I would have to say that the FAA licence was the easiest set of exams that I have ever done. I have licences in a few countries UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the good old USA.
When I did the A&P licence I flew from Singapore to LA read some books on the flight went to the hotel walked down to the exam centre sat 2 exams and passed. I then went back in the morning for the 3rd, passed that one and had a practical the next morning, flying back to Singapore with the temp certificate in hand in the early evening after the practical.
I will admit that I had wooden/fabric aircraft experience as well as composite, avionics, piston and turbine engine coupled with large and small airframe experience. I had also been instructing on some large aircraft types over the few years before doing my A&P, so I may have been more current on theory than some, and I did find it very straight forward both in the exams and the practical areas.
So don't let anyone try to put you off or make you think that it is difficult just prepare yourself fully and most importantly during the exams RTFQ.................. READ THE F*#KING QUESTIONS and you will have very few issues with the exams.
Oh, BTW I work within the FAA system and have done for the last 7 years, I find it less restrictive and on the whole the people I work with are pretty good at wrenching, so no one should run people down based on the qualifications they have.
I managed to do that easily but in truth I wouldn't trust myself to work in his world.
One must take anything determined by ASFKAP with the perverbial grain of salt...keeping in mind. of course, of those of his 'calibre' being unable to properly service (let alone understand) certain large jet transport aircraft manufactured by the Lockheed California Company...which oddly enough, were kept propery serviced and fully understood by FAA certificated A&P mechanics (and certificated Inspectors) with very good success.
For many years.
PS:
On the other hand, perhaps it was just ASFKAP that had this particular problem.
One will never know for sure.
...it's a memory test, read the questions and answers, then go take the test. 10 days including the practical is not to much of a problem. Although saying that, I had a friend who's practical was 3 days..the FAA examiner guy was just getting free work out of him !!!
An A&P doesnt gauge your intelligence, your aptitude ,who you are, or what you are. Its simply a license to get hired at a airline or whatever and learn how to be a mechanic. Its a flipping license to learn.
Some of you need to get off your flipping high horses!
Hi I have been looking for a school in the states to carry out the 7 day (ish) training, can anybody recommend one? I also have a friend living in chicago who could put me up so if anybody knows of one in that general area that would be helpful but not essential.
try and find a school that will accept you first. Thats not being rude but your profile says Kent, and unless you can satisfy the entry requirements you wont be going, as the rules have changed in the last year...or so.
It will be more difficult to try and find a school that WON'T accept you, its a money making racket these days, you pay the school, they pretend to train you, you sit and pass the computer tests that you've memorised parrot fashion, they then feed you into their tame DME, you give him the $400 dollars and he pretends to examine you, eight hours later you leave with your A+P in your arse pocket, its a win win situation, a victimless crime really......
The only reason A&P mechs are considered semi skilled is because we are REQUIRED to use THE maintenance manual for work on A/C. Normal union workers (ie: bricklayers,carpenters etc) that have been thru an apprentice program
are considered skilled because they do not need book references to do a job.
It is just the way the labor dept in the gov't defines "skill".
I don't care which license you hold- it still takes at least 5 yrs practical experience to make you any good in this business. Line vs Overhaul is just a different set of skills used daily.
But unfortunatley the "do you need an A+P" clause is the only stumbling block in the process, and even thats not insurmountable.....
When we were doing ours we did a bit of research to see which of the hundreds of schools we would choose, we asked each one of them what their pass rates were and they were all broadly similar (85%-90%). we eventually chose one that was handy to get to. When I got there I was chatting to the guy that ran the school and he took me aside and told me that in reality their pass rate amongst students from certain parts of Europe was 'almost' 100%, the 85-95% figure was when he factored in "non European students", but he told me he couldn't say that "out loud". This pass rate is not because we're any more clever than an average American student but because it was widely recognised that the A+P exam was a 'cake walk' for anyone who'd ever studied for and passed a CAA licence exam. By the time my buddies that followed after me did their exams it was more like following a script, they knew exactly what they were going to be asked and in exactly what order, so were doing the whole thing in a couple of days, the guy in charge of the school even asked them to slow down and try and stretch it out longer in case suspicions were aroused......
Just my two cents worth,
Don't forget that in many US airlines you will not even get in the door without the A&P. At American Airlines all the bods have an FAA ticket. Then you do your 5 min type course but you will still not be able to sign some tasks or other peoples work. It will take more training before you will be able to sign for the same tasks as a B1. I know that in the states some people take years to get to the top of the tree so to speak. In EU land we do one licence and one type course per type and thats your lot. In a large airline the average A&P will (should) recieve more type related continuation training during the course of his career and more mini-courses on trouble shooting, avionics etc etc. EU side in the good old days most mechs would have completed a "proper" apprenticeship to work as a mech, but now....Anyway I just wanted to point out that although the A&P is probably (definately) easier to pass its just the start in a big airline environment. Now in the below 2730kg/helicopter category that a different story and there is no equivalent licence for the B2 or rotorcraft in FAA land.
Mates, are there any good A&P schools in Canada? Please someone advise. Does anyone knows the average salary of an A&P technician in Canada per hr. or per mnth? Thanks mate.
Linear Mode
