asheng, the situation you describe is what all LAMEs were afraid might happen when JAR 66 was still a proposal for the future. The idea that anyone could run a hangar check within five years of walking through the door was always ridiculous.
I believe your pay slip may indeed show much more than 36K but how much of it do you get to keep? What I need to survive is a bare minimum of 36K in my pocket which amounts to something like 58K+ before deductions. If LAEs are indeed earning that much in UK as a matter of routine, I'm surprised that there should be a shortage. BTW how much does your useless graduate manager make? The situation that drove me overseas still seems to continue - Maggie's mob told me to get on my bike so I did, but its impossible to stop pedalling.
On another note, does Big Airways still have a B747 Line Captain in charge of Wide Body maintenance? I noticed that they brought in a retired Concorde pilot to explain to the public on television that an engine surge is just the engine 'backfiring' - engineers wouldn't be articulate enough to provide a better explanation than that. Its the way we mumble and grunt that puts people off. That and the gravel rash on our knuckles...
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Through difficulties to the cinema