Why Aircraft Maintenance?
Not too long ago, I was talking with an AMT reader about the magazine and about aircraft maintenance in general. During the conversation, I asked him why he got into aircraft maintenance. He said his father was an aircraft mechanic and he just ended up following in his footsteps. He remembered when he was growing up that he would hang out at the hangar where his dad worked and bug the mechanics, asking if he could do something to help out. Aviation became a part of who he was.
That got me thinking. We get lots of feedback on the current state of the industry. We hear about the job losses, the pay cuts, the poor working conditions, etc., etc… We have heard people tell us why they are leaving the industry. But we don’t hear the stories of why we pursued aircraft maintenance to begin with.
So, why did you get into aircraft maintenance?
I’ll start the ball rolling. It was kind of by accident for me. It was the late ’80s, and I was in college pursuing a degree in petroleum engineering. The oilfield crashed, and the oilfield industry went from boom to bust just about overnight. Not knowing what I wanted to do, I took a job washing airplanes at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, TX. That’s where the aviation bug bit me. What started off as a temporary job to make some money and decide what I wanted to do, ended up being the start of my career in aircraft maintenance. Thanks to encouragement and support from my supervisors and co-workers, I ended up getting my A&P certificate and later, my inspection authorization.
So, what’s your story?
Thanks for reading!
Joe Escobar
Back in the 1970’s jobs were very hard to come by in Michigan, very much like today. I had a wife and a new baby and lots of doctor bills. I needed a job. The only people in town that were hiring at the time was the military. So I joined the Navy.
The recruiter gave me a book that listed all the jobs that the Navy had, and told me to pick one. I came across a picture of a guy in clean dungrees and in a nice looking shop torquing a bolt on a propeller. Why not airplanes I thought. So I maintained airplanes for the Navy for twenty years.
As I got close to retirement I knew that I would have to get a job and the only thing that I knew how to do was aircraft maintenance. Got my A&P and after leaving the Navy I got a job working at an FBO maintaining Piper Warrior’s. Like all of us in aviation I have moved around and today I am an A&P with my IA and I take care of a G-V.
And yes, some days I wished I’d never gotten into aviation, but most days I am glad to be here. I know it beats the heck out working in a factroy making the same stuff day after day.
When I was a tyke, my father was in the Naval Air Reserves and we kids used to look forward to going down to the “Air Station” to see the airplanes and meet the people. I grew up wishing I could also be around airplanes; the people told so many wonderful stories that just HAD to be true (now I know what a “sea story” is). When I was 17 (back in the 1960’s and before Viet Nam really got going) I followed in my Dad’s footsteps and also enlisted in the Navy. I wanted to fly, and in fact became a flight engineer (really a “Flight Crew Plane Captain”) on the P-2 Neptune. What I broke in the air I turned my hat around and fixed when I got home. That continued when we transitioned into the P3 Orion. I spent a career in the Navy, all of it in aviation, and around many different types of aircraft. Now, over 40 years later, I have the disease and wouldn’t do anything else.
I liked airplanes. I liked to fix things. I wanted to be more precise than the auto dealership mechanics that I worked with during my high school summers. A friend who was in the Army at the time, drew me a air start schematic of the C-130 one summer day. I was hooked.
I knew from twelve years of age that I wanted to be a pilot. When I was 19, I bought a barely airworthy Airnocker 7AC for about $1,100 so I could afford to learn. That gives you an idea of how long ago that was. When the annual came up, the two mechanics who were performing it showed me failed landing gear and strut bolts that had failed. To me, who had always prided himself on mechanical ability, they looked fine. I figured then and there that if I was going to be flying the rest of my life, I’d best get an A&P certificate so I’d know what to look for on a preflight. I sold the 7AC and used the money for tuition at Spartan. UAL offered me a job in New York a month before I graduated and I stayed with them long enough to be hooked. It sure beat working for a living and paid for the rest of my pilot ratings. Other than the wages, one could not ask for a more satisfying career.
