I read with some interest that the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association is calling for additional maintenance training requirements for maintenance technicians and linked the problems to three accidents as examples of maintenance training issues. I could be pessimistic here in thinking that PAMA is trying to use some deflection tactics from the professional flying fraternity. It is not always the maintenance technician who is at fault. Does the maintenance technician have duty hours/times rigidly enforced as the professional flying fraternity enforces on the rest of the public? I know the maintenance technician (maintenance engineer here in Australia) does not, as the aviation companies that operate here could not afford that type of situation. Maintenance technicians are an expendable commodity in the overall scheme of things to be hired and fired at the whim of the shareholder as the shareholder must make his profit per year.

I therefore suggest that this idea, however grandiose and necessary it may be, would never be employed on a large scale as the additional training costs would be prohibitive to say the least. The individual organization concerned would have to undertake this style of training much more seriously and would have to provide the maintenance arm of the organization more money and time (two very precious commodities) to conduct and complete the required training. Civil Aviation Regulation 214 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations here in Australia already requires aviation organizations to provide additional training on new equipment, but it requires time to conduct and complete. This is something that companies are reluctant to do on a very large scale. Schedules and timetables must be met to keep the authority (CASA and FAA) off the organization's tail.

To me this article is trying to apportion blame away from one area onto another, but I don't believe that could be justified properly as there are many other things that come together to make life interesting for all those who embark on their journey throughout the aviation world. Company commitments, schedules, weather factors, home-life pressures, health and well being of the individual, etc. all play a part in the overall operation of an organization and it doesn't take much for something to fail and go wrong in a very large and catastrophic way as I think we all know and appreciate. For an organization to function smoothly I would therefore suggest there needs to be a large dose of diplomacy, understanding, tolerance, and esprit-de-corps utilized across all levels in an organization from CEO level to lowest-salaried person on the books.

This is a universal situation and not just specific to the U.S. aviation industry; it is endemic throughout the world, although some companies are suppressing the negatives more effectively than others and therefore operating more fluently and it could be argued, more profitably.

Worthy Wages

I have questions:

First, does the auto repair shop have a greedy CEO and an impossibly large staff of cronies who need to be paid 425 percent more money than the employees of the company?

Second; Does the public really understand the training and many hours of experience required to become a certificated aircraft mechanic?

Finally; how does the industry work towards fixing this problem?

Here is my recommendation for solutions to this problem:

1. The boards of directors need to take away these ridiculous and way-out-of-line pay and bonus package. There are plenty of capable people looking for work who can manage a company with reasonable pay.

2. A campaign of monumental proportions must be undertaken to educate the public about the very comparison chart you published. There should be billboards and newspaper ads and any other proven effective form of media to train the flying public the way they should be trained.

I have always believed that the corporate raiders running the airline industry purposefully train the public just as you said in your article. Training the public that airfares should be low allows the chief executive officers to take more of what would be profit for themselves and create an image of desperation on the part of the company.

I am a mechanic at Northwest Airlines. I have only been in the industry for 14 years, but I, too, am sorry I got into this business. I am a certified A&P/radio mechanic, avionics technician. I have extensive training on the Boeing 747/100/200/400, 757/200/300, 727/200 aircraft, Airbus A319 and A320 and am a certified engine runup, precision trim and taxi technician. I have line release authorization, and LLM certification. I have extensive training and experience in avionics. I have returned to service DMEs, Mode-S transponders, TCAS computers, INS systems, and radar R/Ts to name only a few.

I am not unlike many of the mechanics I work with who have taken pride in our training and experience. I am willing to give this all up for peace of mind.

I would like to see how many third-party maintenance facilities have people working on similar aircraft with this type of training.

The public must know what they are getting for their money, and it's not some shade-tree mechanic with a couple of monkey wrenches and a rag in his back pocket!

Where's Our Future? That is a good question. I've been out of the aviation industry a lot longer than I was in it. (And I'm sorry to say that, really I am.) My aviation career started as an A&P mechanic (line maintenance and taxi/run-up) from 1986 to 1991 for Pan Am at JFK International Airport in New York. Back then the only other airline that paid less was Eastern. My pay rate was a measly $16/hour.

In hindsight I was certainly under paid. After I left the aviation industry I landed a job as a New York City auto/truck mechanic. (I took an early out before Pan Am went belly-up.) My starting salary jumped to$24/hour. At that point I began to realize that auto mechanics make more money, period. As an A&P, I was still living in Mom and Dad's basement, I had very low overhead, and I was single. It baffles me that men with families could survive with such low salary. I do not know how they did it.

Today, I have four kids and a house. I know about expenses. I am sorry to say that I could not survive on an aviation mechanic's salary today. I'm sure I'm not telling you something you don't already know, but it is disturbing to see automotive grease monkeys pulling in higher wages than an aviation mechanic...it is sad!

Go figure: the A&P is responsible for a $200 million airplane and the garage mechanic is responsible for a $30,000 car…shame.