Actually diablo, the autopilot minders have finally given engineering a helping hand. In the past, careful use of the MEL enabled companies to hold out longer than engineers' slim bank balances. Those "lenient" MELs have recently become less lenient, at least under UK rules, at the insistence of the Operations types in the CAA, not the engineers. With MEL entries limited to 10 days, next time there is industrial action, the company involved will be less able to use the MEL to keep them flying.
But it is working conditions that interest me more than pay. Engineering and longevity are, it seems, incompatible, and its no use making loads of money if you don't live to enjoy it. The average engineer checks out in his sixties you know.
BTW wryly smiling, I drive a desk but over the years I've certified more work than you've had hot dinners. I get paid more than you because I'm more experienced, better qualified and worth more. So there!
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Through difficulties to the cinema