By lack of shuttle launches I think you mean you lack experience in higher performance aircraft...presumably the aircraft being flown by the corporate department for whom you fly.
Perhaps it was meant in humor but it strikes me as sarcastic. If you lack the experience to meet the requirements for the job, should there be any question as to why the company does not promote you to that position?
As for timing of washing one's hands, it's something I've actually reflected on before. Basic, but it does say something about one's station.
As one who flies and turns wrenches, I can tell you that it can both help, and hurt your career. I've flown in positions that required pilots to be able to fix what breaks; crewmembers needed to be mechanics. Many hands-on type flying jobs require it, or at least the ability to perform maintenance even if one lacks the certification.
Other forms of employment see prospective employers looking down on one for having this experience. The attitude among these folks is that you must not be serious about your career track as a pilot, if you're turning wrenches. My personal feeling about folks of this persuasion is that they can take their employment as stuff it; I don't want to work for anyone with that type of attitude.
Others see your maintenance background as a plus. Not necessarily because they want you to fix the airplane in the field, but because it greatly enhances your understanding of systems and the airplane in general. It contributes to your all-around value as a pilot.
Still others will hire you as a pilot, but you'll hardly get out of the shop. I've been in that position, too. Avoid those places; you'll get little flying and really dirty.
One caution I'd make is that you must learn to divorce your maintenance background when you're flying, or at least strongly temper it. The pilot hat and the mechanic hat are not always necessarily compatible.
I was on a checkride a few years ago that involved an approach to a target in a bowl-like depression in some terrain. A senior pilot was in the right seat, I was in the left. Just prior to the drop at the target, the right seat pilot said he had low oil pressure on #3. I noted the gage out of the corner of my eye, and noted that it was fine. Why did he say that, I thought.
Again he told me low oil pressure on #3. I again noted the gage. I noted that it was normal, but also noted that the call had been made by someone who was an expert on the airplane, it's operation, and it's system. He wouldn't make the call without reason. The reason wasn't immediately clear, but in my own thick way it dawned on me that this was part of the checkride, and a simulated instrument failure (I can brush me teeth, too, given enough lead time and a clear enough diagram).
I pickled the load and turned for lowering terrain. During the debrief the only issue on the ride was my hesitation on dropping the load. The point had been made intentionally. My view was to note the indications, note the problem and potential causes, and solve it with the information available to me. I understood the ramifications about oil pressure, the indication system, etc. I'd glanced at the voltmeters and other gages to determine if I didn't have an electrical fault, I'd run through everything I could think of in that second and a half before jettisoning the load.
The point of the senior pilot and the federal examiner on board was simple; being a mechanic while trying to fly an airplane can get you killed. Don't do that.
Conversely, I've had to go aft, or go below, or wherever, to work on an airplane in flight to correct mechanical issues. It was endemic to the job. You have indicated that your experience is not enough in the flying arena to permit you to be hired in your current department. As you continue to grow in experience, you'll find a happy medium between these two "hats," being a pilot and being a mechanic.
In the meantime, you may find that if nothing else, continuing with maintenance may pay the bills and allow you to eat more than top ramen while you're expanding your flight experience. If you move to instructing, or freight, or any other such position, very often you can secure additional work turning wrenches. In our business, where wages are measured in the ability to fill a glass piggy bank, every extra cent counts.
If you give up the day job, always consider it for a night position...
I wash before, and after.
Dang, that's funny!
