Let no plane go unfixed

[beachj001]

Greetings All.
I have just completed the General portion of my A&P Licence school!
We started powerplant about a week ago. Its exciteing stuff. Learning in more detail about the innerworkings and stuff about the engines. They put alot more thought into those things then most people realised. Like oval shaped pistons, and Cylenders that are not straight, so that when the engine warms up, everything comes into it's proper dimention by thermal expansion. Wow

I'm due to graduate December of 2008. Hopefully I'll have both licences by the end of January 2009.
Id like people's opinions about companies and stuff as far as employment goes. I really don't want to work for the famus airlines.
Maybe GA or a Cargo liner.

[Garrovick]

I'd go for a small or medium sized shop at a local airport.

I worked for PennAir in King Salmon AK the late 70s.

Working for an smaller shop gets you a more varied and interesting range of tasks.

At major airline companies, you might end up spending years doing the same thing over and over again in an assembly line atmosphere. Instead of being a mechanic, you'll end up being a parts replacer.

Imagine spending five or more years riveting skin to airframes.

[flightstrike]

Dont know how it goes over there. Is the course you doing a part of an apprenticeship?

What licence will you have? as in what groups.

Good luck with it mate!

[Garrovick]

In the States, a majority of mechanics have a two year technical degree that earns a person a "Airframe and Power plant License"

That gets a graduate a foot in the door, where the real training starts, under close supervision, from the employer.

I suppose a person can get an advanced aeronautical engineering degree, but that still only gets a person an entry level position.

[InsyleM]

That's exactly what im doing. Going to the two year technical school to earn an Airframe and Power Plant License. I already have 9 years of practical experance (mostly avionics) from the Airforce. Unfortuanntly avionics wasnt aproved by the FAA for an aprentiship program. So now I'm civilian going to school on the GI Bill :) So far so good. This week we get to rebuild a carburator :)

[angels355]

Jonathon,

I wonder if I could throw in my 2 cents (or 65 cents, inflation!). Don't close off possibilities such as the big airlines. Training, does NOT guarantee a job, don't narrow the field. I've got a friend who got his A&P training and licenses on the GI bill, and guess what, he didn't get a job! He did NOT get a job in that field, instead as an alternative career, he bought a fishing boat, and has been fishing for salmon in Alaska.

Myself, I'm 100% in favor of American guys like you getting the job to overhaul big iron. In the old days there was one big airline for example who had a base where they could overhaul and rebuild any and all of the entire aircraft, I don't know if it is still fully operating like in the old days, but as one member of this forum has pointed out, now days many airlines lease engines from major jet engine manufacturers, and when they need to be overhauled, they send those engines back to the manufacturer, who then ships them off to China, where low cost low wage employees overhaul these jet engines and return them for service again back in the US. In my opinion that completely sucks!

I wonder if working where you're at might be lucrative, one Porsche owner found that it was so much cheaper to have his engine overhauled in LA that he shipped it there for service.

I think I would stick with airlines, then corporate jets, then turboprops, then pistons. Don't get romantic about what type of mechanic work you do, only think about the bottom line, how much you get paid, what your benefits are, how financially sound the employer is, and who will provide you with the plasma tv the soonest. If you can take a business course. When you have years of professional work behind you, that is what matters, how much you get paid, whether the employer is sound, what solid benefits you get. And be aware of the possibility of the company outsourcing these tasks to for example China.

I don't know what the mechanical needs/situation is with Fedex, but they are a great company, Fedex makes really a lot of money, while all the other airlines have been struggling, Fedex has been very solidly in the black. If you've never worked for a broke company, trust me it sucks.

Also keep in mind the possibility of starting your own company. Here are two books I would recommend reading on business: "How to buy low, sell high, collect early, and pay late", by D. Levin, it's an awesome book, basically it is an entire MBA program in one book written if I recall by an MBA professor. I highly recommend it. Secondly there is "Managing" by Harold Geneen, he is a certified public accountant who became one of the greatest CEO's in recent history. He explains how he ran one of the greatest companies in the business world, ITT. There's a lot to learn from it, such as "Management MUST manage!!". If you're on your own in business for yourself, that phrase is easily understood.

