Yellowknife (May 12/03) - Shane McNeely of Norman Wells was all smiles when Buffalo School of Aviation chief instructor Jim McFarlane handed him his aircraft maintenance engineer certificate.

McNeely and his four classmates graduated from their two-year certificate program during a special ceremony at the Explorer Hotel in Yellowknife, April 28.

"It's both a practical hands-on profession and an academic one," said Jim McFarlane, Buffalo School of Aviation chief instructor, before the ceremony.

McNeely already has work: for Canadian Helicopters.

"It's a mental challenge and a practical challenge," McFarlane said. "You have to work very precisely because people's lives are at stake."

The students were happy to be graduating, especially after the school lost its accreditation last year when it failed to meet curriculum requirements for the maintenance program.

In April, Transport Canada recertified the school after auditors determined it met with federal requirements as an approved Aircraft Training Organization.

Yellowknife graduate Carolyn George was the only woman in the class.

She recently won the gold medal at the Territorial Skills Competition for aircraft maintenance and will be representing the Northwest Territories at the national level in June. She will be doing her two-year apprenticeship at Buffalo.

Grads love their new job

"I like everything," said George of her job. "After you figure out what you're doing it's cool."

George made the career switch after spending a "miserable" year working in an office.

She said it was "definitely hard" being the only woman in a male dominated profession.

"I wasn't exactly out of my element," she said, adding she grew up with three older brothers.

"It was what I was used to."

Her fellow graduate James Dwojak has always loved aircraft and said he tries not to think about the stress of his new occupation. He will also be apprenticing at Buffalo.

"I don't think about the stress," he said. "I just go and do it and get somebody to check it."