Best university for AME?

[bala_murali]

HI there guys.I would like to get some guidance of where I could do my aircraft maintenance engineering .I am from India. I have done my bachelor’s degree in the field of Electrical and Electronics and I have worked in dell computer for 2 years as a hardware technician. I am 24 years old right now. I would like to know

• What are the best colleges and universities to do a course aircraft maintenance engineering in Canada?

• I heard that only AME license in UK and USA is globally recognized! Is that true?Is Canadian AME recognized globally??

The colleges i got till now are


Northern Lights college -NLC | Programs & Courses | Program List


BCIT- http://www.bcit.ca/files/pdf/admissi...ition-intl.pdf



THANKS FOR YOUR TIME . YOUR SUGGESTIONS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

[bigoil]

try looking on AVCANADA you might have more replies

Northern Lights has a good rep and BCIT is more of a puppy mill in Vancouver,
there is Canador college and Confederation College and SAIT and a few more, go to the TC site and look (Transport Canada)

[bala_murali]

Thanks man

Thanks bigoil. will check the the AVCANADA. And would like to know what you meant by puppy mill (BCIT) ?? LOL.... And also in your opinion which would be a good college or university to join the AME course in Canada. Thanks for your time bigoil?

[bigoil]

puppy mill is a expression we use when something is turned out in great numbers (as in a large litter of puppies)
4 intakes a year of 25 or 30 students, no one fails, take their money, get them through the course, no jobs but don't tell them that.
the AME programe here in Canada is not university by a long shot, more like trade school, you can get in with grade 10 or less
its real slow here now, lots of laid off guys

[777AV8R]

Reputable Tech Schools...

Without a doubt, BCIT and their new aviation campus in Richmond, B.C., is the best in Canada and arguably one of the best in the world. This tech school has been educating well qualified students for many years and have set a very high standard.

The course is not easy and all facets are overseen by very qualified instructors. Graduates from this program have employers standing at the door with jobs in hand.

You won't go wrong applying here however; there could be a wait-list.

Good luck to you.

[blues deville]

Cenntenial College in Toronto also offers a good program and has an excellent reputation with airlines inside and outside of Canada.

Aviation College Courses - Aviation Technology School at Centennial College

Good luck!

bd

[bala_murali]

Red river college

Wow.. Thats great News 777...Mostly thinking of joining BCIT in their January intake, I also came to know about Red river college through one of the agencies here, Its seems they offer a 29 month OJT program after graduation .. Does this college have a good reputation ??AME Training in Canada - Aviation School, Pilot Training in India, Commercial Pilot Training, Commerical Pilot License, Sunsea, Pilot Training in Australia, Pilot Training in USA, Flight Training, Sunsea Aviation, Best Flying School, Pilot Training i
Thank for your time 777

[bala_murali]

hi there Blues . Did check the program in Cenntenial College . It does seem to be very nice. I do have a doubt though . Is there no university or college in canada that offers the degree in Aircraft maintenance engineering .
I also got a email from a consultant here about Red river college .AME Training in Canada - Aviation School, Pilot Training in India, Commercial Pilot Training, Commerical Pilot License, Sunsea, Pilot Training in Australia, Pilot Training in USA, Flight Training, Sunsea Aviation, Best Flying School, Pilot Training i. Do you have any views on this college ..

[bigoil]

Have you read the posts on Avcanada from employers and their preference of grads?
I love the one where a grad was checking the tire pressure by holding the gauge against the outside of the tire. Of course this has nought to do with the school just someone with no mechanical knowledge.
If you're going for a sought after licence go for the EASA. Way more challengeing than the CAD AME

[bala_murali]

Uk or canada

I have applied for both Kingston and Glamorgan universities in UK . But i though considering job opportunities Canada would be a better place. And also work permit in Canada is much easier and they do give for a longer duration (about 30 months )compared to UK.The major difference is ,in UK i get a BSC(HONS) degree while in Canada i would be getting a diploma. i do already have a bachelors degree in electrical and electronics and many people in this forum told me that a degree or diploma does not make any difference in this AME field.So that why thought Canada would be a better place to do my AME.

