I'm starting work for a commercial passenger airline in a couple of weeks in Seattle, but most of my clothing/gear is set for desert climates. Honestly all I have right now are rain-proof boots and a Carhartt jacket.

Does anybody have any good recommendations for cold/rainy gear? I know tools are going to be freezing and it's guaranteed I'll get rained on, but I'm not sure if there are any niche pieces of equipment that I'll need to look out for in the industry.

Any lifesavers y'all would recommend?

Do you guys have any side hustles?

What side hustles would you guys get into with the knowledge of a Aircraft Mechanic?

You guys do another trade? Aviation side work? Something not related?

I’ll preface this with United needs to pay their aircraft mechanics better. It’s criminally low in comparison. They deserve better because they have greater responsibility and harder work with a worse environment and less resources.

The picture above is the Boeing pay scale with the new contract. That’s for the grade 9’s. If you have your A&P you’re a grade 10 and the max out is $72 before also adding in $1.25 shift differential, $2.50 A&P, $2 GC, $2 TL, $2 secret, After all the additives you’re over $80 per hour.

That’s $166,400 on a 40 hour work week on day shift or 2nd. and the guaranteed 4% AMPP bonus every year. No mandatory graves. If you want graves it’s a 6.5 hr shift but get paid for 8. My medical benefits were amazing and it cost me $40 a month. Here at United I’m paying over $200 a month, and I know guys paying $500 a month for just themselves.

I was on a DTA assignment in Moses lake and got an extra $3600 a month for per diem, and every 6 months I got bonus that went up from 10-15-20-25% of whatever I made in that 6 months) I gave up at MINIMUM $70K a year to come here to United. And that’s before any overtime or bonuses.

It just blows my mind how low in comparison the airlines pay for the crazy amount of responsibility and the amount of revenue that we generate for clearing each flight. (Let’s say a flight with 200-300 people at an average ticket price of $300-$500 = $60,000 - $100,000 for each flight)

Back at Boeing I was doing a quarter of the work, I had none of the responsibility because I was operating off of the manufacturing ticket so I didn’t have to use my A&P license, Boeing assumed all liability and responsibility. I had infinitely better resources at Boeing like teams of engineering support, liaisons, subject matter experts, better and more diagram/drawings. And you don't have to buy your own tools. In each stall they have roll aways and mother boxes shadowed full of snap on tools and a great tool accountability program. No lavatory work. Very, very rare fuel tank work. They have specific people for towing planes or moving around equipment. Engine work is CFM or Pratt & Whitney or whatever engine manufacturers responsibility. I mean, I could just go on and on. I was on second shift, whenever I needed to take a sick day or use PTO and I had the benefits to use it. I didn’t have to ask anybody and they didn’t have the point system. You got the last two weeks off PAID in December because the factory shuts down, but if you wanted to work it, it was 3X pay. They don’t operate under the RLA railway labor act so they get to strike when their contract is done. Like I don’t wanna talk shit on United, but I came from a place that I thought was the standard for aviation, so I was gonna have the same benefits and pay coming over to the airlines, and I am hilariously insultingly mistaken. United guys have no idea how much they are getting fucked.

I have met so many great workers at United that would put any Boeing worker to shame, and the type of work that we do at United is incredibly harder with so much more responsibility.

I spoke to airline guys who made $150K last year, but what they failed to explain is they’re putting in an unhealthy amount of overtime and or as many field trips as they possibly can do wrecking their bodies.

I know guys at Boeing who were not grade 9’s and didn’t have their A&P, who were on DTA in Moses Lake making well over $200,000 who are not topped out and hadn’t been with the company for more than a year or two. I know guys in the factory at Seattle or Everett making $150k -$200K.

Aircraft mechanics at United are 100% responsible for the survival of this company. Can't fly a broken plane, can't fly a plane with non-deferrable items or expired MEL's, can't fly a plane without going through a safety check.

I'm getting ready to graduate in march of this year and I hear SkyWest is a great company to start off with, but your most likely to relocate to another state. I'm wondering how long it took you guys to transfer to your preferred location which mine is Houston, TX.

