Polk County seat · Ouachita Mountains

Crane Certification Prep in the Ouachitas: Mena

Mena is a mountain town in the middle of the Ouachitas, close to the Oklahoma line and a long drive from any big city. It has a surprisingly busy airport full of aircraft paint and maintenance shops, a large electric motor plant, and the timber and construction work you'd expect in rugged country. Getting to a classroom from here can mean a full day of driving. Arkansas Online Crane School lets Mena operators, riggers and signal persons prepare online for the written exams of accredited crane certifications without leaving the county.

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An airport full of aircraft shops

Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport was established in 1948 and now has two asphalt runways. Around 20 businesses on the field have offered services such as aircraft painting, airframe repair, engine work and avionics. Rose Aircraft Services is one of the larger tenants, doing interior and exterior refurbishment and maintenance on many aircraft types. The trade started in the 1960s with someone fixing up and selling older airplanes, and grew as former military mechanics settled here. A 2011 report counted about 15 companies and roughly 150 jobs on the field.

Aircraft work involves its own lifting: engines pulled with hoists and engine stands, control surfaces and components moved by overhead or mobile cranes, and hangar construction or repair. Lifting a high-value, easily damaged component calls for careful rigging, soft slings or engineered fixtures, and a signal person who understands exactly what the shop needs.

Plant work and timber country

Nidec makes electric motors at a plant in Mena of about 347,000 square feet. Motor plants handle heavy stators, rotors and dies, and periodic retooling brings in riggers and crane crews for machine moves.

Beyond the plant, Polk County is forested mountain country. Logging equipment, sawmill machinery, bridge repair and utility work on steep, winding roads all use boom trucks and mobile cranes. Mountain terrain makes setup harder: narrow shoulders, slopes, soft roadside soil and power lines strung along the only flat ground.

Distance is the real obstacle

The airport's longtime manager has described Mena as fairly close to Little Rock, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, yet still isolated because of the mountains. That isolation is the main reason online study makes sense here. You can work through practice questions on any device, at any hour, and only travel when it's time to take an exam.

Written exams can be taken by Online Proctored Testing, at a test center or at a scheduled event, all arranged through the certifying body. The practical exam is hands-on at an accredited practical test site; no online course replaces seat time. Fort Smith is roughly an hour and a half north, and Little Rock, Dallas and Tulsa are each a few hours away.

What the rules require

Arkansas doesn't license crane operators, and Mena has no local crane license that we found. Private employers are under federal OSHA, through the Little Rock Area Office. For construction, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC requires accredited operator certification plus an employer evaluation, qualified signal persons and qualified riggers. Digger derricks used for utility work have specific provisions; check with your employer. More detail is in our requirements guide. Small private employers can request a free, confidential consultation from the state's OSHA Consultation Section, which does not issue citations.

Questions people ask

Do aircraft shops need crane-certified workers?

It depends on the equipment and work. Shop lifting is often under general industry rules, not construction. Rigging and signal skills are useful either way. We don't speak for any employer.

Is there a test site in Mena?

We don't list one. Testing is arranged through the certifying body; written exams can be taken by Online Proctored Testing.

Can I enroll a small crew?

Yes. Use the enrollment form and an enrollment advisor will follow up.

Suggested courses for this area

  • Rigger Level I

    Self-paced study for the NCCCO Rigger Level I written test, covering slings, hitches, hardware checks and signals for crew members who rig everyday picks with a known load weight.

  • Service Truck Crane Operator

    Written exam prep for the restricted NCCCO Service Truck Crane credential, aimed at Arkansas mechanics who lift components with the crane on their service body.

  • Digger Derrick Operator

    Written exam prep for the NCCCO Digger Derrick Operator credential, for Arkansas line crews who set poles, rebuild after tornadoes and storms, and take on non-pole lifts.

  • Mobile Crane Operator

    Self-paced study for the NCCCO mobile crane Core and your LAT, TLL or TSS specialty, aimed at Arkansas operators on hydros, all-terrains and crawlers.

Neighboring areas

Start your Arkansas crane certification prep

Name the card you need (operator, rigger or signal person) and the part of Arkansas you work in. An enrollment advisor writes back with the matching course and what the exam steps look like from there.

  • Self-paced lessons that open on any device, day or night
  • Practice questions written in the style of NCCCO written tests
  • Crew enrollment for Arkansas contractors and plants

Ask about enrollment

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