When people who should know better say things like “most mechanics can’t read”, what to you expect Management to pay them? IMHO, you bemoan a prejudice to which you contribute. :(

An A&P would be something to be proud of if it wasn't so easy to get. Worse, it's not even required to work on aircraft! It's silly to discuss. Flying has legitimate barriers to entry. Once these are crossed, a MX background will only make you look bad. Anyone making the change should expounge their past. Treat it like a felony charge that you were lucky enough to beat.

Curious, in your opinion, why this would be? Doesn't more things to set you apart as different make a candidate more well rounded and competitive?

I don’t get the opinion that getting an A&P is easier than pilot certs. My A&P took 2 years to get, and 2000hrs of required classroom/lab instruction. We even had a time clock we had to punch to track are time. The test took 2.5 days and the only thing I have done that comes close to the test was my CFI check ride.

Now the barrier to entry is a little higher for pilots in that it is very expensive to get. I had to work for 5 years to save up the money to get all my ratings but the check rides were not harder than the A&P test.

I will say the A&P written tests are a joke, anyone can pass them. Also I found the IA test to be easy, but I took it after they eliminated the requirement for the oral portion.

You can waste two years in school, I did and felt like it added up to only a semester worth of information. I also know many people who got their 8610-2 signed by a buddy and had their ticket in a week. A lot of shops hire helpers only and let a single IA handle paperwork. It is most profitable paying the help $13hr while charging the customer $85. A fresh A&P has no more to offer yet expects more money making them basically un-hirable for that role. For all you pilots wondering why a maintenance background is bad need only visit a low paying MRO and see the workers.

Chuck Yeager disagrees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager

I went to one of his Q&A's at Oshkosh and he heavily attributed his success as a pilot to the fact that he was a mechanic first and then became a pilot.

Might as well attribute his success to being an a**hole, then, because he was one of those first.

Haha, that right there is funny.

Ref the maids strike:

Rick. Seriously. YOU DON'T CROSS THE PICKET LINE.

You first work with your union to get the company to change hotels. If unable, YOU change the hotel that YOU are staying at. Hopefully you can get the company to reimburse you, if not you eat the money and consider it well spent.

Joe

"Crossing a picket line" means crossing the line to WORK, specifically to do the work being STRUCK.

Crossing the line to get to the other side of the road is not "crossing the line". Crossing the line to do your own job is not "crossing the line". You are not protected in either of those cases, most especially under RLA.

I agree it's nice to not cross a line if you can help it, and I certainly wouldn't on my own personal time, ie I'd take my business elsewhere. I don't think I'm going to do that on an overnight though, especially at my own significant expense. Curious to hear what others think though.