When I was five or six years old I use to watch the old flying Box Cars come out of Keesler Field MS and Brookley Field Al and lumber over our farm some 50 miles north of these Air Fields. I knew then that I wanted to work on aircraft and in 1969 my Uncle Sam invited me to do just that. After 23 years of maintaining and flying on Naval aircraft I continued on into the civilian world. The aviation life is the only life for me and now as I teach my Graduate students here at Randolph AFB the one consisten comment I get is that the passion I have for the industry is unheard of.
I am currently hiring mechanics for the Program I manage and recently while interviewing a couple of brand new A&Ps (ink is still wet on the certificates) they told me that out of 32 students that started the program only 2 went on to test and get their A&P certificates.
I just got my A/P last year, so I’m one of these “new” mechanics in the field. I got into the field after my divorce and needed a career change. What got me into it? Hmmm…I looked at all the careers there were and everything pointed to getting my A/P. I always had an interest in airplaces and working with my hands, and every career test pointed me to A/P tech. I never went into it for the $$, but knowing what I know now, I don’t know if I would have gone into it. Don’t get me wrong, I love being an A/P, but when someone who works at the local gas station making coffee makes more then what alot of companies offer, it’s sad. However, it’s a great career that I love and would encouage anyone to go into it.
I grew up within the traffic pattern of a busy GA airport. I always liked the idea of flying but was born to be an engineer. When highschool ended I was on my own and maintenance was the only part of aviation that was within my grasp. I couldn’t know at the time just how much that compromise would cost me. I got my A&P along with 24,000 others only to see the industry fall. My standards were high so it took several years before job opportunities and pay rose to an acceptable level. I knew some pilots that got me a job at a 121 freight airline that flew 727s and DC9s. From there I whent to a Major airline and thought I finally made it. I must say that aviation was very good to me when times were good, it was devastating when times were bad. I do miss the easy work and stream of income but am happy that its finally over. Its tough knowing that I threw away fifteen years of my life. At least now I can fully concentrate on becoming an engineer.
Graduated from the local Vo-tech, with a diploma in diesel mechanics. Worked for a while in the field and figured there was no way I’d make a career of that, so I joined the Air Force to work on aircraft. Spent the first ten years turning wrenches and then decided to get my A&P and go civilian. Well, I ended up getting married and making a career of the AF. After 25 years I retired and was back on the job market. Working at a repair station for the past few years and loving it!
I always wanted to know what made an aircraft fly? I grew up in Queens, New York and I used to watch aircraft take off from JFK. But it wasn’t until after High School that I thought of pursuing a career as an aircraft mechanic. I joined the Navy hoping to learn the trade, it didn’t happen and I became a Diesel Mechanic instead. After 9 years as a diesel mechanic, both military and civilian, I finally went to A&P school and obtained my license. I didn’t go into the field for the money, but I knew about the salaries (pre 9-11). They made it even more attractive back then. I’ve been in the field for about 4 years and I can say although I like the satisfaction of fixing an aircraft knowing that it was done right the first time. I am extremely disappointed with the work environments at most places, and the pay sure doesn’t measure up with the level of responsibility that is placed upon us mechanics. With that said I am pursuing my undergraduate degree, which will be complete in the next 2 years, it will help me and give me better flexibility in the job market. Also a better pay scale and working hours. I would not recommend anyone come into this field right now, maybe at some point in the future? I recommend a formal education for more of a career satisfaction.
