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Quote:

Originally Posted by kevbo (Post 2449371)

I suggest skipping it period. I went to an A&P school and felt like I wasted a lot of time. The training is nothing more than a 50s era government vo-tech program aimed squarely at high school drop outs. The certificate has very little to offer since ANYONE can work on an airplane and NO ONE ever got in trouble for doing it without an A&P! Once you are a pilot, find another pilot/A&P to vouch for your experience and go take the test. Then you can proudly sign the logbook after replacing a cylinder on your Bonanza! Your PPL allows you to perform most common maintenance anyway.

Here's another potential pathway. Become a ELSA Repairman and Inspector on your own ELSA aircraft in a three week course. Work on your aircraft and make money inspecting other ELSA aircraft. According to the website, you have a "pathway" to the full unrestricted A&P.

https://rainbowaviation.com/?page_id=3619

Sport Aviation Specialties- Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft (ELSA) Repairman Courses

https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/gen_av/...seListings.pdf

There are many pathways to an A&P. One extreme is spending 40K and two years of your life. The other is by saying "hey buddy, can you sign this for me". You get the same certificate either way and nobody will know the difference! The FAA needs to raise standards and require people to get class time before experience counts like every other decent line of work.

Perhaps. The fact is, you could open up a vehicle Inspection, Emission, lube and oil shop and make much more money without all the headache. I'm not sure aircraft mechanic has the same appeal anymore. Have the heavy mx goes overseas anyhow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickair7777 (Post 2447553)

True, but I've got plenty of technical, engineering, and mx knowledge and experience and it helps with the job, but it never moved my career ahead any faster. Liberal arts majors who stayed focused on punching flying tickets are senior to me.

I've got plenty of technical, maintenance knowledge and experience too, and it moved my career forward, and provided me employment on the side, full time, concurrently, seasonally, and opened numerous doors, to say nothing of giving me significant advantage when doing studies for new aircraft in which systems were easier to understand.

Maintenance qualification got me my first flying job, my first large airplane job, my first jet job, and numerous other jobs along the way.

Maintenance experience put me in single engine jobs that paid six figures, employed me when I needed it (furloughs, etc), and helped qualify for a degree. Nothing to sneeze at, really.

Once upon a time. Unfortunately it has no value today.

Not sure if I agree with the sentiment of it having no value. But I def would not pay big $ for it. If you want it - do it. Doesn't look bad on a resume. My daughter went to a 1-year community college-based program for reasonable $. Got a decent paying job right out of school. A few months later was offered a job for 2X as much.