A&P wanted

[n2425y]

I am looking for a licensed A&P to help me restore a 1963 Cessna 172 (N2425Y). Work on it in my place in Oxford, Ohio, or yours. I can move it on my trailer to northern KY, eastern IN, or OH. Mostly sheet metal, priming, painting, rigging/ assembly, weight/balance; some avionics. Complete airplane. $25/hr.

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

I have a buddy A&P/IA that does restoration work, sheet metal, engines, avionics at a small airport in Pennsyltucky. Here is what he wrote:

LMAO, geeeeee, another guy who tells a guy in business what he will get paid
I would not restore an airplane for a customer for under 85 an hour

Good luck at finding an A&P with the experience you want for $25 an hr.
Not trying to be a smart arse, just seems you cant find someone to detail your car for that rate!
The 63' is a good bird, learned to fly in one years ago.

 

[n2425y]

I can understand. I want a moon lighter with no overhead. 10 hours on a Saturday is $1000/month spending money (cash).

 

[avbug]

Ah, that proverbial carrot.

How much is your life worth? How much is the rest of the mechanic's life, when he undertakes liability for that aircraft by working on it? Works half-rate for a little extra spending money...a little like finding the flight instructor who will work for food because you think he needs the hours.

You'll probably find someone to work for that rate, just like anybody can dredge up a pilot from the drain to fly for peanuts...but you often get what you pay for.

Fewer mechanics will prostitute themselves for work than pilots, but there's always someone. Dangle, dangle, dangle, You'll find someone out there.

 

[n2425y]

Let me get this straight. You employ an A&P with an IA. His work is unsupervised. You pay him $50,000/year ($25.00/hr.). You trust him to work for you, but not to work for himself on the weekends.

Another scenario. If you're self-employed, you probably started out working for someone else. Then you did a little work on the side and you made some friends and customers. After a while, maybe a long while, you had more work. Then you had to make the big decision: quit and go it alone or stay put. You quit. And now you are self-employed.

 

[avbug]

If I employ a mechanic, he is most definitely NOT unsupervised.

A mechanic with an inspection authorization is worth a whole lot more than twenty five bucks an hour.

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

If I employ a mechanic, he is most definitely NOT unsupervised.

A mechanic with an inspection authorization is worth a whole lot more than twenty five bucks an hour.

You're on crack! Maybe, an IA that has been to Falcon, Citation, or Lear school, but that is about right for a small aircraft general aviation mech. There are plenty of places out there that charge $50-$60 an hour for maintenance. You can't tell me that the mechs get more than half that. There is too much in overhead (insurance, benefits, heat, matching FICA). If this guy is going to pay $25 per hour cash(equal to about $33 hours payroll), then that is not a bad deal.

What is the deal with mechanics that are too scared to sign things off? They take that attitude that I will work cheaper and not sign anything off or pay me a lot and I might sign it off. Just like the UAL pilots that are mad that they are making $180K instead of $220K like a few years ago. Ridiculous, just some of the many problems in this industry. Everybody is out for themselves.

 

[skydivinguy]

Ah, that proverbial carrot.

How much is your life worth? How much is the rest of the mechanic's life, when he undertakes liability for that aircraft by working on it? Works half-rate for a little extra spending money...a little like finding the flight instructor who will work for food because you think he needs the hours.

You'll probably find someone to work for that rate, just like anybody can dredge up a pilot from the drain to fly for peanuts...but you often get what you pay for.

Fewer mechanics will prostitute themselves for work than pilots, but there's always someone. Dangle, dangle, dangle, You'll find someone out there.

What is your/the mechanics life worth? What a crock! If the A&P is worth his salt there is nothing wrong with moonlighting on a project airplane, get real!!!

If an A&P/owner of the aircraft is worried about the quality of the work, the guy shouldn't be a mechanic in the first place......dork!

 

[TrafficInSight]

What is your/the mechanics life worth? What a crock! If the A&P is worth his salt there is nothing wrong with moonlighting on a project airplane, get real!!!

If an A&P/owner of the aircraft is worried about the quality of the work, the guy shouldn't be a mechanic in the first place......dork!

I think he's not saying that the mechanic's work is shoddy. He's saying that when the airplane crashes that the aforementioned moonlighting mechanic gets sued for shoddy work whether or not the work was shoddy... and you will never win against a crying widow.

Now please understand that I am in no way saying the pilot of the airplane is substandard, I wouldn't know that. In this business sh!t does happen.

What he's saying is that any mechanic that moonlights should have his own insurance to cover his activities.. and if he does you're going to have to pay him more than 25$ an hour.

 

[n2425y]

I would argue that employers scare emplyees/kids about insurance. Kids who can drive rivets in their sleep better than their employer, kids who can calculate the bend radius is their head while their employer is fumbling for a chart because he doesn't know how to use a calculator. Kids, get your assets out of your name, spend $500 forming an entity like a corp or an LLC to operate under, and if you get sued the plaintiff gets zero. This country was built on kids striking out on their own, kids taking a risk.

 

[avbug]

You're on crack!

Not only am I not on "crack" but I hold the certification and have the experience doing the work...and a leg to stand on. YOU???

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

Not only am I not on "crack" but I hold the certification and have the experience doing the work...and a leg to stand on. YOU???

Had my own shop among other things for 5 years. Right up until the airport was closed to put houses on. Never met a mechanic that was worth his own weight in....well anything. You guys work an 8 hour day, but actually turn wrenches about 3.5 of that. Other time is spent smoking, talking on the phone, hitting the head, trying to figure out the fiche reader, wishing you had become a pilot, and trying to figure out what that smell is. Well it is you.

Now if you feel the need to sling it a lit more, then go right ahead.

Moderator edited for language unbecoming a poster...

 

[avbug]

Yes, I am a mechanic. And a career professional pilot, with working experience in both places. You talk, but your words are hollow. Full of it, really.

Pilots who prostitute themselves lower the bar for everyone, every bit as much as those who cross picket lines. Mechanics who work for less than they're worth (which is usually a whole lot more than what they're paid) do no less.

The requirements to be a mechanic are far in excess of what's required to be a pilot. Having done both for more than a few years now, from my perspective as an ATP, mechanic, inspector, yada, yada, yada...mechanics need a broader knowledge and skill base, and there's a whole lot more involved in ongoing education and training for maintenance, than pilots.

I fly for a living. Sometimes I turn a wrench for a living. Often I do both. I've never seen a mechanic struggle with a fiche reader (most use CD ROM today). Most shops have very strict smoking policies. You must be a real idiot to let mechanics run all over you like that...paying for eight hours of labor and employing those who give you three. Perhaps you should have instituted a training program to view the fiche reader, huh?

You really had mechanics spend five hours in the bathroom? That's truly amazing. More amazing is that with your brilliant mind for business, you ran a FBO for five years in that condition. Most people would have figured out that doing something different might have made an improvement...about four years and eleven months earlier. Some people apparently take a little longer than others. People such as yourself, for example.

I haven't worked anywhere that talking on the phone during company time was policy...you must be either a really nice guy, or just plain dumb...my vote is for dumb, considering everything else you espouse in the place you ran. Truly an amazing business strategy. I stand in awe.

When I work in a shop, often it's a lot more than an eight hour day, and when I work privately, I usually don't charge by the hour but by the job. I also gaurantee what I do, and consider my work my signature.

You really hire people who work three out of eight hours and do all the things you claim and keep paying them for five years? How on earth did you ever survive.

Incidentally, my parents were married. But thanks for asking.

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

Blah, blah, blah. I am AVBUG and I like to hear myself talk. Makes me feel good about myself when I can put others down or in my own lame attempt, try to discredit them. I am a big man. If your services are so valued, why are you always on here posting annoymously on a forum, instead of working?

BTW, I did not say I let my guys get away with that. But now that we out source a lot of maintenance, I sure see this happen at other places. I of course over exaggerated to make my point, but I would say this is the rule, not the exception. Plus, have not met too many mechs that don't smoke.

You tried to get us off topic again. $25 an hour cash, still not a bad deal IMHO.

 

[sbn340mech]

I don't smoke, just in case you are compiling statistics for a survey. And by the way, there is an excellent article in the Jan/Feb AMT magazine about how the charges for shop labor/hour and what the mech is paid/hour. If you have access to the mag. give it a read.

As for working on the side for $25/hr. I'd be interested since it's a bit more than I currently make, and it's all unclaimed. And as for being scared to sign off work performed...Any mech who doubts thier own work as far as not wanting to sign for it, they don't belong in the business. Just my .02

 

[skydivinguy]

I don't smoke, just in case you are compiling statistics for a survey. And by the way, there is an excellent article in the Jan/Feb AMT magazine about how the charges for shop labor/hour and what the mech is paid/hour. If you have access to the mag. give it a read.

As for working on the side for $25/hr. I'd be interested since it's a bit more than I currently make, and it's all unclaimed. And as for being scared to sign off work performed...Any mech who doubts thier own work as far as not wanting to sign for it, they don't belong in the business. Just my .02

Well said.

I've worked on side projects many times over the years. I'm not scared to signoff that work either, because it's done right.

25 bucks an hour cash is fair in spite of what the bug says.

 

[TrafficInSight]

I of course over exaggerated to make my point, but I would say this is the rule, not the exception.

Over exaggerated.... that means lied right?


And I don't smoke either... and anyone who can't figure out how a fiche reader works shouldn't be allowed near an airplane.

 

[avbug]

Plus, have not met too many mechs that don't smoke.

Now you've met one more, though I gotta admit, I feel a little dirtier for having met you.

I of course over exaggerated to make my point, but I would say this is the rule, not the exception.

Of course you have...only the truly dense could read your posts and not clearly see you overexaggerate, and yes...that's called lying. And you're right, it's the rule for you, seeker of loopholes to exploit, rather than the exception.

You talk an awful lot like George Bush. Are you sure you ain't him?

 

[USMCmech]

Good luck at finding an A&P with the experience you want for $25 an hr.

$25 per hour, where do I sign up?

At the pt 145 MRO I work at, lead QA inspectors don't make that much.

 

[RafaelThielmann]

As almost everyone here knows, i used to work with car-restoration, an one thing you MUST know before even think about "restore" a car, is that to get the job done right you will probably pay 2 to 3 times the "non-expensive" price to get the quality job you`re looking for... So.. if you`re going to "restore" an airplane, no matter if it`s a Experimental or a B-52, and if you are planning on FLYING with it, don`t ask how much or don`t say how much you want to pay, search the professional who does what you want for a living (so that he knows all the crap that comes with the job) and get your plane flying again. NO MATTER IF YOU END UP PAYING 3 TIMES WHAT YOU EXPECTED. In cars we ask: "you don`t want to think about every bolt that was supposed to be tightened at 200 MPH do you?". You don`t what to have a loose bolt just before landing do you?
Making the long story short, if you plan to fly it, doesn`t your life worths more than $25,00 USD an hour?