[bigoil]

first off get the University thing out of your head, the AME is a mechanic and here in Canada a poorly paid one at that. Nothing to do with University and if you tell them you have a degree it may go against you as you will be better educated than the boss and he/she may not like that.(from experience most deffinitely not)

There are 6 or 7 schools churning out grads every year or every 3 months and as you have read many, many lay offs right now so good luck with the job search after graduation. Not to discourage you but have you read the posts on Avcanada and the people looking for work after graduation.

I would guess that was a instructor posting about BCIT because it DOES NOT have a good rep out here in the field.

[bala_murali]

Apprenticeship Qualification

Wow .. Never thought my degree would turn up against me ..LOL . Taking the degree's and Diplomas out of the way . what are basic the qualification to join as an apprentice to get my AME license in Canada ( Hypothetical question -imagining the is a apprenticeship offer! ) . The degree i did was in Electrical and Electronics .Would i be eligible for a apprenticeship ?? Thanks for your time Bigoil ,,will check out the AVCanada forum too ...

[Flatface]

??

Please tell us what you see yourself doing for work after you get your AME licence.

You do realize that aviation is a business? The employers would be glad to keep you as an apprentice indefinitely, so they don't have to pay you the full industry standard salary of an AME.

If you get a job as an E licence, you will be stringing wires and repairing damaged connectors. You will be a blue collar worker.

With a degree already, you are already more qualified for a higher paying aviation job than an AME. It is not clear to me what you want to achieve.

[bigoil]

as an apprentice you would wear coveralls and steel toe shoes and be given a grease gun and told to go grease the landing gear of a small twin. so you crawl on your hands and knees to the spot only to find the gun empty, arn't they always
now tell me what is your prefered method of refilling the gun, by the imerse and suck method or do you use the putty knife method.

you;re an auto mechanic only you work on airplanes, simple as that.

if you expect different you're going to be dissapointed

[blues deville]

first off get the University thing out of your head, the AME is a mechanic and here in Canada a poorly paid one at that. Nothing to do with University and if you tell them you have a degree it may go against you as you will be better educated than the boss and he/she may not like that.(from experience most deffinitely not)

Get the university thing out of your head??? I couldn't agree less. Your boss may not like it, but the guy in charge of the department probably will.

Don't ever hide any education.

bd

[bala_murali]

college VS Experience ??

Point taken BLues... . Tell me one thing guys from your research and experience . Is there anything called as the "BEST place to do AME " in Canada like Harvard for law . Is there any place such that is we graduate from there with a good score ,We are sure to get placed in big companies . Isn't there even one place like that ?? Dont AME recruiters look out for students graduation from good colleges with skill?? Are they so narrow minded that they dont lookout for anything other than experience??

[bala_murali]

Looking for a new Start

Hi there Flats... Many of my buds did advice me to pursue a master degree in the same electrical field that i did in my under graduation in . i don't think i will ever be satisfied with that in my future .I want always wanted to be in the aviation field as an AME in the mechanical stream .I do accept that i did the most idiotic thing by doing a bachelors degree in electrical and electronics. I was virtually forced into that by my parents. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a job i hate even though i pays me well. Lookin for a new start from here on in . How can i go about it ??

[Flatface]

This is why you have to hide your education

They won't hire you under your qualifications and education. Why? Because you will want to leave the first opportunity once you get the real picture, night shift, work holidays, cold weather, rain snow sleet. They don't want to invest any money in your training if they think you will leave and their money is wasted, they can spend their money on someone else who stays. Once they have you on strength, you find yourself a nice sweetheart, she thinks you are somebody because you are in aviation, you marry her, she wants kids, now you need a house, new car, RRSPs, vacation home...............what does this have to do with anything? You now are in dept up to your eyeballs. She doesn't want you to leave your aviation job because now you have seniority, you are doing so well (read paying off the depts) and she wants security. If you have an education ( bachelor's degree in electrical engineering) you can transfer to the engineering department and all the money they spent on your endorsements is useless to them when you transfer.

