Best way to become an A&P?

Kritchlow

Kritchlow

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Kritchlow
My BIL wants to be a mechanic. I'm not sure what his end game is, airline mechanic? Small shop working on 172's? Something in between??

What's his best approach? He's considering a formal school, but I thought there were also other ways to work under someone. Also, is it like pilots where you start with smaller equipment and work your way up, or will airlines hire directly from the school? If so, I would imagine you start with smaller jobs, perhaps wiping down the tool boxes?

Any idea what the pay is for different levels/jobs?

We all value our mtc personnel tremendously. If fact, we put our lives in their hands everyday!!

Thanks!!
 
You can go through a 147 school, use military experience, or some sort of apprenticeship. When I was studying for the oral and practical test the group was pretty evenly split between military guys and apprentice mechanics. There was nobody there from a 147 school.

Keep in mind that the part 147 schools do not give you a mechanic's certificate when you graduate from their course, it just qualifies you to take the same tests that everyone else has to take.
 
Go to school, get the theory down pat,, pass the tests. get a job and try to not get fired.

Or, start a business in one small corner of Aviation get really good at it , and the customers will come.
 
The shop that does our annual always has a couple of apprentices from the local school. They go to the community college 147 program in the morning and work in the shop as mechanics helpers in the afternoon. Gets them both the hour credit for the school and the practical experience of hands-on work in the shop. The shop does lots of helicopter work and big Cessna Twins.
Sadly, the moment they get their A&P ticket, they go and sign on to work for some defense contractor or Lycoming.
 
Community college, cheap and quick.
 
I second the advice to get some real practical if going to a school. We have had new A&P's come work for my friends shop and couldn't time a set of mags on a 182. They knew the theory but honestly did not know how to do it in real life. I have no idea how they got past the practical for their ticket. I am not knocking them, no one showed them how to do it. Working around a shop will really set you up for success later.

As a discloser here, I am not a A&P. I am a former ARMY OH58 crewchief, worked in my friends shop on a as needed basis for 7 years. I am signed off to take my A&P exams but most likely won't. I don't plan on working as a A&P, I like being retired.
 
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I got mine through a 147 school, and for me it was a good approach. Took 15 months of full time school, and not cheap, but I really enjoyed that method.

I got the impression from others that I've worked with that it's hard to find an apprentice type situation that will expose you to all the variety of knowledge required to pass the FAA exams. The exams cover everything, sheet metal, fabric, composites, piston, turbine, hydraulic flight controls, etc. It's pretty tough to find a shop that deals with all of those. That said, the 147 school won't get you really good at any one topic, so there is still a lot of learning to be done on the job.

I was fortunate that my 147 school (East Coast Aero Tech, Bedford MA) had a great batch of instructors who had come out of long careers in industry and really tried hard to make sure students knew both the 'FAA approved' answers as well as how it was done for real. YMMV, but it worked for me.
 
I went to the cheapest two year in the Midwest called Lake Area Tech in Watertown SD. I know mechanics that spent triple and didn't do half the stuff I did. They have several flyable airplanes and maintece trainers including a cessna 421, B55 Barron, a Queen Air converted to turbines, saberliner, 727, OH58 and much much more including a piston engine test cell pt6 run stand.

Advice to any potential mechanic, if you can read and write well you'll go much farther that those who can't. Quality assurance is all about clear, consise, accurate documentation. Auditing the installation of major sheet metal repairs another example.

It's not uncommon to find errors in FAA approved drawings and these must be corrected by the authors.

Reading and understanding repair station policies and the FARs to defend your descisions is quality assurance material.
 
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I had 30 years of experience but never officially worked for anyone. I restored a couple of airplanes and built two homebuilts. Worked on a variety of airplanes over all those years under the supervision of a few IAs. Filled out the form 8710-1 and the FSDO approved it. Did the King course for the writtens and took the oral and practical at the ISU aviation school. From approval to the ticket in my hand was 6 weeks. Don
 
Real quick, he wants to become a mechanic, or he is already a mechanic and wants to become an aircraft mechanic?

If he isn't already a working mechanic in some field, the best way is for him to attend a 147 school. If he is already a mechanic and wants to get into aircraft mechanics, he can just go apply to shops in the equipment level he wants to work in and get 30 months IIRC industry work experience, then he can sit his tests.
 
