# They Sign Off So You Can Take Off: Inside Aircraft Maintenance with Evita Garces Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lost-art-of-the-skilled-trades-6923648/they-sign-off-so-you-can-take-off-inside-aircraft-maintenance-with-evita-garces Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lost-art-of-the-skilled-trades-6923648/they-sign-off-so-you-can-take-off-inside-aircraft-maintenance-with-evita-garces.md Podcast: [The Lost Art Of the Skilled Trades](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lost-art-of-the-skilled-trades-6923648) Published: 2026-06-02T22:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://the-lost-art-of-skilled-trades.captivate.fm/episode/they-sign-off-so-you-can-take-off-inside-aircraft-maintenance-with-evie-garces Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/90d47ff2-7747-41e2-9d2e-588ba3fc16b0.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-lost-art-of-the-skilled-trades-6923648/episodes/they-sign-off-so-you-can-take-off-inside-aircraft-maintenance-with-evita-garces Duration seconds: 1635 ## Resource Aircraft maintenance technician Evie Garces climbed from Aviation High School to VP at American Airlines — now she's recruiting the next generation. A mother chaperoning a hangar tour at American Airlines started to cry. Her son wasn't "college material," she said. She thought military was his only option — until she walked into that hangar and discovered the A&P license. That moment is why Evie Garces spends her weekends, evenings, and every spare hour making sure more families know this career exists. Evita "Evie" Garces is Vice President of Line Maintenance at American Airlines, where she oversees the airworthiness of more than 1,000 aircraft and leads 10,000 aviation maintenance technicians across the country. She is the first woman to hold this role at American Airlines — and the first woman named as American's FAA-certificated Director of Maintenance. She grew up in New York City with no aviation background, discovered the field at 13 through a high school catalog, and spent 27 years building her career from the floor up. This episode is for anyone who works with their hands, anyone looking for a trade career that pays six figures without a four-year degree, and every parent who's never heard of an A&P license. Evie breaks down exactly how to get in, what it takes to stay, and why the people who sign off your flight are the most important workers you've never heard of. IN THIS EPISODE (00:00) – Introduction: Evie explains her role overseeing maintenance for a 300-destination airline and what it means to depend on A&P mechanics worldwide. (01:44) – Origin Story: How a 13-year-old girl from New York City found a high school catalog, saw the words "airframe and powerplant," and chose a path that would define her life — without any aviation background at… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-lost-art-of-the-skilled-trades-6923648/episodes/they-sign-off-so-you-can-take-off-inside-aircraft-maintenance-with-evita-garces/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lost-art-of-the-skilled-trades-6923648/they-sign-off-so-you-can-take-off-inside-aircraft-maintenance-with-evita-garces.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.