What would be better?? Need some advice on these career fields!?

Question

What Aircraft job would be better as a career,
A&P mechanic OR Avionics Technician?? Why??
Which pays more?

Answer 1

Pay would probably be similar. Avionics tech would probaby be more comfortable work for the most part.

A lot of A&P work is done on the ramp in all sorts of weather. Much of the avionics tech's work is done on board the aircraft or in the back shops working on the bench.

Answer 2

Jose,

I was reveiwing some old answers and ran across your previous question. You seem really interested in this decision that you are facing. Listen to what I have to say son!

I do not know what kind of training you would get in diesel mechanics in the Air Force. The AF employees civilians to do quite a bit of their repair work. The active duty folks have to be competent as well since they will be the ones deploying and completing maintenance on the equipment. The Army has more diesel engines than the AF and will probably give you more indepth experience??

If you decide to go AF to become an A&P (Airframe & Powerplant) licensed mechanic then I would seriously look into a jet engine mechanic Air Force Specialty (AFSC). As a crew cheif you get a lot of exposer to all the different aircraft systems. But after 4 to six years the typical crew chief is not a master technician. It takes about 10 years to fully develop a crew chief into a serious line mechanic. The first 2 years they are learning and absorbing info. They are kinda dangerous until they get past the 3 to 4 year mark. That is why there are ALWAYS two signatures signing off any completed maintenance actions. The person signing off the "inspected by" is a qualified 7 level technician, with usually over 8 years of experience.

A civilian A&P school will usually require two years of study before they graduate an A&P mechanic. But most companies require experience! Now a jet engine mechanic is completely different! An Air Force jet mech will under go indepth training on a turbofan engines in tech school. After they graduate they will still undergo years of training before they seperate. You will have a jet guy on the line working-- write ups, routine service, changing external components, dropping and hanging engines, running and trimming engines etc. Just like a civilian jet mech. You will also have a jet mech in the shop tearing down the motors and rebuilding them to a point. In some cases the engines will have to be shipped back to the manufacture or a subsiderary for repair. But you would be doing the same job as a civilian jet mechanic.

Here is some good advice; don't worry so much about the money issue! 5 dollars an hour difference in pay means nothing! You have to ENJOY what you are doing to make life enjoyable. I loved being a crew chief and I learned A LOT!! I really liked the motor area of the career field. The airframe part was intriguing as well, especially hydraulics, fuel, landing gear and flight controls. I hated electrical and it was my most difficult area to learn. Plus I have been all over this world of ours because I was associated with aviation! My life is boring now! I envy you!!

But after 21 years I learned how to supervise and manage people. This is why I'm writing to you. You are going to be a good troop! Hopefully a great troop? You are asking all the right questions which shows that you really care about this! Enlist for 6 years and get the extra two stripes they should offer you. You should be able to seperate after 6 years and have your Powerplant license in hand. Then look around the civilian and federal job sites for employment. Yes the federal government employs a lot of jet mechanics!! Someone has to train you young'uns. Good luck!

V/R RJ

Answer 3

Go back and reread Boston's answer. I spent 22 years on active duty with the Air Force. Boston knows of what he speaks, and I do too. We are both saying the same thing and it is the truth. I worked on jet engines. Other guys worked on black boxes. They were clean, I was dirty. They were dry, I was wet. They looked great, I was sun burned. They had manicured nails, I had smashed fingers. Oh don't get me wrong, it was a good career but looking back, I think I would have chosen a set of jewelers screwdrivers over and 6 foot long 30 pound torque wrench.

As for pay, do something you like and you will be good at it. And, if you are REALLY GOOD at what you do, the pay will come...

Good luck.

Answer 4

My fiance's an A&P mechanic and he says it would depend on what sort of company are you looking to get hired for. If you are looking to work for a major airport, a small charter company, the government military or what, all of those types of things would factor into the pay.
He works for a little charter company and doesn't make a lot. He says the bigger airports would pay better but he doesn't want to move out of the area so he's staying put.