Is there really a shortage of Mechanics too?

[no1pilot2000]

I am considering becoming an aircraft mechanic. What skills/aptitudes (tecnical and or mechanical)/academic skills (math, science, etc.) does a person need proficient to become an aircraft mechanic. Can anyone recommend a A&P school in the Mid Atlantic area?

 

[glasspilot]

I'm sorry, when I said "done with this" I just meant done with the back and forth with you.

 

[pipejockey]

Wow: you really never run out of witty, intellectual comments that uplift and contribute to the thread, do you? From physical threats to haircuts, wild guesses and outright lies, you're leading the pack in the lack-of-credibility department.

Physical threats? What the h*ll are you talking about? Are you referring to my witty comment to another poster about looking out his window? You need to get a sense of humor, or at least laid. With your attitude, it has probably been some time ago, if ever!

Apparently when you say "I'm done with this," you really mean "I'm done with this, but not really done with this." You're not actually done with this, are you?

Do you not know how to use the quoting function, so that people can identify the poster you are quoting? You mix some things that I have said, with things others have said. I have never said that I am done with this. What else is there to do while I watch the American Century Championship?

Face it, this industry is screwed up. Corportate America is screwed up and values nothing except the bottom line.

Lebron James is paid millions of dollars a year, not because of the responsibilty he bears, but because ot the revenue his skill can generate.

We are no different, we are paid what management believes our skills are worth. The trouble is management has gotten us to believe over the years that our skills are worth so little and none of us are willing to stop working and show them how much our skills are actually worth.

As much as I disagree with most of your post to this point, the last 3 three paragraphs make the best sense of anything posted on this thread to this point.

 

[pipejockey]

Pipejockey: What is the relevance of this comment? Yes, 1975 is different than 2010. So what?

Undaunted, do you really not see the point I was trying to make? Look at all the bold points below. Back in 1975, those bold points may have been true. In 2010, it is as far away from the truth as can be. ANY pilot will tell you so. Plus all of the women who have rejected the modern day pilot due to the LACK of pay, status, and glory. Our pecking order is about as low as it goes. I mean come on, we are not even trusted to let ourselves down to the aircraft by ourselves. We have to do a carpet dance in front of the almighty gate agent in full view of the public, just to be ALLOWED to our aircraft. It doesn't get any lower than that. We can't even show up to work like all the other employee groups without having to go through security, to make sure us untrustworthy, and lowly pilots don't try to get through security with a banned item.

This is because the pilot is in the position to give the work orders. After a flight it is the pilot who writes up the maintenance discrepancies in the log. That makes him the boss since he/she gives the orders, so to speak. It isn't fair but that's just the way things work out. but even then since pilots are always in the position of giving the orders, pilots will maintain a higher position in terms of the pecking order. And it is the pecking order that usually determines pay.

So why would anyone become a mechanic compared to being a pilot when it is the pilot who gets all the glory, the girls and the pay?

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Pipejockey: Yep, you're right about that, pilot prestige has changed a lot since 1975. But I can tell that you're looking from the inside out. To be honest, from the outside in, pilots are still in high regard (except by the FA's). Didn't you see the "Bachelor?" All those girls thought he was next to a God.

Regarding the mechanics and pilots: There always is this undeserved pecking order of pilots above mechanics. This is unfair but as I've posted earlier, that's just the way things are. It's less so in the airlines but more so in the corporate world and totally so in the military.

 

[avbug]

I have never said that I am done with this.

I wasn't talking to you. Your arrogance knows no end. Glasspilot said she's done, but couldn't stay away.

 

[Lear70]

It has been brought to my attention that, in the midst of everything I have going on, that I didn't remember the name Tim Martins from the ALPA article and later crucifying of the same person for their misrepresentations... Evidently I need to pay more attention to current events. Sorry, Pipe. :0

Sorry for the thread hijack, we now return you to your regularly scheduled FI mud slinging...

I am considering becoming an aircraft mechanic. What skills/aptitudes (tecnical and or mechanical)/academic skills (math, science, etc.) does a person need proficient to become an aircraft mechanic. Can anyone recommend a A&P school in the Mid Atlantic area?

WRONG thread to ask a serious question in. PM some of the people on here who are posting in support of the mechanics or have A&P listed on their profile, you'll probably get a lot more serious responses.

This whole thread is ridiculous... if I had it to do over again (besides probably going to med school instead of flying), I'd have majored in maintenance and obtained my A&P and I/A in college and taken all the aerodynamics classes and such in addition to the mx curriculum. Getting your A&P these days is nearly impossible unless you go to school full-time. The "window" for accumulating the required hours has screwed those of us who were slowly building them over time while working on our own planes under the observation of an A&P.

Not that I want to work on airplanes for a living, I prefer to fly, but the only real difference in a mechanic versus a pilot is that pilots have only a few seconds in many cases to make a life-or-death decision. Inattention to detail by either mechanic OR pilot puts lives at risk. Their work is just as important as ours. Period.

In my opinion, the only reason we're paid more than mechanics is that we spend over half our lives away from our homes and families. That time away, not getting to have dinner, be there for just about every game or homecoming, tucking them in at night, home on the holidays, all has to be compensated for somehow; it's compensated for by increased pay. Other than that, there's no greater requirement for pilots than mechanics in a company's operational needs - you gotta have both.

