On stage and behind the scenes at the Georgia World Congress Center, ARSA leaned into the 2025 MRO Americas convention theme: Shaping the future of aviation maintenance.

Brett Levanto, association vice president of operations, participated in multiple panels at both the main event and the co-located Systems Integration Summit. He also supported colleagues administering the Aerospace Maintenance Competition where 87 teams competed across 27 events – with ARSA members among the thousands watching the livestream from across more than 50 countries.

During his mainstage presentation on April 8, Levanto moderated a discussion between four developing aviation maintenance professionals. The group included a student (and Competition team member) from Embry Riddle, a recent Aviation Institute of Maintenance graduate (and valedictorian), a technician-turned-new-manager at Wheels Up, and a mechanic apprentice from United Airlines. Collectively they illustrated their different pathways into aerospace careers and instructed industry attendees as to how to best support aviation opportunities for their peers.

AMC teams are judged across each event – from safety wire to fan blade removal to electrical troubleshooting – according to the time required to complete the task in addition to penalties and bonuses specific to the task. Teams lose points for improper tool use, recordkeeping errors, and safety violations among other potential penalties while gaining bonuses for task-specific actions like FOD clearance or blade installation.

Southwest Airlines – Team Herb (as opposed to “Team Colleen”) took the William F. “Bill” O’Brien award as the top overall team. Tarrant County College took first place in the school category.

Sandra Acree (front row, to the right of the Taylor bust) poses with her AMC teammates from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. Just 20 minutes before, Acree had been onstage discussing maintenance careers with MRO Americas industry attendees.

The AMC has grown into a worldwide event since its founding by John Goglia, who was announced in October 2024 to be the first mechanic nominated to the Aviation Hall of Fame since Charlie Taylor. The event has grown thanks to support by the aerospace community, which hosts and judges, provides prizes, and sponsors to offset the cost of bringing more than a thousand competitors together each year. Competitions are now hosted annually at both MRO Americas and VAI VERTICON.

ARSA encourages members to consider fielding teams for either event as well as supporting the AMC. Click here to learn more.

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