Anybody been to Aeroservice?
 

Anybody out there been to Aeroservice in Miami for FE training? I saw their ad, I am an A&P looking to cross over to the PFE ranks. BTW, what's the difference (besides pay) between a PFE and a SO on the pay scales? is it that a PFE has an A&P license?

a pfe , by definition , is profesional flihgt engineer, and you must have an a&p to get a job as a pfe. an so is a second officer. what it means is the so is a pilot with a fligth engineer ticket who does not have the senority to hold an fo position. pfe and so pays are the same, as they perform the same job. and in a lot of airines pfe and fo are paid the same too.

keep in mind, however, that there are very few airlines who hire pfe anymore. most hire so, because they know in the next 10 years they will retire the 3 crew planes, plus the 60 year old ex captains with no pensions go back to being so ( herpes).

i would not go into the pfe unless you want to get your licenses and be a pilot. if that is not an option, get a good mechanic job ( corporate maybe?)

Thanks, just purchased a plane and am flying hard on my own $ to build ratings and time. Getting on as a PFE looks like a great way to spend my time until I meet FO quals. being in a part 121 operation as a crewmember is a darn sight better than being a cfi on a 152 here at the local airpatch. Thanks for the guidance.

The difference is also that a pfe needs 5 hours actual panel time (not sim) to get the FE rating, a rated commercial pilot doesn't. The big freight carriers are about the only guys that hire pfe's (that's how I started). It is a good plan to get your commercial an move to the front eventually.

Is the commercial and instrument required in order to take the FE written, if I have an A&P. :confused:

Yes my understanding is you have to have a comm/inst./multi even with an A&p. BUT, I have also been told by some cargo carriers that they have an exemption, their FE's only have to hold an A&P. Anybody knows more please speak up...

at my current airline, POLAR, a lot of pfe's don't have their pilot licenses, but they do have their a&p . we have also a few fo's and captains that got their a&p, took their fe written and got hired as pfe's. then started working on their licenses from private to comm-mel-inst. they bought fligth time and when they meet the req. for fo change seats. others , instead of buyin time, did instructing on the side, then took LOA to go to the regionals and/or 135 turbine jobs and less than 2 years later went back to polar for the fo position.

hope this helps

Thanks for the info. :cool: