So you want to be an A&P.

[Chris]

I found this on the wall of the motorcycle shop I deliver to and modified it for us aviation grease monkeys, Feel free to add to it.

So You Want To Be An A&P Mechanic
You Must
1. Absorb and retain more knowledge than a doctor for far less money

2. Troubleshoot and diagnose problems while placing your body in physically challenging positions

3. Diagnose problems over the phone or while at your kids soccer game free of charge and accept the blame if your diagnosis is incorrect

4. Be an immediate friend to anyone with an airplane who feel they can call at any time to get free information.

5. Accept full responsibility for mis-diagnosis even when the customer has already self diagnosed the problem.

6. Educate himself on all the latest AD’s and revisions that occur daily.

7. Accept full responsibility when the aircraft owners kid breaks the part you just spent ten hours replacing.

8. Diagnose the problem with only one third of the necessary information.

9. Purchase twenty to thirty thousand dollars of tools at your own expense which the aircraft owner expects you to loan to him whenever he asks.

10. After performing your duties, you will need to explain why your time and knowledge should result in billing a labor charge

[AvroAvian]

Oh man! So true!

Here, in the land of OZ at least, I would also add " Have far, far more responsibilty but get paid less than a plumber, electrician, construction worker, etc"
Airlines with fleets of $250 million jets, are only willing to pay the MRO I work for less than what it costs to get an average car serviced here. Go figure.

[oscardeuce]

Watch #1 that's changing....."Hi I'm with the gov't I'm here to examine you."

[The Inspector]

Read, Write, and COMPREHEND English at a graduate level, be able to do writeups like a 7th grade drop out. I don't know how many 'craked' and 'gaped' RIVITS I've looked at in 45 years.
The only thing in aviation thats cheap is the labor, on an hourly labor rate basis it's cheaper to have a 727 run through a C check that to get you BUICK repaired.

[Project Warbird]

How about the fact that an A&P mechanic can't make a single mistake (if he or she does, they loose everything), but a pharmaceutical company can make and sale a pill that will have a large list of side affects including kill you ( and they don't have to worry about getting into any trouble) They make Billions and the A&P makes less an hour then the cost of one of their pills.

[famvburg]

No kidding! Sad but true. I've always wondered, if you can't write it, how can you read (comprehend) it???

Read, Write, and COMPREHEND English at a graduate level, be able to do writeups like a 7th grade drop out. I don't know how many 'craked' and 'gaped' RIVITS I've looked at in 45 years.



The only thing in aviation thats cheap is the labor, on an hourly labor rate basis it's cheaper to have a 727 run through a C check that to get you BUICK repaired.

[phil65]

11. Be willing to work outside in the blazing heat of a summer’s day or the freezing cold of a winter’s night.

Glad I don’t have to do that anymore.
Phil

[262]

Dont forget a doctor can kill 1 at a time we can kill(how many people can a 747 hold?) bill

[Oscar Duck]

don't forget to blame always the last guy or MRO who worked on the ship

[The Inspector]

262,
Maybe so, but I love to point out to a new Doctor that I am authorized to exercise the rights and privileges granted by my license but he is only allowed to 'practice'.
Seriously to become an A&P you really have to read, write, and comprehend @ a graduate level but we are classified as 'semi-skilled labor' by the Dept of Labor.

[muddyboots]

I'll never understand why youse guys work your asses off to get licensed and then spend the rest of your lives complaining about how shabbily you're treated. I mean...you don't hear all the stories going in? You don't really know what you're signing up for? Or is it more like in the Army where everybody bitches about everything all the time?

[Second Air Force]

Muddy,

Things have changed a LOT since many of us mechanicians chose this profession. I'm not going to spend a lot of time listing the changes, but here is a photo that Gary sent me a few years ago that sums it up pretty closely.


I think credit for this goes to Kurt Konrath originally.

Oh, #12. Being comfortable strapping on a saddle so that your "fellow mechanics" can be carried more efficiently while you do your work and theirs.

Scott

[AvroAvian]

Unfortunately Muddy, if you told me back in early 2001, that I would be unemployed, paid less than half what I was earning at the time and have to work seven days a week just to make ends meet, I would've laughed at you and suggested that maybe you were sucking on the bong a little too hard. Since September 2001, this has been the case though and I have found out the hard way, that trying to get reasonable work outside of the industry is next to impossible. Too many times I have been told I am either over qualified or not experienced for the job requirements. The last few years have improved considerably, but I have had to work bloody hard and spend thousands of dollars to improve my qualifications to make myself employable. The airline industry now is extremely cut throat and I now have to face competition guys brought in from overseas. No company wants to pay for training anymore, especially when they can just import manpower. It used to be a great gig.

[Cking]

Kids don't want to do it. Hear in the UK there are schools set up to train cabin crew and check in staff. On the UK based forums kids are desperate to become dispatchers or "Red caps". Nobody wants to turn the spanners. Mind you when the stuff hits the fan they all blame the engineers!
My dad was an aircraft engineer and it was all I ever wanted to do. I have been doing it for thirty years and still bet a buzz every day I go ito work.
My advice to a youngster? JOIN!!! It's the best job in the industry.

Rgds Cking

[Bill Greenwood]

Erik, I am certain that drug companies are fined and sometimes huge fines when their failures or mistakes result in deaths. If you don't agree then look up Thalidomide, (sp? for such a case).

As for an A & P having to learn and know more than a doctor, I would not bet on that.

There are a few who do or have done both. One warbird guy, Mike Schloss, is a cardiaoligist, apparently a good one, and then he went to get his A & P. At A & P school they told him, "we don't get too many cardiologist in here." I don't know how great a wrench man Mike is.