O.T. A&P Mechanics, please give me some input

[bulldawg66]

Re: O.T. A&P Mechanics, please give me some input

Heavy experience is the plane size, if your experience is in small aircraft (Light Aircraft) then pay is small if its 747 then contracting you can make $25-30 which is average with no benefits.

I work on everything from Cessna 172's to Gulfstream 1, 2 & 3 and I make $27/hr with full benefits. My situation may be the exception rather than the rule, though.

Tom

[jetwaste]

Re: O.T. A&P Mechanics, please give me some input

I work on everything from Cessna 172's to Gulfstream 1, 2 & 3 and I make $27/hr with full benefits. My situation may be the exception rather than the rule, though.

Tom

The $27 is good pay and with benefits that is great! Did you start off at that pay?

When I was talking about the $25-30 that was basic to LAX if you needed a side job working on a A, B or service check for a small airline (contracting), no benefits with a 1099 tax form at the end of the year and this is not steady work. These planes are generally 757, 767, A320, 747 etc. When I started 22 years ago I was making a little over $9. I have one friend that works at American and he makes around $33 and I have another that works for Southwest and I believe he makes around $37-39. UPS/FedEx top pay is close to $45. For these jobs you need some experience just to get in the door if they are hiring junior mechanics and it take 5 years to get to the top. But the main thing is that once you get some good experience you can usually find a job in the $20-30 range and in the teens with little or no experience.

[bulldawg66]

Re: O.T. A&P Mechanics, please give me some input

No, I started off at $10/hr in 1989. Started my own company doing corporate contract maintenance on Challengers and Falcons in 1999 and was making $200 - $250K a year (not bad $ for Georgia) at its peak, but we all know how volatile corporate flight departments can be. Got burned out and got out of it and back into a more normal Mon. to Fri schedule which gives me much more time for my 3 yr old daughter. Sometimes you gotta live it to realize that money really isn't everything.

On that note, I still really love aircraft maintenance! I occasionally do annuals on the side for extra cash for our trips to Disney!(not to mention my annual pilgrimage to Reno)

Tom