If I have to summarise Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, the easiest and most straight forward answer would be, that it isn't for everyone. Often when technicians get into the field there is a major culture shock. What they have been fed in school vs. what reality are two complete different things. Unfortunately, this rude awaking to the emerging technician is often overwhelming and consequently they leave.
However! Don't let this scare you. If you are a highly motivated individual, someone who is tech savvy, and hands on, there is A LOT of demand in this industry right now for someone like YOU. The amount of Aircraft Maintenance Engineers being lost through attrition far out numbers the amount of graduates leaving our colleges. With the right mindset, tools, and a readily armed resume you are almost guaranteed a job in the industry.
Without further ado, I bring you 5 Key Things You NEED to Know About Aircraft Maintenance Engineering:
1. There are several different types of Aircraft Maintenance Engineers
M2 category takes care of everything an M1 cannot, so turbo fan/jet anything. An M2 category license is what will be required (among other things) to be able to work at an airline such as Air Canada, Jazz, West Jet etc. which are Transport category aircraft. It also includes business class type aircraft which are turbo fan such as a Cessna Citation for an example.
Both M1 and M2 categories can sign out a helicopter with their licence, however there are stipulations, one of which requiring a type rating (a rating which allows you to work on a particular aircraft) for that particular helicopter.
AME E licensed individuals have the privilege of signing off avionics type work. For example installation of a new piece of equipment like a radio etc. I do not mean the simple act of un-racking a radio and reinstalling it, by installation I mean the wiring and integration of a radio into an avionics radio rack. This is a blanket type rating, and therefore is not bound by M1/M2 category restrictions, E licenses can service all types of aircraft electronic systems.
AME S is a structures license that is also a blanket license, and allows an individual to work on either general aviation or transport category type aircraft. They perform structural repairs, fabrication of new sheet metal parts, and much more.
2. Not a 9 to 5 type job!
People in the aircraft industry seldom sleep it seems. Besides working weird rotational shifts which throw off a person's circadian rhythm, hours are long, and there typically is always room for over time. Luckily these days the industry is starting to wake up and realise that they cannot work employees to the ragged edge, as they will get burned out and make mistakes.
Working in general aviation has allowed me to have a normal life style, which is partly why I work in this sector of aviation. My hours are 7:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Thursday, Friday I work 7:30 am to 4:00 pm we take every other Friday off. Although it may seem like great hours, they are long hours. The work pace is fast, and I am constantly on the go. Especially as a Director of Maintenance, I am running after the phone and putting out fires on the floor from the time I punch the clock. By the way... Hangars usually aren't air conditioned, so by the time lunch break rolled around most guys are on a second set of shirts.
In the airline industry you will be expected at first to work afternoons and nights until you get some seniority in the union. A lot of times you may be working 5 ON 5 OFF 4 ON 4 OFF type of schedule, 12 hour shifts, rotating between days, afternoons, nights. If your 5 ON fall over the course of a long weekend, you are still working it. Flights need to happen. Simple.
3. Salary is not what you expect
I had a professor who told the class. " You can make as much money as you want to make." As he stood on the podium proclaiming his rhetoric, we looked upon him with such a sense of hope. Then reality set in, and I began working my first job for $14.00 dollars an hour Canadian, and driving 2 and half hours (up hill) each way daily. Sudden, I felt like I was not going to be making much money at all.
This is not a blanket statement for all of the industry, but as a whole Aircraft Maintenance Engineers are under paid for the amount of responsibility bestowed upon us. Statistically looking at salaries on a Google search has revealed, that in the Greater Toronto Area the median income for an AME is $25.38 per hour. Compare that to an automotive service technician which in the Greater Toronto Area the median income is $24.40 per hour. A $1 an hour difference between working on a Boeing and a Buick. Great.
It isn't all fire and brimstone however, as you make your way up the corporate ladder and get into management positions, take type courses, stay with a company longer and make your way through the union, the pay does get substantially better. You can look online at Air Canada's collective agreement, a Lead Aircraft Maintenance Engineer 2 by the end of April 1, 2019 would be making $43.40 per hour. Not too shabby, based on a normal work year, that is approximately 90k+ annually. They also have benefits and pension packages as well.
There is also the corporate/business aviation class. Typically pay is higher (in to the six figure realm) if you are working for the right place. Schedules often revolve around the company or boss, so sometimes your life can be dictated by this. This is a good choice when you are younger and you can build your schedule around this type of work. It is harder later on when you have a family to try and jump in to this schedule.
4. It's a lot of responsibility
At any given time, I may have one of more aircraft that I have signed out flying in the air. As an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, I have technicians fresh out of college working under me. I have to thoroughly check their work, to make sure they didn't miss something, forget something etc. They performed the work, and although they sign the individual task, I ultimately buy off on the maintenance release for the work being carried out.
