Aircraft Engineering Training/Prospects
 

Pending redundancy from the IT Industry forces me to evaluate my options. Im the wrong side of 30, interested to know what the market place is like for Aircraft Engineers in the UK right now and particularly which field is "sort after". I understand Oxford Aviation runs Engineering courses, any comments ? . Would a 30 something have a realistic chance of Employment after completion of training. Of course I will speak to OAT but I would prefer to hear it from the "sharp end", guys in the field already. Thanks

The answer depends on quite what you mean by Aircraft Engineer as this title can be used for many different disiplines.
As you mention Oxford, is it safe to assume that you mean Licenced Aircraft Engineer, hands on, oily, dirty, fixing Aircraft. If so I suggest you take a look at Airmech.co.uk as a lot of advice there but basically it's a long road until you are qualified and desirable to an employer. These days the examinations are modular, I think there about 15, and then you need experience. You will find the details here:

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?ca...77&pagetype=68

I'm sure that others will come on here and offer alternate solutions, if I can be of further help drop me a PM

It IS very rewarding, despite what others may say, I've been at it for 34 years and still enjoy every working day !

I would look elsewhere, by the looks of things the reasonably paid licensed engineer is about to become extinct, so unless you fancy being a mech on peanuts dont bother, im sure there far more lucrative things a chap like you could turn his hand to

With an IT background have you given any thought to just applying that experience in the Aviation world. Electronic flight bags are just now starting to become mainstream and the need for XML SGML etc experience is increasing as operators develop some of their own applications.

PS I would agree with some of the others posts that the stability and good paying jobs seem to becoming a thing of the past in most engineering fields.