Pilots with A&P License?
 

I thought this would be the best place to post this question. Sorry if it is in the wrong place.

So as I was applying for yet another "Pilot with A&P license" job it got me to thinking, how many are there? It would seem that having both would trim down the applicant pool a lot. I only personally know of 5 though I admit I am not on the inside of the aviation industry and all of these guys are GA pilots.

So you folks that are on the "inside" are there a crap load of people with both? Or is it a small group?

It's a small group overall.

Very few in airlines, but there are probably some bush flying outfits where everyone is an A&P, including the girl who makes the coffee.

Not too many with both in the pax world. More in the freight outfits especially those starting as a pfe and then moving into the front seats like I did. That will probably decrease in the future as the 3-seaters get parked.

Its not a big group but its not that small of one either. I have mine and so do a lot of the guys I fly with.

My colleague uses his in our flight department although sometimes he regrets advertising that qualification.

I understanding his feelings about it. It may open some doors but nothing is worse than the other pilots going to the hotel or dinner and you're still in the hanger doing mx.

I have an A&P, Inspection Authorization, CFII, ATP and Aircraft Dispatchers license. I probably wasted a bit of money in my career.

I'd think it's a small overlap. There are about 617,000 active pilots and the FAA figures about 335,000 A&Ps but it's a lot harder to track A&Ps since they don't get a medical. Just guess from the people I've flown with I'd say somewhere around 5% but then they may have been more but it didn't come up in the conversation.

I was looking for work a few years back, a company I was talking to wanted a type rated captain. Check. They also wanted the captain to have an F/E rating. Check. What they really wanted was a type rated captain with the F/E and an A&P. Sorry, I'm not your person.

Then if you add to the Pilot with A&P list and throw in SECRET security clearance of above and a willingness to be away from home for a few months at a time, I would think the pool is even more shallow. Then again they must be finding these guys somewhere.

That's a very small group indeed.

Secret clearance usually implies military experience. Military pilots almost never have an A&P, they would be too old for mil flight training by the time they completed both an A&P and college. Could be done, but not if you actually worked as an A&P for long.