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.