Henning said:
Real quick, he wants to become a mechanic, or he is already a mechanic and wants to become an aircraft mechanic?

If he isn't already a working mechanic in some field, the best way is for him to attend a 147 school. If he is already a mechanic and wants to get into aircraft mechanics, he can just go apply to shops in the equipment level he wants to work in and get 30 months IIRC industry work experience, then he can sit his tests.
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It's not that easy anymore, With all your experience and knowledge, go try getting signed off to take the tests.
 
Thanks everybody for the responses...
 
I may be partial but I think you should go to Spartan School for your A&P. I hired so many of their graduates over the years. They all seemed to be well prepared for the work.

Many years ago in CA I hired a fresh graduate from a local school. He shows up with no box and he had a claw hammer too. Not very prepared for the job.
 
Aviation is a great place to work. The down falls I have found are a lot of the FBO's don't pay real good and benefits , paid vacation, medical, retirement packages are few and far between. Don't know about the airlines never worked for one, I am sure they are pretty good with higher than average wages.

I did the military route then took all the tests. Good experience but the military is not for everyone.
 
When I was doing the practical at the ISU school the examiner said that most of the graduates went to airline jobs. Only 1 or 2 per class were going into general aviation. Also the emphasis is on turbines and less and less on GA. Don
 
Tom-D said:
It's not that easy anymore, With all your experience and knowledge, go try getting signed off to take the tests.
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That's how I did it Tom. Walked into a repair station with no experience looking for a job as a layman mechanic and was hired. Did that part time for two years and then worked on planes at my flying jobs for three more years and the fsdo authorized me to test. Within a month of getting authorized I was done testing. Used king for written tests and a prep program in Oklahoma City for o&p.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
That's how I did it Tom. Walked into a repair station with no experience looking for a job as a layman mechanic and was hired. Did that part time for two years and then worked on planes at my flying jobs for three more years and the fsdo authorized me to test. Within a month of getting authorized I was done testing. Used king for written tests and a prep program in Oklahoma City for o&p.
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Of course you can still do that, I assume your work logs showed that you covered all the relevant areas of work experience that are required for this pathway.

The suggestion was that you could get signed off with just enough time in a component overhaul shop or repair station.
 
weilke said:
Of course you can still do that, I assume your work logs showed that you covered all the relevant areas of work experience that are required for this pathway.

The suggestion was that you could get signed off with just enough time in a component overhaul shop or repair station.
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Those "relevant areas of work experience" seem very generalized to me.

65.77 Experience requirements.

Each applicant for a mechanic certificate or rating must present either an appropriate graduation certificate or certificate of completion from a certificated aviation maintenance technician school or documentary evidence, satisfactory to the Administrator, of—
(a) At least 18 months of practical experience with the procedures, practices, materials, tools, machine tools, and equipment generally used in constructing, maintaining, or altering airframes, or powerplants appropriate to the rating sought; or
(b) At least 30 months of practical experience concurrently performing the duties appropriate to both the airframe and powerplant ratings.
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weilke said:
Of course you can still do that, I assume your work logs showed that you covered all the relevant areas of work experience that are required for this pathway.

The suggestion was that you could get signed off with just enough time in a component overhaul shop or repair station.
Click to expand...



I didn't keep work logs. Just had each mechanic I worked under to sign a letter stating airframe and power plants I worked on along with amount of time on the job. Once i had the 30 months I scheduled a meeting with an air worthiness inspector at fsdo.
 
I Have used several shops that had full time mechanics working for them that had no A&P license. Some of them had worked at these places for many, many years. It seems that if you just want to wrench on GA planes and get paid for it, you don't have to have an A&P license at all. You do have to have your own set of tools and experience using them somewhere I suspect.

I have asked these non licensed mechanics if they intended to get their tickets and the usual response is... "Maybe some day." This implies to me that at many small GA shops, the ticket doesn't really come with a pay bump. The IA is another story altogether though.

IMO, the best mechanic that has worked on my plane since I have owned it had no FAA license. Prior to working at a Mooney shop, he had done boat and car repair.
 
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