Aviation: A&P Mechanic

Of all the people who have earned their A&P license, something like
25% have never exercised the privileges of the certificate. That should
tell you something. I know several people who graduated approved
programs and never got the license. A&P schools are a scam because the
only thing you learn is to pass the test-if you are lucky. I think the
_only_ way to get the license should be the experience route (but
homebuilding and restoring should count.)

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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The U.S. has to be the easiest place in the world to get an aircraft
mechanic's ticket. Here in Canada there are four requirements: Formal
training, which normally takes place in a tech school and will take
close to two years; Experience, which is 48 months, and up to 24 months
of the tech school training may count toward that, but in any case it
will take you four years in total; Tasks, which must include at least
70% of the ATA tasks listed for the type of aircraft the license
covers; And four written exams, same as in the US, except that in
Canada you can't get exam question and answer books: you have to
actually know the stuff, and you have no idea what they might ask you.
All of the schooling, experience and tasks have to be documented and
certified. There are two Maintenance licences, the M1 which covers all
non-turbojet, non-transport category aircraft, and the M2 which covers
the rest. There's an S (structural) license, and an E (avionics)
license, too. Restoration can count but it has to be done under the
supervision of a licensed mechanic. Homebuilts don't count: they're
airplanes as far as registering, airworthiness, insuring, pilot
licensing and air law are concerned, but not for building or
maintaining.
You gotta want to be a mechanic pretty bad to do it here.

Dan

wrote in message
ups.com...
The U.S. has to be the easiest place in the world to get an aircraft
mechanic's ticket. Here in Canada there are four requirements: Formal
training, which normally takes place in a tech school and will take
close to two years; Experience, which is 48 months, and up to 24 months
of the tech school training may count toward that, but in any case it
will take you four years in total; Tasks, which must include at least
70% of the ATA tasks listed for the type of aircraft the license
covers; And four written exams, same as in the US, except that in
Canada you can't get exam question and answer books: you have to
actually know the stuff, and you have no idea what they might ask you.
All of the schooling, experience and tasks have to be documented and
certified. There are two Maintenance licences, the M1 which covers all
non-turbojet, non-transport category aircraft, and the M2 which covers
the rest. There's an S (structural) license, and an E (avionics)
license, too. Restoration can count but it has to be done under the
supervision of a licensed mechanic. Homebuilts don't count: they're
airplanes as far as registering, airworthiness, insuring, pilot
licensing and air law are concerned, but not for building or
maintaining.
You gotta want to be a mechanic pretty bad to do it here.

Dan


And yet I've seen Canada-maintained aircraft which were right doggy, if you
ask me. One I'm familiar with shouldn't even have been allowed to fly into
this country, it was so unairworthy.

And on this side of the border, we've seen some American airplanes
that should have been shot down and scrapped. It all comes down to how
seriously the mechanic takes his responsibilities and how much pride he
takes in his work. People are people on both sides of the border,
mechanics and owners both. High standards are no guarantee of quality,
but it helps.

There is rumblings in the industry in the US that the FAA is looking
at the training and licensing issues here. I think that in the
future, we will look more like Canada and Europe in the way we license
Engineers/Technicians. To this point the industry has been very
successfully in self regulating and we have had a safe system.

The big thing driving the FAA to move is the economics of commercial
airlines and repair stations and looking at recent accidents. The
ratio of maintenance to pilot caused accidents has trended up
drastically and because of the requirements for recurrent training,
pilot caused accidents have gone down. The quality of the average
airline mechanic has gone down as aircraft complexity has gone up.
From my direct experience, I see the same in large repair centers.

Having to make repairs to jets I have been involved with over the
years, I have been very impressed with our Canadian brothers.



On 23 Dec 2004 11:03:15 -0800, wrotD:

And on this side of the border, we've seen some American airplanes
that should have been shot down and scrapped. It all comes down to how
seriously the mechanic takes his responsibilities and how much pride he
takes in his work. People are people on both sides of the border,
mechanics and owners both. High standards are no guarantee of quality,
but it helps.


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Denny,
Maybe a school you went to or know was a scam. The one I went two was
not. Lots of hands on and good instructors who worked the industry. I
learned a lot just chatting with them after class. You get out of it
what you put into it.

Michelle (A&P, CanadaAir Regional Jet Airworthiness Release
Authorization (ARA), Required Inspection Item Authorization (RII),
Run/Taxi, Jetstream 4100 Run/Taxi, Maintenance Instructor) Independence Air

Denny wrote:

Of all the people who have earned their A&P license, something like
25% have never exercised the privileges of the certificate. That should
tell you something. I know several people who graduated approved
programs and never got the license. A&P schools are a scam because the
only thing you learn is to pass the test-if you are lucky. I think the
_only_ way to get the license should be the experience route (but
homebuilding and restoring should count.)

I would like for their to be a category for owner maintenance in the USA,
either like Canada has or an alternative where an owner, who's been through
training in the relevant arts and passed an examination, can maintain his
*own*, not for hire, single piston engine airplane, non-pressurised, 6 or fewer
seats.

There are people like me, who can handle it, and do work at least as good as
what I've been finding done to my plane over the years by licensed mechanics. I
dare say, better, since my ass is the one in the air.



--
Dr. Nuketopia
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