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pointwithinacircle
01-31-2013, 04:27 PM
I began as a homebuilder who wanted to know more about airplanes and was lucky enough to be out of a job. Two years and $16,000 later I was a freshly minted A&P looking for my first job. Now, five and a half years later, I am still working on these silly regional jets. I admit that it pays better than GA. But where is the fun?

Ok, getting to taxi a CRJ200 to the gate at a major U.S. airport is a thrill that not many people get to experience. But it doesn't make me nearly as proud as showing people photos of my wing ribs and saying "I built those from scratch". Of course "they" are more impressed by a hanger tour and getting to sit in the cockpit of a jet, but I prefer to be sitting in my basement pouring over piles of carefully labeled cut, bent, and filed aluminum pieces that are unrecogizable to anyone but me.

And after years of pay cuts, pay freezes, corporate bankruptcy, and having my 401K match discontinued, I expect that my airplane will continue to pay much better benefits in the long run than my job. Also, in this uncertain economic climate my airplane is liable to be around much longer than my job. Still, I suspose that the compromises aren't too bad. And I am looking forward to going to Oshkosh this year where I can spend a week looking at REAL airplanes. I will be the one with the stupid grin on my face. If you see me, stop me and say hi.

Racegunz
01-31-2013, 07:44 PM
Got your A/P for 16k? how and where? I'd love to get mine but it's triple that here. I don't really want a full time job doing GA maint. but I'd love to do it on the side, and for retirement income.

pointwithinacircle
02-03-2013, 11:57 AM
I got my training at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI. Like you I planned to spend my retirement getting paid to hang out at the airport. Whether or not that will happen is still up to debate.

Racegunz
02-04-2013, 08:39 AM
I got my training at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI. Like you I planned to spend my retirement getting paid to hang out at the airport. Whether or not that will happen is still up to debate.

Well the future is always "IF",sounds like you got a good thing going on though. I'll tell you this there is always a need for an A/P that actually knows the experimental regs. Truly they are a rarity, even in the EAA Chapters they come up with their own "rules". The incompetence or arrogance was enough to get me off my duff and build my own. Thanks Guys! HAHAHA!

JoefromGeorgia
02-09-2013, 12:06 PM
Ha. Hits home. Except in my case it was spending time and money to get additional ratings so I could build time in the right seat of a friends Citation, only to realize flying the Citation, at least for me, is a lot less fun than cross country adventures in my Piper Lance. And, for me, the people you encounter in that world, not as enjoyable than my GA and EAA friends. My early retirement / second career plan is going to probably have to go a different direction ...but you can't as you say, the compromises aren't too bad.
Keep moving forward. As Jon Krakauer writes, "The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences".

Hiperbiper
02-10-2013, 10:48 PM
"from pointwithinacircle" I am still working on these silly regional jets. I admit that it pays better than GA. But where is the fun?

If you're working on RJ's then you're in a Union shop. The Motto is:Do your job; Keep your head down (RE:don't work harder than the weakest member of the crew) and take your paycheck to the bank.
Take your money and free time and do with it what you want. Find someone at the airport that needs occasional help with the GA fleet and take you fun there. Find people who need a helping hand on their Homebuilt. All you have to do is hang around the airport and let it be known you are an A&P who likes GA. You will become as popular as the only guy in your circle of friends with a pickup truck...!

Sometimes fun is fun and work is work; confusing the two only makes you angry.

JMPO AND YMMV:

Chris (A&P student with an instructor with a serious union outlook)

pointwithinacircle
02-11-2013, 01:29 AM
If you're working on RJ's then you're in a Union shop. The Motto is:Do your job; Keep your head down (RE:don't work harder than the weakest member of the crew) and take your paycheck to the bank.

In the 5.5 years that I have worked on RJ's I have never worked for an airline where the mechanics were unionized. And in case they haven't told you, those numbers they gave you about how much money you will make are pure fiction.

Zack Baughman
02-11-2013, 10:30 AM
Hey Point,

If you are looking for a fun atmosphere to work in, why not apply at EAA? We are looking for an aircraft maintenance technician. You'd get to play with a B-17, some Ford Trimotors, some biplanes, a Cessna or two, etc. Certainly a change of pace from the regional jets. Check it out if interested: http://www.eaa.org/careers/aircraft_tech.asp

Zack

Hiperbiper
02-11-2013, 08:31 PM
In the 5.5 years that I have worked on RJ's I have never worked for an airline where the mechanics were unionized. And in case they haven't told you, those numbers they gave you about how much money you will make are pure fiction..

And here i was under an impression that the labor (pains) unions had a lock on air carrier maintance! Good to hear it's not true...

Around here the A&P skool is a direct pipeline into union repair facilitys...and the fact is championed by a few instructors. When they get on their soapbox about how benevolent the unions are I sit in the back and gaze at my navel lint...

The point of my post was meant to be: You have a good paying job. Lots out there that don't. Enjoy what you;ve got and find something in your off hours that trips your trigger. Of course Zacks suggestion top all jobs!


Chris JMPO

pointwithinacircle
02-12-2013, 03:10 AM
Hey Point,

If you are looking for a fun atmosphere to work in, why not apply at EAA? We are looking for an aircraft maintenance technician. You'd get to play with a B-17, some Ford Trimotors, some biplanes, a Cessna or two, etc. Certainly a change of pace from the regional jets. Check it out if interested: http://www.eaa.org/careers/aircraft_tech.asp

Zack

LOL Because I only live in Oshkosh one week a year :-)

Flyfalcons
02-12-2013, 12:00 PM
It could be worse, you could be the poor guy that flies the CRJ! (I know, I was one once)