Becomming an Engineer.
 

Good Evening

I was wondering how to become an aircraft maintenance tech. I have a technical background (electrical and mechanical) with lots of industrial experience. I just cant seem to get a start in the aviation buisness. Any advice greatly appreciated.

It really depends on what part of the industry you want to go into. Light Aircaft/general aviation, then there is the Big jets, Flight line maintenance, Hangar Maintenance, If you have a sound industrial background electrical/Mechanical maybe somebody like British Aerospace would be worth a look, actually building the things then moving over to the maintenance side when you have a bit of A/C experience. have you had a look at www.flightinternational.com and follow the links for jobs

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Hmm... I've seen worse

After 23 years working for a UK major my advice would be..........DON'T

If you don't want to be treated like something you've stepped in, give it a wide birth.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job. BUT all the $HIT that goes with it is hard to take sometimes...And its never ending.

Our management generally are poor engineers who become poorer managers! And because they no longer work in the cold, hot, rain, snow, 30 feet in the air on a cherry picker in 40 kt winds, nights, weekends they think that they are better than us.......


Why dont you look into IM or IT or whatever....


BUT...IT IS BRILLIANT!

Love

Artist Formally Known As (Le) Pen :)

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Blah Blah Blah Allowable: Blah Blah Blah MEL: Blah Blah Blah Pen it off!

Having worked in both Plant Engineering and Aircraft Maintenance I would have to say stay put.

I have found civil Aircraft maintenance to be slow, repetative and ultimately only challenging for all the wrong reasons.

Within Plant Engineering I found my skills appreciated and was when visiting customer sites always treated with politeness and respect. My skills where always being updated as we always had to keep ahead of the competition and I had more opportunity to move within the industry. Moving into aviation was a mistake for me and therefore
I could not recommend anyone entering aircraft maintenance.

Particularly now with the licensing turmoil.

I also have to say it out loud. DON'T DO IT! I too love my job, but the lack of respect, threats by management to sell us off to the highest bidder, threats to put out heavy maintenance to 3rd world countries where the labour is cheaper, unless we accepted a shift system that is slowly killing us, lack of equipment to do our jobs properly, poorly equipped work environment leading to very real health and safety issues now make me realise that we are considered second class citizans. I once heard a director in our place describe aircraft maintenance as a 'Necessary financial evil.' So it just about wraps it up; we in aircraft maintenance are considered a drain on an airlines' finances, but without maintenance, aircraft cannot fly. But if the accountants could wrangle it so that they could dispence with maintenance, they would. Once again, don't do it.

[This message has been edited by jetfueldrinker (edited 28 May 2001).]

I started out about 4 years ago as a helicopter engineer, and a little while ago I decided NO MORE.

I had relatively little experience, but enough to be able to do a standard inspection alone, yet none of this was valued by 'Da Management' in attitude towards me or pay.

The general concencous of opinion at this end of the industry, is that the pay is $hit and you get treated like a moron! There were guys there who had a hell of a lot more experience than me, and were getting treated the same as me.

Example (True story): A guy in Helicopter maintenance 23 years old, been doing it since he was 16. (Not licenced) His mate, 23 years old, car mechanic, been doing it since he was 16 years old.
Who do you think gets the better take home pay????

The bl**dy car mechanic. Where is the logic in that? Car mechs are worse bodge artists than we are!!

At the end of the day it is down to you to make a decision, but my advice is stick to IT or something involving computers, if you are that way minded, you will get a hell of a lot more money and job satisfaction out of that than you will tinkering with aircraft!

'Some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue!'

[This message has been edited by HeliEng (edited 28 May 2001).]

Been doing it for 23 years and wouldn't do anything else (that's 23 years not at the same place mind you) so go on give it a try. If you want some advice contact the ALAE
Everyday is different the challenges are there and the pace is quick. That's Line Maintenance, the hangars can be a bit repetative but hey you have to start and finish somewhere. Treatment depends on where you work (as in any industry) I work for an airline (clue is in the name) and don't have too many gripes (we all moan about something) So I'd shout DO IT.

I'll also give the job the thumbs up. I've been doing the job for 19 years and have enjoyed working in the industry. Yes it does have it's downside-unsociable and difficult working conditions, but these are far outweighed by the positive points such as travel and variety of work.When you go into any city and see what a monotonous existence most office workers have to endure, then I'll do this anyday.

HeliEng, I couldn't believe you weren't Australian!

There is no money in light aircraft/helicopters whatsoever. Unless you are willing to live in a tent in remote areas for months at a time.

Airliners are a different story...

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D V D A
(sorry Trey)

D V D A....

Why do you say that????

Should I have been then???


'Some days you are the pigeon, MOST days you are the statue!!'

my recomendations are DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT DONT DO IT.

If you aren't sure, DONT DO IT.

I did it, and although I have reached pay and responsibility levels that I would have perhaps not done otherwise, it has been at the expense of my self estheem. The worst of what the posts above have state is true, and job have security is the tool that is held over us all. Once you enter the business, your skills specialise to the business, and are less than useless anywhere else. Once ensconsed, your employment can leave you but you can't leave your employment. Recent developments have seen opportunities in the industry diminish, legal peril increase, wages decrease, and constant pressure on governments to reduce the level of qualification required to enter (become a LAME) in answer to commercial pressure.

