Thread: Why plan b
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Old 09-21-2018, 06:59 AM
  #13  
JohnBurke
Disinterested Third Party
 
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,926
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I should point out that one of the single best certifications I have outside of flying in the cockpit is turning wrenches. I've been doing it as long as I've flown, and have been maintaining airplanes for a lifetime, now. It's given me work when there was none, kept me busy between seasons, given me a second income, given me a first income, put me in my first jet-job, given me places to live several times, and on more occasions than I care to count, saved my life.

I am as much a mechanic as I am a pilot, and from an early age as a teen it was made clear that if I were to press forward as a pilot, I had better know the machines as well as any mechanic, ergo, should be one. Before I could fly I was told I should start buying tools and I did. They're one of the best investments I have, and should my medical go away tomorrow and I'm unable to do both, I will have a career that can support me and my wife.

Obtain your A&P and with a few college credits more you'll have a two year degree; a springboard four year degree that can be in whatever you want, from ITT to law enforcement to law to business.

When others were having trouble finding work upon large scale furloughs, I found work immediately turning wrenches, and immediately thereafter flying and work as a check airman; the ability to do both counts and put me in line for work when I'd have not had that opening without the certification.

A friend spends his spare time wrenching. He works seasonally as a pilot, has his spring, fall and winter off, and turns wrenches for a few people, mostly on experimentals. He's in demand. He makes good money. He owns new cars, trades up when he feels like it, owns his house, sets money aside, and has time to do the things he wants to do; mostly mountain biking and other such activities. He meets people, has a good life. He's an excellent mechanic, and he springboards off that to do other things. He's built several airplanes for people. He works when he wants to work, and takes time when he wants to do other things. He has options.

What started a long time ago as a kid has become somewhat of a passion. When I learn a new aircraft type, I learn it as a pilot but also as a mechanic. I enjoy the precision of a complex sheet metal repair. I like to weld. To work with sealant, to rig controls, inspect a structure, replace a cylinder, hang an engine. I enjoy the attention to detail in dressing a propeller blade, stop drilling a crack, and the subtle details of a good safety wire job. There's certainly satisfaction in arriving at the bottom of a low-minimums instrument approach and finding a runway exactly where it should be, but likewise there's a perfection and symmetry to dismantling an airplane, shipping it half way around the world and reassembly it to find that it does exactly as it should because you've done your part. Or simply changing the oil in someone's Cessna, or repacking a wheel bearing, or spending the day dissecting the maintenance records for an airplane to put it on a tracking program.

Maintenance is a valued profession, and for those of us who didn't drop our or fail in our maintenance careers, a well respected one.

There are those who place no value in maintenance; this is invariably a sign of a disgruntled employee or simple ignorance, often of both. It's a great skill and certification to have, one that's served me a lifetime of benefit and continues to do so, and one that employs hundreds of thousands of others. There are those who will say that maintenance is dead in the US, but they speak from ignorance and a failed career, and don't know whence they speak. It's alive and strong, and always looking for more people. Jobs are always out there, from manufacturing to line maintenance to repair stations, component repair, avionics, and beyond. My son, a military mechanic at the moment, has been mulling his choices upon separation, should he choose to do so. A number of his friends are making excellent money in aerospace, some working at places such as Space-X. The field is wide open, but whether one chooses to do it for a backup, a concurrent profession, or a full time dedicated job (I've done all three for several decades), it's an excellent investment. Even if you never turn a wrench it's an excellent investment in time and education and will benefit your flying career.
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