It can be a nauseating at first, and when you initially get your license you may feel uneasy and uncomfortable for the first little bit. It is a good trait to have as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer because it shows that you care about your work. As you grow as an AME you will soon start to feel less anxious about signing something. At the end of the day, if you performed the work in accordance with the applicable standards of airworthiness, you will be okay.
I think of the main things to take away from that is to not lose sight of the big picture. An aircraft needs to be safe. Period. Often times I feel that people get so hung up on the paper, to the point that the forget to fix the aircraft.
5. There is a lot of paperwork... a lot
The amount of paperwork that is generated for the inspection, maintenance, and releasing of an
aircraft is out of this world. Naturally, the type of individuals who are drawn to this line of work are hands on type of people, and not purveyors of pens and paper.
There are log book entries to be made, modification reports to be filled out and sent to Transport Canada, Supplement Type Certificates that need to be inserted into the aircraft technical log history. There are rectification sheets that are generated during inspections, that need to be filled out to show how a problem was rectified. Airworthiness Directive lists, maintenance tracking sheets, inspection check lists. The list could go on forever.
Everything that could have a piece of paper has one, even new or recertified aircraft parts have release tags which need to be kept in the aircraft logbook as a record that this part is serviceable.
Often when people get into this industry they are taken back by how much writing they have to do. One of my biggest suggestions to people, as I see this very issue all the time, is that their penmanship is sub par. If you are a slow writer, or a have poor penmanship, it may be wise to practice as this is a very time consuming part of the job, and although its required, employers do not like paying for paperwork labour any longer then they have to.
Wrap up
The intent of this blog was not meant to scare you away from choosing a career path as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, it is simply to shine light on an industry that really does kind of hide behind a veil of mystery to the public. People choose career paths blindly, and many times people get to school and enjoy themselves, but once they fall out of the nest and into the real world, they can't fly back to the nest fast enough.
I stuck it out, and I have a very successful and rewarding career that is still only blossoming. I have future plans for entrepreneurship, further learning and self growth, as well as growth of the Aircraft Maintenance Intel blog.
Serious research and out reach are the best ways to find out if this career is for one. Feel free to e-mail me to get advice or insight on how to emerge onto the aircraft scene and make an impact on potential employers.
4. It's a lot of responsibility
At any given time, I may have one of more aircraft that I have signed out flying in the air. As an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, I have technicians fresh out of college working under me. I have to thoroughly check their work, to make sure they didn't miss something, forget something etc. They performed the work, and although they sign the individual task, I ultimately buy off on the maintenance release for the work being carried out.
It can be a nauseating at first, and when you initially get your license you may feel uneasy and uncomfortable for the first little bit. It is a good trait to have as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer because it shows that you care about your work. As you grow as an AME you will soon start to feel less anxious about signing something. At the end of the day, if you performed the work in accordance with the applicable standards of airworthiness, you will be okay.
I think of the main things to take away from that is to not lose sight of the big picture. An aircraft needs to be safe. Period. Often times I feel that people get so hung up on the paper, to the point that the forget to fix the aircraft.
5. There is a lot of paperwork... a lot
The amount of paperwork that is generated for the inspection, maintenance, and releasing of an aircraft is out of this world. Naturally, the type of individuals who are drawn to this line of work are hands on type of people, and not purveyors of pens and paper.
There are log book entries to be made, modification reports to be filled out and sent to Transport Canada, Supplement Type Certificates that need to be inserted into the aircraft technical log history. There are rectification sheets that are generated during inspections, that need to be filled out to show how a problem was rectified. Airworthiness Directive lists, maintenance tracking sheets, inspection check lists. The list could go on forever.
Everything that could have a piece of paper has one, even new or recertified aircraft parts have release tags which need to be kept in the aircraft logbook as a record that this part is serviceable.
Often when people get into this industry they are taken back by how much writing they have to do. One of my biggest suggestions to people, as I see this very issue all the time, is that their penmanship is sub par. If you are a slow writer, or a have poor penmanship, it may be wise to practice as this is a very time consuming part of the job, and although its required, employers do not like paying for paperwork labour any longer then they have to.
Wrap up
The intent of this blog was not meant to scare you away from choosing a career path as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, it is simply to shine light on an industry that really does kind of hide behind a veil of mystery to the public. People choose career paths blindly, and many times people get to school and enjoy themselves, but once they fall out of the nest and into the real world, they can't fly back to the nest fast enough.
I stuck it out, and I have a very successful and rewarding career that is still only blossoming. I have future plans for entrepreneurship, further learning and self growth, as well as growth of the Aircraft Maintenance Intel blog.
Serious research and out reach are the best ways to find out if this career is for one. Feel free to e-mail me to get advice or insight on how to emerge onto the aircraft scene and make an impact on potential employers.
No comments:
Post a Comment