Oh Yes there is money to be had, but at what cost? Peace of mind is it. It is not a business that you can leave behind when the hangar doors are closed.

To echo remarks of others....IT is the go. At least there, a small mistake (like eroneous paperwork) won't mean potential (Federal) criminal cahrges!!


Here's to Licenced Aircraft Engineers, the least expensive legal advice that money can buy!!

[This message has been edited by prunehead (edited 30 May 2001).]

Been in the trenches over 20 years and still enjoy aircraft but disappointed with how the airline business has decayed. A recent editorial response in one of the trade magazines sums up the opinions of "most" of the professionals in Aircraft Maintenance.
Question= Would you recommend Aircraft Maintenance as a career for your son or daughter? Response= I would rather he or she become a piano player in a whore house.

As mentioned in a previous reply, how long does one put up with the lack of respect and second class citizen status before your morale suffers and you end up becoming brain dead! Sad and unfortunate truth. Remember, only the logo changes.

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Sometimes you get the chicken, most times you get the feathers

HeliEng,
The helicopter maint. scenario you described sounds identical to my short foray into the chopper world.
I had friends that were stacking shelves at a local supermarket who were earning more than me and were getting spoken to with a lot more respect.

I've just spent 20 years in the industry and can no longer take the c**p that management hand out. You are seldom given any respect by the bosses, the working hours disrupt your family and social life and for the majority of the time you only do mind blowing boring jobs. (The prima-donna's get the interesting jobs)
There are little or no promotion prospects, again it's the brown nose crew that get promoted.
I am leaving the Bad Attitude behind, throwing licences away to move to a job that pays about the same, is going to have so much variety it makes me want to cry and that also has a defined career path open to me should I wish to take it.

My advice is stay where you are, the grass is NOT greener over this side!

Clever Bloke there's more to this business than BA, but you've also done what you said not to do by seeing if the grass is greener, I hope it is, it always is until you try to mow it! What have you moved into if you don't mind me asking?

I think that the grass is as green as you want it to be.

I personally have moved on from Engineering, and I found the grass to be very much greener. Not only financially but actually feeling satisfied with finishing tasks and completing projects, which I was not getting in engineering because I was being pushed from pillar to post all the time.

I think at the end of the day if you don't try you don't know, and the general concensous in DON'T even bother trying!!!

Out of all the people I went to school with I am yet to find anyone who I envy in terms of occupation and workplace.
They all went onto Uni etc. and they complain about their jobs so much and the money they earn isn't as good.
It doesn't make me happy to hear them complain, but I know that there is worse than this job. I'm talking about airline work though, not bug smashers.

[This message has been edited by D V D A (edited 02 June 2001).]

Been in the industy 15 years,top apprenticeship(best thing that ever happened to me),stoped building aeroplanes, started to work for airlines and things went down hill.I've got every license I can except Avionics(no doubt the CAA at sum point will make me get that one) which for me has been very hard work without much support from the industry.Now after all the work JAR 66 comes a long and my licenses are joke,Now I getting away from the point.
Mate dont do it.You will be treated like a C#*t by everyone and his dog,flight crew,cabin crew,CAA,management and the fare paying passengers,because you haven't saved there lives by grounding the aircraft you have just made them late for there holiday or bussiness meeting.Working conditions are hard.If you work line maintenance you will be out in the wind,rain,snow,night and day.Health and safety go out the window both in the Hanger and on the line.I'm in my early thirties and I'm starting to feel the strain of the job both physicaly and mentally.Working shift is one of the plus points but that does take it toll on relationshops.As for the job being differant every day,no not really.Just another broken aeroplane to fix.
So why dont I get out,because I have bills to pay.To do something else I would have to take a pay drop or retrain because my licenses dont mean shag all out side this industry.
To sum up I would not let my kids become an aircraft engineer.So once again dont do it.

I think I must be one of the lucky ones, as we are treated with respect, the decisions I (we) make are accepted even if it does mean a delay (must be justified). Regarding Health and Safety, that is everyones responsibility, if you see something that contravenes H&S then it is your duty to report it to the local H&S rep. After all it is yours and your collegues welfare that is at stake.
Yes we work outside in the wind and the rain, then again so do many other people with less interesting and probably less paid jobs.
It could be worse you could be doing your 5th mot of the day or fitting the umpteenth tyre at kwikfit.
Sometimes you have to majke sacrafices to get ahead or do what you want, so rather than moaning about do something about it, it's your life!

Tonight I was doing a Horiz. Stabiliser/elevator inspection on a 747-400 (C-check). The aircraft is docked so it's readily accessible. It's relatively clean and I found some cool defects which mean that it will be a better plane when it flies away because of me.
I get paid (heaps more than a motor meachanic) well enough that I can drive a nice car and live in a nice place. There's other shifts that work when I'm not there so I don't have to think about it while I'm away (how many jobs have this?)
And I get cheap airfares which means I only pay 10% of the fare to anywhere in the world.
This profession may not be perfect but it's been good to me.
(I know I know...aerosexual..yeah yeah)

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D V D A
(sorry Trey)