Maintnence schools?

[Superkell]

I know someone here can help me with this.

My brother in law is looking into becoming an A & P. He has the GI bill to help him pay for his traning. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom. Is there a forum that could help me gather information about schools and stuff. If yes could you post it here.

If not do you guys know someone that I could direct his questions to?

Thankyou so much

Superkell

 

[tinman]

I've tried to find a forum myself, but no such luck yet. As far as people here, off the top of my head-avbug, DanCFI, and matt, but there are a lot more. Also, the FAA website lists all the schools in the U.S. that offer the A&P programs. Hope that helps.

 

[avbug]

Pick a local community college that offers the training, and enroll. That's all there is to it.

 

[skydraulic]

I do not know of such a forum. However, if I may pass along some advice. The most important thing is to get the mechanic's certificate....doesn't matter where, how, or who etc... Resume building comes via OJT and experience...so it doesn't matter whether you spent 20k or 2k on the license. I personally know of a fellow who worked at a repair station for a little over 3 years, got a sign-off, and spent a couple hundred bucks to take his oral and practical. He now works for Fedex. He spent maybe $500 total on his test and study materials...all the while bringing in a paycheck. There are plenty of airlines that will hire mechanics straight out of school with no experience. Generally, state supported colleges/ universities are less expensive than private schools. Take tinman's advice and look up a school via the faa's website. I will admit that I don't know anything about the ins and outs of the GI bill...so it might influence a final decision.

 

[skydraulic]

Bottom line, read what avbug said in 17 words vs. what I tried to say in 17 lines!

CIAO

 

[mattfish42]

I agree with all of the above. I allowed myself to be suckered into a multi-thousand dollar "brand name" school. The education may have been very marginally better than your local vo-tech, but not worth tens of thousands of dollars. Gonna be paying back loans for a long time. Learning on the job seems to be the best way to go. It may take a little longer, but you will learn much more and make money at the same time.

That said, I did get a good job straight out of school; this particular job probably wouldn't have been available if I had studied at a smaller school. So there are some advantages to that route.

 

[STLCFII]

Hey Guys,

I know a few guys that are former military who go to NAA down here in Tampa, FL. I think it cost like 20K or something. WEB ADDY: http://www.naa.edu/ It's a 14 month program so if you want to get it quick, that is the place. Also, i know Parks University in St. Louis has a program. Hope this helps!

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

Avbug speaks the truth!

Community college is all there is to it 9the GI Bill should even work there).

If he's got military aviation experience, he should be prepared to realize that overall military mechanics are not particularly great. The thing is, most military mechanics do one thing, and are excellent at it compared to someone like me (just a plain ol' A&P). But the instant they step out of that area, they seem to have problems.

The facility I work for (all turboprops, all the time) says that only half of the ex-military guys they hire work out. Either they can't stand working in this environment, or they can't handle work that involves the whole airplane. It's a shame, they tend to have better stories to tell than those of us who aren't from the military!

Community college should work to get the A&P, get the same base experience that most A&Ps have, and be able to use the GI Bill. either way, he'll have a steep learning curve ahead of him. I was pretty experienced with large trucks and flight school airplanes, and I feel like a moron working with 1900s some of the time (all them wires and lines confuse me )

Dan

 

[LearLove]

There a a chance in the comming months that my sked could go to 7 on 7 off (knocking on wood). I'd love to get my A&P/AI. I'm not in any rush. How can/should I go about approaching a MX shop. If here you guy correctly I could work under someone then eventually take the exams. Also i read somewhere that if you have an engineering degree that it may help you to meet the requirements to take either the practical or writtens. Thanks.

 

[Dan CFI/CFII]

If it was me, I'd start at the smaller airports, working with smaller airplanes. Most shops right now seem to be understaffed, so any relatively experienced mechanic should welcome the chance to have some hands help pull panels, grease wheels, and do all the time consuming stuff.

If you want to approach someone, I'd probably look for an older mechanic, who does a lot of smaller airplane stuff. For the company I work for, they only let A&Ps work under the repair station (at least here). But I've got a number of friends who have worked at a small airport under a mechanic until they got thier A&P.

Just tell them that you'd like to get your A&P and that you have time to work under someone. If they don't do that sort of thing, they'll know who does locally.

An engineering degree? I've got one, and it didn't help at all with the A&P (but I went to school for mine). It doesn't really help all that much in everyday wrenching, other than I get a lot of questions like "WHY would they do it this way?" Most of the time, I think the engineers were on crack. Like that guy who decided to route the lighting wires on King Air pressurization controllers on the side of the controller: they get damaged EVERY time you have to change the filter! He could have put those wires on the top or the bottom of the unit and had no problems (and more space), but nooo...

Dan

 

[citdrver]

Check out Aviation Maintenance Technology magazine (its free) they have an education section, they are also online. State schools and community colleges will offer more bang for the GI's buck! Most of them each outdated FAA mandated technology anyways, you learn more on your first job than you ever did in school.

 

[cargodawg]

Community college all the way.

Hawkeye Community College, Waterloo, IA
Cheap, Fast, GI Bill worked for friends. A couple work for majors and have only been out of school 3 years.