I am currently a freshman at Purdue in Lafayette and I am just starting in the aeronautical engineering technology program, so I am a semester behind. If you don't know what that is, it is a program that is mostly technical based learning that applies to maintenance and the workings of an aircraft, and you get your a&p at the end. It's like a glorified a&p program, because you get a bachelor's of science. Anyways, I have applied for an internship at a hangar in my hometown, and I am worried about what I will say if I end up getting an interview. I am unexperienced in this field, and not sure that I will be any closer to being a mechanic at the end of this semester. I think the chance that I will get this internship is unlikely, but everyone keeps pushing for me to get an internship this summer, to get ahead of the curve. Any advice? Is it normal to have or not have an intership your freshman year? This is all just very new to me.

Hey, I’m thinking of getting my a&p from MGSU. I wanted to know if you all ever struggle to find or keep employment? Ik a lot of times college graduates can’t find jobs related to their degrees and are unemployed, is it the same for aviation mechanics?

EDIT: what’s the best way to advance after getting my A&P

I’m trying to find out the best way to get my Part-66 B2 (Avionics) license. I’m currently an Avionics Supervisor within the Fleet Air Arm, with a few years experience under my belt. I have tried to find as much info as I can online, but not exactly sure how I would go about getting my Part-66 License, so that I can work on civilian aircraft.

I understand that I would potentially need to sit some modular exams to fill any gaps that my currently military quals don’t vouch for, and I obviously have relevant avionics experience from my current roll.

I see that I would need to complete the log book with as many avionics jobs as I possibly can. But I’m not sure how I’d get these signed off, as only a licensed part 66 holding engineer can sign them off as far as I’m aware. So that’s not something that I could get done on my squadron. I’ve seen online that engineers with previous military experience would need at least 12 months experience on civilian aircraft. But all civilian aircraft jobs require you to have a Part-66 license to apply, as far as I can see.

If anybody knows the best way to go about this, I would highly appreciate any help / answers! TIA.

Any operators out there having issues with XM weather data this week? I have had two of our aircraft report intermittent data and have heard another operator with both of their aircraft reporting issues.

Hey, how do you guys get rid of brake dust stains on your gear? Normal detergent isnt helping 😪

Hey y'all,

So I've been an AE for about four years now and absolutely love what I do. I want to be an aircraft electrician in the civilian side as well, and was looking for insight on how to go about that. Are there specific openings looking for techs for that kind of work? Any specific certs/licenses besides A&P I could get? Any help would be appreciated.

Im still in school but im looking for some troubleshooting tips or ways to practice. I often find myself on the right track when troubleshooting (mostly electrical faults) but end up spending the majority of my time arguing with the classmates in my group about where to start or focus our energy. Because of the arguing and everyone in the group thinking the issue is something different I feel like I’m not actually learning or finding the issue without having the instructor come over and make the group feel like idiots and hold our hands. I actually want to be a good mechanic unlike most who are just trying to pass the project in as little time as possible and don’t care if the instructor had to give us the answer. Tips? Training aids?

Hello! I am currently in A&P school and just took my FAA written (January 2025). I pretty much exclusively drilled airmantest and Dauntless.

Got a 98%. I’d say 90% of the test was “Prepware- adjacent”. The last 10% was likely somewhere in the 8083, but different concepts from the practice questions.

Outside of basic school assignments, I didn’t do any extra studying on the 8083 or the 43-13.

Six other classmates took it today and the other scores were 88, 88, 90, 87 and 77.

Prepware, Airmantest and Dauntless was 95-100% of what we all studied.

So to anyone who’s gearing up to take their General, my (single data point) recommendation would be to choose your preferred budget-appropriate study option, and do practice tests until you’re getting consistently over 90%

Hi guys is it worth Studying diploma on Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Category 'M' (Maintenance)as bachelor is pretty expensive for international student....I need suggestions..I want to make my carrier into this feild but getting a bachelor degree as an international student is out of my reach as the fees are outrageous.Btw I live in canada RN..

I'm fine with interviews, I'm fine with waiting a week. But I HATE waiting more than a week. I've talked to friends of mine who work at the airline I've applied to and I've looked on this subreddit about the airline and am 99% sure I'll get the job. But now I have been waiting a month and am starting to get a little uneasy about.

