Pontius,
I was a A Tech P (Sootie)in the airforce, my licences as a Civilian, which I had to study for are Airframes and Engines, A1, B1 and C covering Piston and Gas Turbine Aircraft....
Airframes also covers all instruments and autopilots, (though I do send them away for repair) it also covers electrics, compasses and basic radio (testing without specialist equipment) likewise my Engine licence covers associated systems and propellers, hence why you require less manpower, additionally I also cert the aircraft and issue C of A Arc renewals.
When my old 3 litre supra had a big end go, I had no worry about stripping down the complete engine to component parts and rebuilding it... Goes back to the training I recieved in the RAF, though I have expanded on that grounding a bit over the ensuing years, I was lucky in the RAF in that I maintained Rotary wing, Wessex, Puma, Chinnoks... Slow Jets, Jaguar and Passenger Jets, VC 10, which again gave a good spread of knowledge, something I believe the RAF fail to do these days, once on a type always on the type.
Last edited by NutLoose; 26th May 2012 at 09:55.