Aircraft Mechanic school help.

[AZN_Pride]

I have been looking into careers lately and one has come up recently ad=nd I dont know what the hell I should do. It is an Aircraft Mechanic career and it pays really well. I have a cousin who dropped out of college and became an aircraft mechanic and is making over 100k. That is over a 5 year time span. I just don't know how hard the schooling is and what not so I am loking for some opinions from people who actually do this for a living. Also, the schooling would put me back in Ga.

[GTMule]

It's not a bad idea. I'm not sure I buy that he's making 100k a year, where's he work? I guess the guys at RAFB in Warner Robins make about 50, and I'd figure you'd be hard pressed to get TOO much better than that after just a few years at Delta/AA/United/etc. If he's making that much, he's in a weird situation (like, a FBO that works on JUST G-V's or something. I dunno, I have a masterns in Mechanical engineering and do aircraft structures analysis for a Gov't contractor, and don't make near 100k (granted after a year, but still).

I just had a thought.....ask him how many hours he works. I bet he makes 100 if he goes 55hrs a week.

All that being said, I'd MUCH rather be an A&P mechanic than an auto mechanic, the money'sa little better, it's a LOT more interesting, and there's less rusted bolt/broken stuff headaches. It'l also turn you into a good fabricator.

Again, I don't buy the 100k thing, I know too many people at work who USED to be A&P mechanics who are now engineers.

[HyPer50]

I was planning on getting into this pre-9/11, since my dad does it. Before 9/11 they were offering over 50/hr for NEW hires... so ya it was very tempting but then the ass dropped out after 2001 so not sure what it's like now... But it's a union job, so once your in, your in good heh.

[japan4racing]

get your a&p liscense and go work for the govt!!!! i plan on going to get my a&p some time soon. i work out at rafb on the c-5 cargo planes. we get paid pretty good...i have been there 3.5years and i make roughly 42k/year with no overtime..last year i made less money per hour than i do now but worked a bunch of overtime and nearly made 50k..with over time its no big deal to make in the 70-80k range for wg10 step 5's or wg11 &12's but it takes over time and you gotta get that base pay. night shift helps out too..you get an extra 7.5% on top of your regular pay.

i enjoy the job...they sent me to california for some schooling back in december and im due to go back pretty soon. the benifits are pretty good, you get a shit ton of leave (annual and sick) plus you get to participate in the tsp(thrift savings plan). i have been in it for 2 years..but for the first year i was only contributing 5% of my basic pay which was not much....but i have saved over $10k and im not any where near maxxed out on how much i can contribute and the govt still maches me up to a certaint %.

i never dreamed of working on airplanes...to be honest with you i was happy working some shithole job for $8/hour as long as i could afford to buy car parts....but now that i have grown up and got hip to whats really going on i am so happy i got my govt job....its pretty rad. i make more than some of my freinds parents make..i think thats pretty cool. you should give it a try.

[japan4racing]

I was planning on getting into this pre-9/11, since my dad does it. Before 9/11 they were offering over 50/hr for NEW hires... so ya it was very tempting but then the ass dropped out after 2001 so not sure what it's like now... But it's a union job, so once your in, your in good heh.


i assume you are talking about a civilian company such as delta, united or somethign like that..the govt was not offering 50/hr for mechanics..i can guarantee you that...and the union is an option when working for DoD...the union can help to a degree but they still cant stop the govt from getting rid of you. but overall its pretty hard to get fired..you would have to do something really dumb to get fired from a civil service job

[james]

I have been looking into careers lately..........I just don't know how hard the schooling is and what not...............


ok. if you are serious about anything, you gotta go at it full fledged. Don't be worried about how HARD the schooling is. You would learn a lot no matter what. Any kind of degree is better than no degree at all. Ask any college dropout if they regret it. You will find that like 99% of them do. Ask a college graduate if they regret graduating. Seriously, go for it man. If its something that interests you, then I'd say do it.

[japan4racing]

what do you want to work on??? electrical, hydrolic, or structural?

[twinj]

Try Atlanta Technical Institute. They have an 98.9% employment rate.

[HyPer50]

i assume you are talking about a civilian company such as delta, united or somethign like that..the govt was not offering 50/hr for mechanics..i can guarantee you that...and the union is an option when working for DoD...the union can help to a degree but they still cant stop the govt from getting rid of you. but overall its pretty hard to get fired..you would have to do something really dumb to get fired from a civil service job

Ya, I'm referring to commerial planes, like my dad, who worked for Northwest before they closed there atlanta hub.

[btomic]

Do what I'm doing, join the AF get out make big $ as a civillian

[SpecV_Scott]

^^^ I was just about to say, you could enlist in the AF, and get the same training. But you beat me to it.