FE
Hello Stefan,
I was thinking the same than you as I finished my engineer apprenticeship.
There are 2 ways on doing the basic training :
Faa :
With 3 years working on aircrafts above 800hp you can do the FEX (FAA flight engineer written exam) at any FAA test center (plenty of them around in Europe).
Then you need 5 hours training at a flight engineer station (on a non revenu flight) and finally a type rating and line training.
1 st problem is, nowhere you will find any company or school giving this 5 hours panel training.
2 nd problem is, even I you can find a lot of school selling type ratings, you will need a FAA commercial IFR licence to attend the course as these are not for PFE (professional flight engineers).
Because with an FAA CPL IR you can go straight to FEX exam followed by a FE type rating.
In the US most of the flight engineer jobs for beginers are actually for pilots waiting to be upgraded as F/O.
PFE jobs are very rare.
You need to be American or hold a green card if you want to work in the US.
JAA :
In europe, there are even less flight engineers as there is less of these DC-8, DC-10, B727, B747 classic...
A JAA FE ticket is even harder to get, especially if you are not a pilot.
-As a frozen ATPL pilot, you only need a 5 weeks technical course.
-As a licenced engineer, you need to pass all 14 ATPL exams plus you need simulator training on Ifr flying and so on...
There are almost no TRTO selling FE type ratings.
All the job openings are for experienced people with thousend of hours on the particular aircraft type(unfortunatly).
Africa or middle east :
If you manage to get an FAA or JAA FE ticket, you might find something (if you are lucky), but you most probably need to know people working for those airlines.
One of the only Airlines I knew witch could have made it possible was MK airlines how requiered only 3 years DC-8 maintenance experince and the flight engineer written exam (FAA FEX). But now they grounded their DC-8 fleet so that's all over.
I also know I guy that managed to do it just a few years ago, he is now FE on DC-8 for AIA. He was trained from ground to flight engineer by a VIP DC-8 operator.
Unfortunatly, times are over where as an engineer you could easyly expect to find a flight engineer job. My dad and uncle both did it this way, they were trained by the airlines they worked for as ground engineers. But that was 30 years ago !
I also hold a Jar 66 B1/B2 on several aircarft types and was ready to take the FEX exam. But I finaly gave up and went for a ATPL. I have not much hope anymore of getting one day a flightengineer job, even if now I would be eligible for a JAA FE licence. Now I can look for both pilot and fe jobs.
I hope I could answer some of your questions, maybe you have difference experiences and storys I would be happy to listen to,
Regards,
og