Hot Careers in Aviation Maintenance Technology

By Lydia Hinshaw

Jim Buckalew heads four departments for AirTran Airways in Atlanta. Among other things, he supervises the maintenance of a fleet of passenger jets by 300 mechanics in six cities.

Paul Brevard, on the other hand, might spend all day playing detective with one cranky engine at Spruce Creek Air Service in Daytona Beach.

From sea to shining sea, in giant hangars, tiny FBOs, and everything in between, graduates of Embry-Riddle's aviation maintenance technology program keep planes flying safely.

The program, which has been training mechanics since the 1950s, was recently renamed the Charles Taylor Department of Aviation Maintenance Science. Taylor, mechanic for the Wright Brothers, was to aviation maintenance what his employers were to flying.

Graduates are at ‘top of the ladder'

Aviation maintenance science at Embry-Riddle is also set to become a degree program again, after about six years as a certificate-only program.

Whether they get a certificate or a degree, graduates usually get a job quickly.

“An Embry-Riddle airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic certificate is at the top of the ladder,” says Brian Finnegan, a 1986 graduate who is president of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Organization (PAMA). “There are other great schools out there, but Embry-Riddle is right there with the top schools.”

Kristy Arthur, program manager in career services at the university, has a ready list of companies who have recently hired or inquired about hiring Embry-Riddle grads -- PSA Airlines, JetBlue, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Raytheon Aircraft Services, Gemini Air Cargo, Chautauqua, Air Wisconsin.

The big-name carriers are not hiring in the numbers they used to, because of well-publicized financial problems.

The outlook is better at newer-age, lower-cost carriers.

Buckalew, who prior to joining AirTran held similar positions at Southwest and Hawaiian airlines, says he's hired dozens of Embry-Riddle alumni over the past 15 years.

Finnegan, the president of PAMA, says there's a current shortage of mechanics due to what he calls “the pig in the python,” the large numbers of Vietnam War-era mechanics, now in their late 50s and early 60s, who have retired or will retire soon.

A move from toolbox to laptop

The current generation of mechanics enters the profession with much different skills than their elders.

“There's kind of a move from the big red toolbox to the high-speed laptop,” Finnegan says. “The mechanics have to be very technologically advanced, computer savvy, and they have to understand computer diagnostic software.”

And although Embry-Riddle's new graduates can't expect immediate wealth, experience and seniority mean higher salaries.

George DeWees, the AMS department's manager for recruiting, admissions and marketing, says a new graduate working for an airline might start out at an annual salary in the high 30s, more with overtime.

With 10 years of experience, that could double, with a daytime schedule in a pleasant location to boot.

At a general aviation FBO like Paul and Sheree Brevard's mom-and-pop business in Florida, starting pay would be more like $10-12 an hour. As this article was written in February, the Brevards were in the process of hiring their first employee, a recent Embry-Riddle grad.

The certificate program lasts 16 months, with a tuition cost of $27,000. Students attend classes and labs from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. five days a week. They learn fabrication with all the latest materials. They overhaul all sorts of engines.

Qualified to work on ‘anything that flies'

“They're qualified to work on anything that flies, from a (Boeing) 777 down to a Cessna 172,” says DeWees.

And they don't just practice on lab models. The university has a fleet of 60 planes, all in use constantly for pilot training, all due for regular engine overhauls. AMS students, closely supervised by instructors, do that work.

“That's unlike any other curriculum in the country,” says Finnegan. “When you know you have to run the engine you're rebuilding, that puts a whole different emphasis on the importance of the work you're doing.”

Students who want to work only on planes may complete the 16-month program, take their FAA exams, and go off job-hunting.

Others, who are interested in going into management or owning their own FBOs, have the option to pursue a bachelor's degree.

Buckalew, the AirTran manager, got his bachelor's from Embry-Riddle in 1990, and finished his master's in 2000 in the university's executive MBA program.

Brevard completed the certificate program in the early 1970s and later got his four-year degree elsewhere.

After some 30 years in the business of maintaining aircraft, Brevard says he's never had a problem finding a job, and he's been a bit of a vagabond, working in several Western states before he and his wife decided to settle down in Florida for a while.

Job satisfaction a key factor

Both graduates mention job satisfaction as a key factor in their chosen careers.

“I like working with computers, planning the maintenance,” says Buckalew. “I've been in similar positions for 15 years, but every day is different. Every day you have different aircraft, different weather, different maintenance problems, a different challenge.”

Brevard enjoys the variety, too, but on a more intimate level.

“The exposure to the clientele, the friends you meet, are what I like,” he says. “Guys bring you longstanding problems and you're able to fix them. They're passionate about their airplanes and they like to have someone who's passionate to work on their airplanes, too.”

He lives a mile from the FBO, and is available after hours when a customer needs him.

And although both Buckalew and Brevard are pilots, don't suggest to them that flying is more glamorous than what they do.

“That is all perception,” says Buckalew. “People who like to work with their hands, to work with technology, feel like this is a glamour job. It's very rewarding knowing that you maintain an aircraft and it flies safe, not that you're just behind the controls.”

Brevard and his wife, Sheree, also an aircraft mechanic and pilot, love flying as a hobby, and prefer not to turn it into work.

“I like fixing planes,” says Brevard, who's been doing it since his days at Embry-Riddle in the early 1970s. “It doesn't sound glamorous, but if you're driven to do well in what you do, it doesn't matter what that role is.”

For more information, see www.erau.edu/db/degrees/ap_program/index.html or call (877) 904-3746.

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