Aviation Career and Technical Education High School

Eid Al-Adha Mubarak from Aviation High School!

Happy Memorial Day from Aviation High School.

REMINDER: New York City Public Schools will be closed on Monday, May 25, 2026 in observance of Memorial Day.

Schools will reopen on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

To view the full calendar, visit: schools.nyc.gov/calendar

Happy Aviation Maintenance Technician Day!

Today, May 24, 2026, we celebrate the incredible professionals who keep the world flying safely. Here at Aviation High School, aviation maintenance is in our DNA. We are proud to have nearly 50 FAA-certified Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) licensed technicians on our current staff, alongside a proud 90-year history with too many A&P alumni to count!

Our legacy of excellence runs deep, many of our graduates and faculty have earned the prestigious FAA Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award and we have two entire honor boards in our school dedicated to displaying their names. This award is named after Charles Taylor, the first aviation maintenance technician who worked alongside Orville and Wilbur Wright as they built their Wright Flyer using his handcrafted engine. Do you know of alumni or former staff who have received their Charles Taylor Award, but they are not listed on our honoree board? Contact us at [email protected] with the pertinent information.

A massive THANK YOU to all aviation maintenance technicians, our great AMT staff, and our incredible alumni across the industry for your precision, dedication, and expertise.

Students & Parents: Let’s show our appreciation! Take a moment to email your favorite "shop" teacher today to express your gratitude for everything they teach our Flyers.

Aviation High School Education Foundation

Mother’s Day 2026 Paint Night! On Wednesday, May 6, 2026, Aviation High School’s Parents’ Association and Sunnyside Community Services hosted a special evening for parents, guardians, students, and staff to celebrate Mother’s Day through creativity, conversation, and painting together. Thank you to everyone who joined us for another wonderful community event!

Sunnyside Community Services

On Wednesday, May 6, 2026, parents and guardians joined Principal Jackson for the final Coffee with the Principal gathering of the school year. Thank you to all the families who participated throughout the year and helped make these meetings such a positive way to stay connected and engaged with the Aviation High School community.

Azriel "Al" Blackman graduated from Aviation High School in Manhattan in July 1942 and walked into a sheet metal shop at what was then called American Export Airlines, before it was even called American Airlines, earning 50 cents per hour as a 16-year-old apprentice who needed his parents' written permission to take the job. He stayed for 80 years. In July 2022, at age 96, he was still showing up to JFK 5 days a week as a Crew Chief. His colleagues said his shift officially started at 5 a.m. He typically arrived around 3.

In those 80 years, Blackman worked on some of aviation's most storied aircraft, from the Sikorsky flying boats that launched American's transatlantic service, to the Lockheed Constellations that defined post-war air travel, to the Boeing 707 that opened the jet age, to the 747 that changed everything, to the Boeing 777 that now bears his name at JFK. In total, he worked on more than 50 different aircraft types across 8 decades of American aviation history, an unmatched record in the industry. Between the flying boats and the 777, he served as a helicopter crew chief for the 4077th MASH unit during the Korean War, the same unit that became the setting for one of the most watched television series in history. He came back from Korea and went back to the hangar.

In 2017, at age 91 and after 75 years of service, Guinness World Records officially recognized Blackman with the title of Longest Career as an Airline Mechanic in history. American Airlines dedicated a Boeing 777-200 to him at a ceremony at JFK, taking him on a flight over New York City, up the Hudson River to West Point and around the northern edge of Long Island, and painted his anniversary on the fuselage. Mechanics at JFK still call that jet "7BK." Short for Blackie. He kept going after the 75th anniversary. And the 76th. And the 77th. And the 80th.

When anyone asked Al Blackman about retirement, his answer never changed: "When you like what you do, it's not work." His late wife Dolores, who was married to him for 57 years, sent him off every morning with the same line: "Go to work, bum. Go play with your friends." The Boeing 777 named after him still flies out of JFK. The 16-year-old who showed up to a seaplane hangar for 50 cents an hour in 1942 became the longest-serving airline mechanic in the recorded history of commercial aviation, and kept going until he was 96, because he genuinely could not think of a reason to stop.

We recently had the privilege of hosting sophomores from Aviation Career and Technical Education High School for Partnership for New York City's Career Discovery Week program. Terminal B teamed up with American Airlines' LaGuardia Airport team to connect students with industry professionals, share an up-close look at aircraft on the ramp, and explore a unique team building exercise that challenged groups to blind-build a paper airplane. Thank you to all the teams who came together to make this special event a reality, and to the amazing students (and future colleagues!) we had the pleasure of getting to know.