Johor woman defies odds to build career in aircraft engineering

KUALA LUMPUR: Syaza Raehah Haris had imagined herself working on aircraft since her schooldays, her sights set on turning aviation into a lifelong career.

That dream appeared to take shape in 2015, when she began work as a maintenance mechanic in Senai, Johor, after graduating in aircraft engineering from a local higher-education institution.

For five years, she gained hands-on experience in the field. Then came an unexpected blow: despite her experience, she did not qualify for an aircraft maintenance engineer’s licence in Malaysia.

What could have ended her childhood ambition instead became a turning point for the 38-year-old. She has since carved out a career in the field in Singapore and is now employed by a private airline.

She told Bernama the experience she gained in Malaysia could not be used towards obtaining a local licence because she had worked under non-Malaysian engineers and on foreign-registered aircraft.

Under civil aviation authority requirements, qualifying experience must be obtained through the maintenance of Malaysian-registered aircraft.

This disappointment led her to travel to the United States to obtain Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“To get the certification, I had to sit for examinations in the US and bear the costs of preparatory classes, airfare, accommodation and living expenses.

“I borrowed about RM30,000 from my father to make it happen,” she said.

It was a major gamble, but one that paid off when she obtained her FAA A&P licence at the end of 2018, opening the door to broader opportunities in the international aviation industry.

Determined to keep growing, Syaza later pursued a master’s degree in aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US in 2020, aiming to deepen her technical knowledge and expand her career prospects.

In 2023, another new chapter followed when she was accepted as a frontline maintenance mechanic in Colorado for a regional carrier operating under United Airlines. The role tested her in ways she had not experienced before.

“I worked in temperatures as low as -27°C. The extreme cold and the state’s altitude of about 1,500m above sea level presented very different challenges compared to working in Malaysia,” she said.

Her resilience continued to open doors and, in 2024, she secured a position in the engineering department of a company in Texas. But just as her US career was gaining momentum, her work visa application was unsuccessful, forcing her to return to Malaysia last year.

Syaza later secured her current position with the private airline in Singapore.

She said her FAA A&P licence has significantly expanded her career opportunities, as many private aircraft around the world are registered in the US.

“Currently, I work on private jets and air ambulances, including models such as the Gulfstream G100, Gulfstream G200 and Phenom 300. My duties include routine servicing, repairs and overhauls to ensure aircraft safety, airworthiness and reliability,” she said.

For Syaza, the journey has been anything but straightforward. But each setback has led her to another way forward, proving that an early obstacle need not be the end of a dream.