TSTC graduate and former instructor prospers at regional airline

HALRINGEN — As a child, Leonardo Robb was fascinated with the sound of airplanes. Now the Dallas resident is a maintenance training instructor at Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines Group.

Robb earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in Aircraft Powerplant Technology from Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus in 2008 and was an aviation maintenance instructor at the college from 2010 to 2017.

“I was hired as an aircraft mechanic with Envoy Air in 2017,” he said. “I received a promotion to become a maintenance training instructor with the company two years later.”

Robb finds the work culture at Envoy Air energizing.

“The diversity is amazing, and I enjoy educating our technicians.”

Carlos Fast is a lead maintenance training instructor at Envoy Air.

“Leonardo has continued to apply himself through his passion to achieve more,” he said. “He understands the challenges his students will face when they learn modern aircraft with complex avionics and fly-by-wire systems. He tirelessly studies training material to understand the systems and simplify that aircraft operation for his students to comprehend.”

“I truly enjoy teaching the students because they studied and trained hard to get hired as an aircraft technician,” Robb said of his current job. “TSTC prepared me for what became my career at Envoy Air.”

Tom Cross is a TSTC aviation maintenance instructor.

“Leonardo has an incredible passion for aviation, and that inspires others in their pursuit of an aviation maintenance career,” he said. “He has the ability to explain things in different ways in order for individuals to grasp the material.”

According to onetonline.org, aircraft mechanics and service technicians in Texas earn an average of $67,680 a year. The website projected that there would be a 16% increase in such jobs in the state from 2020 to 2030.

TSTC offers Associate of Applied Science degrees and certificates of completion in both Aircraft Powerplant Technology and Aircraft Airframe Technology at its Abilene, Harlingen and Waco campuses.

For more information about TSTC, visit tstc.edu.