Rama

I managed to get into a legacy with an A&P and without a degree. I know I am fortunate, but have always been able to find work turning wrenches when on furlough.

useless

I trained for an A&P back in the mid 90's and I remember Crowne forklift and some other industrial businesses seeking students and graduates for employment. The university was having trouble placing graduates in aviation related fields. The industrial recruiters liked the rounded mechanical background the program gave the applicant vs somebody off the street. If you're hurting for a job it can provide you with something to help put food on the table.

JohnBurke

Not sure if you have your mechanic certificate, but I've been through a few cycles in this industry...and whenever I didn't have work as a pilot, I had it as a mechanic. Often I had flying work as a pilot as a consequence of being a mechanic.

rickair7777

Even low-use and parked airplanes require a lot of calendar maintenance. You would expect A&P to be a bit more stable than pilot.

JohnBurke

It generally is.

I've done a lot of seasonal work in my career, and maintenance often filled in the gaps, as well as enabled getting the jobs in the first place.

bozobigtop

Useless is right on the money; the two years I spent at a community college going through the aviation maintenance program to qualify for my A&P allowed me to see all the many industries who loved the training A&P students receive. No company that visited was aviation related. two of my fellow classmates were hired by UPS, one of them flies for UPS. The majority of my classmates are not using his or her A&P for aviation. I will tell you to get both the A&P and a Bachelors Degree in which you will find you are not tied to aviation like so many pilots.

Almost all colleges have online classes in fact I know many high schools providing online courses, time to get with the program junior!

hypoxia

In the US, make sure the school you attend is "accredited" by an organization recognized by the US Department of Education. see link:

http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.aspx
or
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) (2013)


I saw in an earlier post, a poster used the term "diploma mill" rather loosely. The fact is, schools like "University of Phoenix" hold regional accreditation which is the highest level of accreditation a school can hold in the USA. Granted, there are many different "tiers" of schools but using the term "diploma mill" is harsh and should be reserved for schools that grant diplomas for money and have no coursework or can be purchased on Ebay, etc.

The Human Resource Departments of Airlines and corporations aren't inept! They use a database similar to those above to determine if the school is at least accredited by a recognized entity. Of course, some airlines may specify other qualifiers such as Regional versus National accreditation or if the school lost accreditation, etc.

hypoxia

Definition of Diploma Mill:
Diploma Mills and Accreditation - Diploma Mills