Bootneck beat me to it and probably said it better than I would.
Just to add:
A majority of civvi engineers are ex-service. The standards and integrity of both environments are high.
In civvi a/c engineering; you will not find as many engineers on a shift as you would in the Mob because it would financially cripple the maintenance organisation. We have as many on a shift as we think we need to make things work (from quite a few years experience). If extras are needed at times of crisis or major checks, manpower is brought in on overtime or sub-contractors are used. It's good business sense and it works....why pay for extra licenced engineers (which aren't cheap nowadays) on a daily basis, just in case they might be needed, for them to spend the majority of their time sat in the crewroom.
Oh, and by the way, civvi maintenance organisations are audited by the CAA and one of the criteria for holding a 145 approval is that the organisation has to show that it has sufficient manpower to support the maintenance of it's operation.....so there are no corners being cut.
I am under no circumstances saying that civvi engineers are better (as said, alot of us are ex-forces), we just work in a commercial environment and things are different.
As someone once said to me just before I left the Mob;
You were a civvi before you joined, you will soon be one again.....Get used to the idea, this was just a phase you were going through!
Last edited by nodrama; 5th Mar 2008 at 00:44.