I think the
_only_ way to get the license should be the experience route (but
homebuilding and restoring should count.)

The problem with that is you don't end up with a good grounding for a
career past being somewhat knowledgeable of small aircraft
construction. Similarly, four years of college only gives you a
license to learn and a good base to grow from. A&P school is no
different in that it gets into areas and theory that you'll never get
building a small plane. I suggest you choose your school wisely, just
like picking any other center of higher education, there are good and
bad ones out there.

Remember also, even though the FAA mandated syllabus is about little
airplanes and theory, the money is in corporate jets. I suggest that
you study towards that end. We place well-rounded maintenance
technicians with corporate operators all the time at salaries of $65K
to well over $100K, but I stress - well-rounded. I can guarantee you
that none of them did it all on their own.

In the movie "The Graduate" the word was plastics. In aircraft
maintenance today it's electronics. Modern jet aircraft are
mechanically so reliable, it is all the stuff with wires attached that
fails. Learn all the electrical theory you can, it'll pay off in
spades. To maintain an aircraft like a Gulfstream your tools are
meters, buss readers, and oscilloscopes. The engines get the plugs
and filters changed every 600 hours or so and don't come off until the
4000 hour mid-life inspection or 8000 hour overhaul. I can honestly
say that in over 30 years in aircraft maintenance, I've never had to
build anything and probably driven less than a couple of hundred
rivets. In other words, building and maintaining are two different
things.




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