At the age of fifteen I started taking lessons in a J3 Cub and did odd jobs around the airport to pay for them. At eighteen I was looking at getting drafted so I joined the Navy to avoid it. Due to a recruitment SNAFU I didn’t end up in aviation but as a Machinist Mate in the engine room of the second oldest ship in the US Navy. Four years later I finally got out of that mess and found a job in construction. I was renting a Cessna at a local airport and one day the FBO owner told me he was going to open a maintenance shop in the old hangar out back. I didn’t have an A&P license but quit my construction job and hired on as a mechanic’s helper. I took a pay cut but there were some flying benefits so it ended up a wash financially. By the time I was eligible to get my A&P ticket things weren’t looking so good in the general aviation industry. It was 1979 and over the next few years general aviation darn near ceased to exist. The FBO went out of business but fortunately I landed a job with Naval Air, which was called NARF at that time. Good pay and benefits, I worked there for ten years on everything from P3 Orions to AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. In 1989 I got a job with one of the big airlines and despite the fact that Mechanics are generally underappreciated in the industry it has been a decent income provider. I eventually got my IA and worked myself back into the general aviation sector. I have a small budding business called Vintage Air Restorations that I hope will eventually allow me to retire early from the airline. Funny how it’s going full circle – I’m back to working on J3 Cubs again!
My first experience with aviation was a trip to, (Idlewild Airport) i.e JFK today. There I saw a display of military aircraft and spoke to dome of the men who flew them.I had always liked to build model planes and cars, so I guess I had the bug early.After HS I joined the Airforce and my lfe has never been better. after 4 yrs of service I was discharged and followed my dream to work on airplanes, which I did for over 40 yrs. I then retired, but started a service and have been going ever since. I have had my ups and downs but, it is still a great career and I feel blessed to have had a chance to be part of it.
An airplane crash. No, seriously, a airplane crash that happened here in 1979… we all know it as AA 191. I was in drafting classes at the time and we had to pick a design assignment to draw. I chose the pylon link on a DC-10 as my project. It was so detailed that my instructor suggested that I’d like engineering if I went to college. Hell no, I’m almost DONE with school, now you want me to sit for ANOTHER four or five years???? When he realized my aversion to school was actually real, he suggested I learn and get paid… you guessed it, I joined the military. I’m still hanging out with the airplanes although they’ve gotten a little smaller… my baby was the C-5B… but I just LOVE that 777 engine!!
I guess i was around 12 years old and my family was visting grandparents.
As we were boarding the 727 the cockpit door was open and the pilot was inside and i asked him if i could look around and he said sure. After asking many questions, i finally pointed at the throttle quadrent and asked what it was, he told me. The pilot then asked for my hand and put on the #2 engine throttle and moved and i could feel the engine come to life and that is when i said to myself i want to work on these things.
That was the beginning of a career that stated with the Marine Corps and i am no a QA at an MRO.
THIS IS IN RESPONCE TO FRANKIE (ABOVE).AH HA FRANK,DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE WORKING INSIDE OF A BUILDING,OR SOMETHING OF THAT NATURE.I WAS HOOKED ON AIRPLANES BEFORE I WAS BORN.I’AM NOW 46YRS OLD AN AN I DIDEN’T GET INTO AVAITION FOR THE MONEY,I GOT IN FOR THE LOVE OF AIRPLANES AN HOW THEY FLEW.I WANTED TO BE A PILOT,BUT MOTHER NATURE HAD OTHER IDEAS FOR ME.I BROKE IN TO THE BUSINESS AS A RAMP AGENT AN WORKED MY WAY UP TO GETTING MY A&P.A FEW YRS LATER I WENT BACK TO SCHOOL TO GET MY FCC RATING.I HAVE ENJOYED EVERY MOMENT OF MY CAREER AN I WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING.IF YOU THINK THIS ENVIRONMENT IS BAD.WHY DON’T YOU TRY YOUR HAND AT FARMING LIKE I DID.I WAS RAISED ON IT AN THE ENVIRONMENT SUCKED,AN THE PAY WAS WORSE,AN SO WERE THE HRS.OH I ALMOST FORGOT,WHEN I GOT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL I TO WORKED ON DIESELS AN AUTOMOBILES AN I HATED MY BOSS.THANK GOD FOR CHRYSLER AN THEIR MONEY PROBLEMS,BECAUSE IF I DIDN’T GET LAID OFF I WOULD’VE HAD MY DREAM COME TRUE.P.S. BEING AN AIRCRAFT MECHANIC IS FOR REAL MEN NOT FOR WIMPS!!!!!