of the more technical careers within aviation are not explored enough by women,” Codd says. “It’s not always about the muscles and heavy lifting — there’s more to the job than that and women should know this is a career that is open to them.”
And while there’s been an increase in women joining the aircraft maintenance field, the path for women breaking into the world of mechanics hasn’t come without its own set of challenges. “To be quite honest, as a female in this field, sometimes it feels like we have to work 20 times harder,” said Concepcion, an AMT based at Philadelphia International Airport. “I’m in a man’s world, so I have to make sure that I’m representing at all times.”
The team has been busy practicing and excitedly await competition day, where they will represent American Airlines AMTs from around the world.
“We are a diverse team in both cultures and skillsets. We bring different personalities to the table that allow us to learn from one another and grow both as individuals and as a team,” said Gonzalez.
And while this is the first time an all-female team will compete for American, it certainly won’t be the last.