The Lost Art Of the Skilled Trades · 2026-06-02 · 27 min
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.
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