Return to school
 

Now that I'm at AA, and will soon be based where I live, I'm interested in returning to school to finish my A&P. I'm on short call reserve and really don't get called that often so I feel like I should be doing something productive with my time while waiting for the phone to ring. I was going to school for it, finished the general, but have the airframe and powerplant to finish. Has anyone in a similar situation done something like this? Many years ago, I purchased an antique Cessna that I would like to fly one day, I have dreams of taking my young kids up in it.

Have you looked into the apprenticeship route? I haven’t done it myself (but as an aircraft owner would love to have my A&P some day). My understanding is that you can work under the supervision of an A&P, log the time, and when you have enough (not sure of the requirement), you can take the practical and get the certificate that way. I’ve got a buddy who did it that way. “Supervised” doesn’t have to be direct and in person, so if you can find a mechanic that is okay with inspecting your work and “supervising” via phone call, photos, face time, in person, or some combination thereof, you could work toward completion of you A&P on your own time while wrenching on your own airplane on reserve days.

That would be the way to do it. What kind of Cessna do you have? I have a 195 and I’m trying to get my dad’s 140 that I learned to fly in so I can teach my daughter.

I would recommend the apprentice route. That’s how I earned my maintenance certification. It took just under six years but I had the flexibility to make it work around my full time job.

I think if you tried to the school path you may find yourself missing to many days in class.

I'd use the time on reserve to restore your plane. By the time you're finished you'd probably have met the hour requirements for the AP.
Reserve is great for getting all your unwanted task finished.

I have a 1948 Cessna 170 with metalized wings. My son seems interested in flying, so it would be good for him if he wants to fly. I hope you get the 140, they're great airplanes. I considered getting one, but wanted to be able to fly my wife and son.

I'm going to look for an apprenticship, appreciate the advice.

That's the plan, do all the stuff I want to do while waiting around. I hope I can get it back in the air.

Before you go down the apprenticeship route, make sure you lock it down with the FSDO that will be verifying your stuff for the process that what you are planning is ok, and make sure of the requirements.

Last I’ve heard, they’ve tightened up the requirements significantly post COVID. Now this might just be talk from people whose paperwork and log entries were less than airtight, but you don’t want to get to the end of the road and find out you’re in a bad place.