Summary: I HATE playing the waiting game and I wish recruiters for mechanics were a little faster.

what's your favorite song/band/genre while working?

Insight global test

Trying to get a position as a level 1 mech for boeing. It's like 10 more an hour than i make now so im really trying. I have a year under my belt but it was mostly PSE work and I'm probably under qualified frankly but I'm trying to fake it til I make it. There's a 20 question quiz and I don't know if I'll have any clue about the material or not. Can yall give me some pointers to be prepared? I've been studying but don't know if I'm even studying the right stuff.

Has anyone here explored alternate job fields with their A/P? I’m curious if an AP license would transfer into the medical field

Hello to all, I wanted to ask about the Equal Employment Opportunity Act getting revoked and affecting the chances of those who it protects, what are your thoughts on that?

I'm just coming up on my 10th year in aviation and have started working in a new shop. For the most part it's been great, but there is one problem: the old guy in the shop has to give his two cents on anything I'm doing.

He has his way of doing things and takes offense if I don't follow his mental manual.

I have an IA, have worked airline, experimental, GA, heavy checks. I don't mean to come across as arrogant, but I think I'm to the point where I don't need to be told to use two wrenches when tightening B-nuts.

Has anyone else dealt with this? What is one to do? Are you one of these guys?

I get alot of satisfaction doing track and balance. Just seeing and feeling results of adjustments and weight changes. Interesting first few runs. First ground adjustments had us remove all the weight which made the next Track Spit perfect on the ground, at a .017. Then going into a hover and it’s vibrating to all hell. Red blade was up like 2 in. Went down 4 flats on one of the PC links. Back in the hover didn’t even need the camera to see the split was then like a staircase. Went back up 4 flats on red and it was good for flight. Granted It did have brand new thrust bearings and I was probably not getting a good read from the camera because of the sun glare I was fighting. Tomorrow I’ll be fighting the clouds… who knew that having grey rotor blades sets you up for failure 😂 For those wondering, this is an AS350B2 and we are using microvibe.

Long story short, I've been perma broken, in the Navy, because of a freak accident early in my service. This has been my life for pretty much my entire contract, I have missed every detachment and deployment my squadron has done, up to the point where nobody wants to sign off on my quals because this lingering sentiment/animosity of "broken=useless".

All this while I am still doing the work under other people's name, but I have nothing to show for it military wise. I'm not going to act like I am a mechanical rock star, but at the very least, I went from being a dumbass with a wrench to being not that much of a dumbass with a wrench.

Technically, my rate allows me to test out for A&P. Now that I hear that my leaders are not too keen on sending Sailors on SkillBridge, I will probably use my terminal leave to get my A&P while I am awaiting a college start date. My medical situation will likely keep me from being able to work efficiently, but if that's the case, it will be good to have A&P on my resume. Any thoughts? Will the FAA testing center grill me for my service? I guess I am just typing this out for my own sanity, but It'd be nice to hear about others in my situation.

I'm sure you have all seen the accident in DC tonight. From the information out now (1/29/2025 906PM) there are no indications of it being related to MX, but when you wrench on a plane and something happens to it, it hurts man, truly shitty. If you know any PSA people reach out to them.

(I tried asking this question a while ago but got dogged on for my grammar) I’m graduating high school soon and trying to pick what to do and i have had a interest in flying. I have a discovery flight soon and wanna look into that but i’m also interested in aviation maintenance instead due to it being more reasonable. I really want to be successful in general and make good money and enjoy what i do. I’m just worried from what i’ve seen that being a straight mechanic at like an airline is as high as you can get without going down in pay and stuff like that. I guess what i’m trying to ask is if this is a good path for someone who really wants to have a good career even over a family or things like that. Would i be fulfilled, and are there some other paths you could eventually take

Currently AD Air Force and recently went to Bakers. All I can say is what a crazy experience!

The written exams weren’t terrible, I was worried about the O&Ps since I had no prior GA experience but my DME was awesome during my O&Ps.

Did you guys see the scene with the snow and the mountain?

Me and my colleges lost it that night. I love Mel Gibson for that scene

Hey guys so I have an interview tomorrow with American Airlines for AMT, military background and just finished A&P school a month ago. Just asking for some advice and some tips would be appreciated, Thank you.