Life of a A&P???

[GlideSlope]

What kind of salary can I expect for my first 5-10 years at a regional and major airline? Also what is the typical day and schedule like?

[Berkut]

I've never worked at a major. I did work at a regional.

Pay for a regional typically starts around $14 an hour, and tops out somewhere in the $20-22 range, roughly. Shifts are usually ten hours per day, four days per week. Shifts are based on seniority, so new guys typically start on nights. Some airlines it will only take a few months to get off thirds, some take a few years.

A typical day depends on what kind of maintenance your shift does.

If you work line maintenance, you'll be standing by to fix discrepancies that pop up during the course of normal operations. Stuff like tire changes, topping off oil, changing light bulbs, stuff like that. You never know what you'll be doing from day to day. Some days you might do next to nothing.

If you work heavy maintenance, like C, D, or E checks, you will be working inside the hangar on one aircraft for days, weeks, or even months at a time. A big inspection is thousands of small tasks. When you show up for work, your supervisor will assign you a number of tasks to be completed during your shift. Usually it's a stack of work cards, which are basically one or two page checklists for every task that needs to be completed. As you complete each task, you sign off the card and file it. That's pretty much what you do all day. Typical cards would be something like "Change this hydraulic filter at location XXXX" or "Remove panels W23 and lube this cable" or whatever.

In between line maintenance and heavy maintenance you'll have the stuff that's typically done overnight. You come in and planning will have a stack of scheduled stuff to do, like a prop change, generator change, or maybe a small inspection like an A or B check. Usually stuff that can be done overnight in time for the airplane to go back out in the morning.

All this varies somewhat depending on the airline, of course. Any questions?

[Flyingtower]

Originally Posted by Berkut

Pay for a regional typically starts around $14 an hour, and tops out somewhere in the $20-22 range, roughly.

Start pay has gone up a bit in the regionals. It is now between $15 and $16.50 plus your shift differencial.

[fadec]

Originally Posted by Flyingtower

Start pay has gone up a bit in the regionals. It is now between $15 and $16.50 plus your shift differencial.

That's what is so sad about this industry. Here in Atlanta, GA a 19 year old kid fresh out of a automotive tech program can start out at numerous dealerships making $15 an hour. No logbooks or midnight shift.

[bunghole]

Originally Posted by fadec

That's what is so sad about this industry. Here in Atlanta, GA a 19 year old kid fresh out of a automotive tech program can start out at numerous dealerships making $15 an hour. No logbooks or midnight shift.

You got that right! Entry level A/P pay is a disgrace to the industry!

[bustinminimums]

Not all GA jobs pay bad. I was working at a Cessna service center and was making $19 an hour and I had a friend that was making $31 an hour for a 135 outfit. I guess the pay boils down to location and the company itself,