36 years in the trade, military, manufacturing, flag carrier. I will be working midnight shift again when my cycles starts on Friday night. 18 months to go and I will start collecting my pension, until the company goes belly up and closes down the pension plan. I will be eating dog food from a can after that.

My advice, don't do it. One of my mates, retired now, brought his son to work because he wanted to go into maintenance. We all told him NO, don't do it. Get a nice flying job, clean, shirt and tie, respect, good pay, and finally when you are the senior man on the totem pole, you collect your 6 figure salary and then retire to the islands in the sun.

The son took our advice, he is now a Captain on a regional carrier in the North, he is making more than his father ever made in maintenance, the son is in his mid 20's. Ignore this advice at your own peril.

You want to get dirty and greasy, buy an old car, bike, heck even on old aircraft. Use your spare time to muck about the thing. You can build and fly a homebuilt aircraft and do ALL the maintenance on it. The beauty of it is, you can do it on nice sunny days, in the hangar on raining days, you can work as hard as you like, or can take a break from it as long as you like.

Here is one more tidbit, when I joined my present company, I too had star dust in my eyes, I brought application forms to all my mates from the Air Force. About 20 signed up and were hired. 18 climbed the corporate ladder after getting their AME. All were eventually forced out during the ups and downs of the airline industry. Only one mate and myself remain, we never left the trade and the union, we are the only ones who will have worked long enough to collect our pensions.

Mostly everyone who does survive, leaves at their earliest retirement date, except those who have started second families or started their families late. (read as still carrying big debt load)

All heavy maintenance is going south or to the far east, all that will remain is line maintenance, only until the regs can be changed and the airline managers can do away with those of us that remain.

[bala_murali]

Bravo Flatface bravo

First off all hats off to your persistence and achievement flatface. 36 years in this trade is something great …Bravo. ..And thanks for the marital advice also … Believe me for the confusion that I have in choosing a carrier marriage is the last thing that I want to think off right now... LOL
You told me about your coworker’s son getting into pilots jobs. That would be my dream shot. My plan-A was pilot training. I have done my class 1 medical and I am declared fit. I am new to this “engineering and technician forum “but have spent quite some in the pilots forum and have spoken to some with some pilots face to face also. The general concern is it is difficult to get a job as an AME but it’s almost impossible to get into a pilot’s seat. There we come to my plan-B (My AME). I was always astounded by working of those big Rolls Royce engines. The initial investment for AME also seemed to be much in scope compared to the 70 to 60 grand dollars that I would spend for pilot training at the end of the day without securing a job. And I didn’t have the heart to switch over to another field from aviation and even though I don’t end up as a pilot I would be satisfied and happy working as an AME.
I would like to know …whether getting a job as an AME is difficult ???Or whether the salary of an AME is very low, that building a future on that is an unwise thing to do?
And do tell me one more thing from your vast experience in aviation flatface. .. What job in aviation other than an Air traffic controller (which I hate to do) has a good scope...I just turned 25 years on 11th of July am I too old to change my field and get into a job that I actually like doing ?? Thanks a lot for your time... Did learn a lot from your posts … Cheers

[Flatface]

IT is never too late, just depends when you are willing to give up

It is never too late for anything, however, age 25 is late to begin in pilot training, you will need to accumulate as much as 4500 hours before a major Canadian airline will hire you. Keep in mind you are competing for jobs with your peers, if they are your age and have many thousands of hours of pilot in command time, you will be relegated to flying as an instructor at a small flying club or some other aviation job that does not pay as much as major airlines. It all depends what you want.

In the airline I work at, 850 AMEs were laid off recently. Aviation maintenance is being sent to third world countries where they can get the work done for pennies on the dollar. There are still AMEs on the ramp that work the flights between legs and overnight inspections and smaller repairs. Heavy maintenance is finished here as far as I can see. The airline that I work at just sold off it's maintenance branch and now will ask all providers to bid on this work.

One final opportunity you have not mentioned in your search is the military. You will be paid to fly from day one and it will be the most interesting and exciting flying you could ever do. Airline flying is not very exciting and is very routine.