Any way, I wish both of you the best of luck in your careers. I'm rooting for you, and totally disagree with outsourcing, I think there is really something to be said for American skills and craftsmanship. Three cheers for American craftsmanship!!!

[InsyleM]

Hey Thanks for your input.
I see your point. I have not been 'narrowng the field' so to day. I still have my preferances
that is. If I get hired on at Delta and they will pay me well, then sure, I'll go work for Delta. I have thought of Fed X serisouly. I have been in the heavy cargo scene before in the Airforce, so Heavy Metal isnt a stranger to me, I have also considered the possibilty of working outside the feild. A Recent graudate of my school got hired on with a railroad company. ALot of graduates get hired on at power plants. I seriously doubt that I will get a job near where I live. After being in the military, relocating is no big deal. Some of the instructors at my school also run their own shops. I've thought about it, but one of them tells me that the price of insurance is through the roof. Anything happens, and EVERYONE who TOUCHED the plane gets sued. So that has me a little gunshy arround general avation. The reason I said id like to advoid major airliners is because of Job security reasons. I have heard like you said about Fed X that they are a great company to work for, and Id love to work for them. Personally, Id rather do Cargo then passangers. But like you said, where the money is

My dream job would be a government contract working on C-5s.
I already have about six years of experance on them from the military.
Thanks for your input,
-Jonathan

Jonathon,

I wonder if I could throw in my 2 cents (or 65 cents, inflation!). Don't close off possibilities such as the big airlines. Training, does NOT guarantee a job, don't narrow the field. I've got a friend who got his A&P training and licenses on the GI bill, and guess what, he didn't get a job! He did NOT get a job in that field, instead as an alternative career, he bought a fishing boat, and has been fishing for salmon in Alaska.

Myself, I'm 100% in favor of American guys like you getting the job to overhaul big iron. In the old days there was one big airline for example who had a base where they could overhaul and rebuild any and all of the entire aircraft, I don't know if it is still fully operating like in the old days, but as one member of this forum has pointed out, now days many airlines lease engines from major jet engine manufacturers, and when they need to be overhauled, they send those engines back to the manufacturer, who then ships them off to China, where low cost low wage employees overhaul these jet engines and return them for service again back in the US. In my opinion that completely sucks!

I wonder if working where you're at might be lucrative, one Porsche owner found that it was so much cheaper to have his engine overhauled in LA that he shipped it there for service.

I think I would stick with airlines, then corporate jets, then turboprops, then pistons. Don't get romantic about what type of mechanic work you do, only think about the bottom line, how much you get paid, what your benefits are, how financially sound the employer is, and who will provide you with the plasma tv the soonest. If you can take a business course. When you have years of professional work behind you, that is what matters, how much you get paid, whether the employer is sound, what solid benefits you get. And be aware of the possibility of the company outsourcing these tasks to for example China.

I don't know what the mechanical needs/situation is with Fedex, but they are a great company, Fedex makes really a lot of money, while all the other airlines have been struggling, Fedex has been very solidly in the black. If you've never worked for a broke company, trust me it sucks.

Also keep in mind the possibility of starting your own company. Here are two books I would recommend reading on business: "How to buy low, sell high, collect early, and pay late", by D. Levin, it's an awesome book, basically it is an entire MBA program in one book written if I recall by an MBA professor. I highly recommend it. Secondly there is "Managing" by Harold Geneen, he is a certified public accountant who became one of the greatest CEO's in recent history. He explains how he ran one of the greatest companies in the business world, ITT. There's a lot to learn from it, such as "Management MUST manage!!". If you're on your own in business for yourself, that phrase is easily understood.

Any way, I wish both of you the best of luck in your careers. I'm rooting for you, and totally disagree with outsourcing, I think there is really something to be said for American skills and craftsmanship. Three cheers for American craftsmanship!!!