So why are we bickering about this again...? :no:

 

[lineflyer1]

To be honest, from the outside in, pilots are still in high regard (except by the FA's). Didn't you see the "Bachelor?" All those girls thought he was next to a God.

And then they found out he was just an arrogant dick!

 

[Talian]

You and I both know that most pilot fatalities are at the hands of pilots themselves. Pilot error remains the primary cause of fatalities in aircraft of all types. The most dangerous thing in the airplane continues to be the pilot.

As for some idiotic argument about who dies at who's hands...pilots killing mechanics and mechanics killing pilots, I'll leave that to the mentality of a fourteen year old mind to sort out. It's stupidity, and you know it.

If you want an apples to apples comparison, and it appears you do, then look at how many mechanics are injured on the job, and how many pilots are injured on the job.

I happen to come from a background that sees far, far more pilots injured or killed on the job than you'll likely ever know or see in your lifetime; a disproportionate number of the working community than nearly any other (including pilots in combat). I've had two airplanes I flew lose wings in flight, killing all on board, in fact. I wasn't on board either at the time, obviously, but neither were pilots dying at the hands of pilots. Both were losses of pilots under unfortunate circumstances. I ended up on a hillside in the middle of an active wildfire myself, following an engine failure. I certainly know and comprehend the hazards.

Conversely, I've been cut, burned, broken, drilled, poisoned, and otherwise injured on the job while working on airplanes.

Then again, I've had to actively restrain pilots in flight when they attempted to shut down the wrong powerplant and other occasions involving poor judgement or inaction. Pilots attempting to kill pilots. Go figure. I've caught mechanics in errors, as well, and I've seen mechanics make errors that could have killed other mechanics.

None of your diatribe here addresses the fact that there's no pilot shortage, and no mechanic shortage.



Not at all.

You fly an airplane, you sign for what you do and what you get in real time, as it happens, and nothing more. I work on an airplane and sign it off as airworthy, especially regarding an inspection, and I take responsibility for everything that's been done to that airplane since it was built. The liability in maintenance is substantially greater than in flying.

Remember, I do both. I've been flying professionally for a lifetime, as well as working on aircraft professionally for the same. I've got a fairly good perspective on both, and flying is kids play compared to maintenance. It really is.

Most pilots wouldn't agree, but most pilots don't have any concept about the "other side of the coin." It would appear that you're one of them.



That's a fairly arrogant viewpoint, and an incorrect one, as well.

When I work on an airplane, I have no concern whether you ever get in it, much less fly it. I work on it because I'm paid to do so, and I do it to the standards provided by the FAA, the manufacturer, and industry standards, without any concern for you. None at all.



Yes. Let's say you're type rated in one airplane. Your scope of capability and responsibility extends to that one airplane. Let's say you hold a commercial airplane single engine land, with an ATP multi engine land and that one type. You can fly lots of little single and multi engine small airplanes, and have a single privilege in one large airplane. That's it. That's the scope of your usefulness.

The mechanic, on the other hand, is useful for, and able to legally work on any aircraft; any balloon, any helicopter, any glider, any airplane.

The mechanic isn't at all like the garbageman, who doesn't have to sign for his garbage, doesn't have to take the responsibility or liability for it, and who isn't federally certified to take that responsibility. Moreover, the garbageman isn't qualified to fly, or work on aircraft, and therefore the example is pointless and irrelevant.

As the pilot with that one type, you're very limited in your qualification and capability. As the mechanic with the most basic certification and two ratings...airframe and powerplant, working on any aircraft is a possibility. Not worrying about working on one single type...but all, everything. Translated in comparison to pilot certification, being a mechanic is equivilent to being a pilot certified to fly everything...all type ratings, all categories, all classes, all certifications.

Flying is a simple endeavor in comparison to maintaining an aircraft.

Avbug is right on again. Maybe one day some of these people will step back rather than be schooled by you. I find your responses excellent.

 

[glasspilot]

Avbug is right on again. Maybe one day some of these people will step back rather than be schooled by you. I find your responses excellent.

Oh, well then. I guess this is all summed up. Sorry for being so wron...

Wait a minute! You're Jedi mind trick won't work on me. Just because you say he's right doesn't make him right. Mechanics are not "better" than pilots because their special training (that's sooo hard that no pilot could possibly complete it) allows them to work on every aircraft in the world from hotair balloon to space shuttle.

No, I submit that mechanics are not better than pilots. Notice I've never said pilots are better either. But no way am I gonna sit by while you all trounce pilots because we have type ratings. The argument that type ratings are proof that pilots are dumb is in itself a dumb argument.

Avbug may have an impressive resume, I don't know. He sure posts a lot and others, including a mod, have vouched for him, but regardless...his attitude towards pilots makes me want to puke. (ya, I know he's a pilot too. He's gone on and on about how dangerous and great his missions are). Why he leans towards the mechanic side of the house probably has something to do with his upbringing. Maybe his dad included him while working on the family car or an uncle had a garage and had him help out. I don't know. But for what ever reason he firmly believes mechanics are better people with better cognitive skills than pilots and I say Bull Honkey!

Mechanics are mechanics and pilots are pilots. I've done both too and being a pilot has, in my opinion, way more responsibility and required skill. That's my opinion and I would never share it with you all except in defense of an all out attack from the mechanic side saying the opposite.

Fly Safe and Wrench Wright,

gp