PPRuNe Forums - Career Path

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Hey guys,

I'm going to spare the typical long explanations of dreams and aspirations and get into what I'm asking about. I'm late to the race, I'm 24 years old. I've recently released from the army where I had spent the last 5 years full time. I'm currently in my first semester of an aircraft maintenance program at a college here in ontario. With money and time as factors I had decided that a career as an AME would be a shorter route to industry and satisfy my hunger for aviation. It looks like I was wrong. It's a great program and I'm doing well, but I'm an operator, not a supporter. I have the fortune of having an aircraft in the family and they have offered to let me use their plane to get certified, eliminating a large portion of the costs. So, I'm at a crossroads. Drop out of this program and dive head first into certification, or ride this out and have this maintenance diploma under my belt (as well as more debt). My biggest question is: will having a maintenance background help me or hold any weight in my favour whatsoever in a career as a pilot, or will I be wasting time and money that isn't necessary. Keep in mind that without this program I won't have a post secondary education.

Hopefully someone here has even turned maintainer to pilot themselves.

Any advice is appreciated!

If Canada is anything like Australia (and I think it is, WRT general aviation etc), then having a maintenance qualification will be worth gold to you.

Any one can fly them, but not every one can fix them. Very useful for remote area operations. In short, for Canada and flying there, very useful and a nice string to your bow. :ok:

GET THE AME LIC!!!! Do your flying in your spare time on the family aircraft, if you have an M1 or M2 Lic along with a Comercial you will get hired by old gits like me. Good luck!

I am an EASA B1 tech and will soon start training to fly (I'm 27 now) I would definitely recommend you to get your AME. So that guys like clunkdriver would hire you as their pilot with technical knowledge. ;)

A larger problem than getting the pilot licence is getting hours in. I would suggest you get a PPL, carry on with the AME and start building hours with that aircraft that is available.

In answer to your question, a maintenance background certainly won't be a hindrance!