Light Aircraft Engineer Shortage

[Cowboy-76]

I am sure many more of you have come across this but before long I am sure it will be impossible to get Light Aircraft Engineers and Mechanics.

There doesn't seem to be many young people going into Light Aircraft engineering and a lot of the current engineers are retiring.

I spoke with IAE at Cranfield the other day they have lots of work on but have a shortage of engineers and can't seem to find any out there.:ugh:

Surely there must be some good engineers out there looking for work.

[Brizeguy]

Lots of young light aircraft engineers out there but they all seem to move to biz jets as a natural progression. Nothing to do with the wages of course.

Pilots get paid better as the aircraft get bigger, same for engineers!

[ASWFlyer]

As someone in the right age range - i know that a job like that would really appeal to me! But i have never seen any information saying how someone could get into it - other than via the military of course...

Anyone got any information?

:)

EDIT: Just read the thread 'How to Become an Aircraft Engineer? (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=188908)' - it's a great help!

[Fournier Boy]

I'm young, and I was in GA when I was 19 (I'm now 24). I worked for several GA companies by starting the normal route working for free. I loved my time there and have never had so much fun since. The work was more diverse than anything I've done since, we would fly round the country looking after customers aircraft and we had so much fun with it. You could write your own overtime there was so much work going (I didn't get paid so I did it for the pleasure of it). However owners just wouldn't pay what the companies needed to stay alive and eventually yet another employer would go bust and I'd have to find yet another job.

I loved my time in GA but after two years and many companies I finally got offered a paid position (I survived on cleaning cars and cutting grass and a saturday job with a big pilot retailer to live). £8k a year for a fully Licenced Engineer (BCAR back then) is just not enough to live on in the South East I'm afraid. Sorry guys but I had to move to the big planes market, with less work (no less responsibility) but with 5 times the salary its the only way I can move forward, settle, and eventually start a family.

If there is a GA maintenance facility out there that will pay £40k+ a year i'll resign tomorrow from my current job, - until then I'll be nowhere near. Maybe when I retire from the airline world maybe then I'll be back, but with a pension to pay the mortgage, and a GA salary for play money, any takers?

FB