Special Report: Aviation Maintenance 2007 $alary Survey

The results are in and although the news is not bad, it’s not all that good either.

Well, I wish we had better news for you. The results are in and the bottom line is that although pay is up from the last time we conducted the salary survey in 2005, it is not up very much. With the average rate of inflation for 2006 of 3.24 percent, the increase is barely enough to keep up with inflation.

Here it is. Overall average salary across all titles and FAA regions is $64,900. If we compare this to the last time we conducted the survey in 2005, when the overall average salary was $62,600, then the increase over the two-year period is only 3.67 percent. As I said, that increase is barely enough to keep up with inflation.

Since we didn’t conduct the survey in 2006, we don’t have any information to compare to for last year. But the amazing news is that we almost tripled the response rate from 2005. More responses mean more accurate data. And with more than 1,500 responders, we feel that we got a great data sample.

Why the dramatic increase in responses? We believe it was due to the switch from the hard copy surveys we used to mail out with the magazine, to the use of the Internet. We had an online form making it easy to fill out and submit. It didn’t require postage or a trip to the mailbox.

It also allowed many more people to utilize it as opposed to one form in a magazine, which might be pulled out by one person leaving the magazine with no survey for the next reader. We also offered a small enticement, a reward of $100 for a randomly drawn responder (please see page 21 to learn who the winner of the $100 prize is).

As you look at the numbers, please keep a few details in mind. We asked for anyone in the aviation maintenance profession to respond, not just mechanics on the floor. So, overall, the pay we are reporting covers the gamut of maintenance professionals from the cornerstone of our business, the line mechanic, to the maintenance manager.

We also gathered data from people that are just starting out in the business and from seasoned professionals with many years of experience. Not included: the many great mechanics that have left the field for other job markets.

We were pleased to get responses from every state in the union, including Alaska and Hawaii. We did some clean up of the data, as is necessary. For instance, we eliminated the high and low numbers. Those can skew the information wildly and are not reflective of the majority of people in a particular area or job title.

Virtual Maintenance Professional

As I mentioned, we received more than 1,500 responses to our survey. Who were these folks that took the time to fill out the questionnaire online?

For the purposes of the charts and graphs and figures discussed here, we utilized only respondents from the United States, although we did receive some responses from around the world. The majority of the respondents were men with only 3 percent of the participants being women. That percentage is on par with the previous 2005 survey, but again, we tripled the number of women responding this year from 2005.















As for the age of the respondents, we received responses from people aged 19 to 78. Most, 38 percent, were between 41-to-50 with the average age being 45. A fairly standard bell curve represents the remainder with 23 percent falling between 31-to-40 and 24 percent falling between 51-to-60. Of some concern, echoing an industry-wide rumble, is that fact that only 2.5 percent of the respondents were 18-to-25. Is anyone choosing this field anymore?

Where do our survey takers live and work? We got a large response from the Southern and Southwest Region with 21 percent and 19 percent, respectively. The Eastern, Western and Great Lakes Regions were next with 15 percent, 14 percent and 14 percent respectively (see Chart 3, page 20). Looking at individual states, not included in the chart, Texas, Florida, Georgia and California gave us the most responses. But as I mentioned earlier, we got responses from every state.

We received a broad representation of maintenance professionals working in many different forums. The largest slice of respondents, 23 percent, are working at repair stations. Corporate flight departments and major airlines were home to 16 percent of respondents each (see Chart 4, page 20).

A quarter of the participants have been with their current employer for more than 15 years. The split and lower percentages below 5 years shows some of the volatility of the industry (see Chart 6). As we saw in the 2005 survey, the number of people who have been with their current employer for less than 1 year has held fairly steady at 10 percent, again probably the result of the down turn in 2001 and subsequent off-shoring, among other trends. What that category may indicate, however, is that some of the folks that were laid off during the downturn have found employment again with different companies. That is good news.

Participants had a wide variety of experience levels and education (see Charts 7 and 8). About 55 percent of the participants have more than 20 years of experience in the aviation maintenance industry. The number of responders with a college or post-college education increased to 51 percent, up 3 percent over the 2005 survey. We asked where the respondents obtained training for their Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) certificates and more than half said they had received their A&P training at a technical school or college. Twenty percent achieved their certificate through work experience and 15 percent through the military.

We also asked participants to name the school they attended to achieve their A&P. The most often mentioned were Spartan School of Aeronautics, Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Wyo Tech (formerly East Coast Aero Tech), Colorado Aero Tech, Northrup Rice Aviation Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, George T. Baker and Parks College. Various other technical schools including Aviation High School, Colorado Aero Tech, Alabama Aviation and Technical College, and Parks College were also mentioned numerous times.

Ca

Two of our favorite parts of the survey are the open-ended questions, what are the biggest issues affecting the maintenance industry and what are the biggest issues affecting your job? We leave this open for and encourage comments and boy do we get them.

This year’s survey is in line with years past. The need for better compensation was overwhelmingly chosen by 58 percent of those responding, as the biggest issue in the industry. This has consistently been the number one answer for years. But this year it has actually gone up in percentage of respondents choosing that as the biggest issue. In 2005, 37 percent chose that as the biggest issue so it is up 21 percent (see Chart 16, page 24). Often the issue of pay is tied directly to two other concerns, the responsibility of maintenance workers and the lack of respect for the work they do. Here are some of the comments we received about the need for better compensation. "Low pay, extreme hours, having unexperienced people in charge because they have a degree, but have little to no experience with hands on maintenance, which makes it very easy for them to sit behind a desk and complain about delays," said one responder. "Low pay, especially for starting and in [maintenance] businesses other than large commercial airlines. Many general aviation jobs require more experience, responsibility, accountability but do not pay enough for a person to live on without supplemental income," said another. "Low pay, long hours, too many responsibilities for the wage. I feel I work for the best company in the country, but customers still want everything for nothing and are not willing to pay for the quality that we deliver. A corporate client will pay over a $100.00 per hour to get his car fixed, but complains if a repair station charges $80.00."

Another response alluded to the idea that if there truly is a shortage of mechanics, wages should be on the rise, "Maintenance technician wages have not improved adequately despite the pressure due to a lack of qualified technicians in the industry," he said and added, "Work responsibility, job duties, and skills are often equivalent to flight crews and yet the wages paid to technicians are fractions of a flight crew’s in spite of the fact that technicians work much longer hours in much more difficult environments."




  

This technician echoed the pay vs. responsibility relationship, "Money, money, money. The majority of the technicians are way underpaid for the responsibility that is required of them."

A lack of experienced mechanics and lack of training were the next most-cited problems in the business with 10 percent of responders choosing these two categories respectively. This responder feels technicians need to experience more of the industry to gain knowledge: "Currently the biggest issue in the aviation industry is the downward trend of available and trained maintenance personnel. The problem, as I see it, is the schools push the airline industry the heaviest verses allowing the student to experience the industry as a whole (i.e.: general, helicopters, manufacturing)."

Several responders have had trouble finding job applicants that have basic knowledge. "One of the biggest problems is finding real technicians and people that will work. Everyone wants a paycheck on Friday but they don’t want to work for it. They just want to show up and expect to be paid because they found an A&P license in a cracker jack box. More than half of the people that I have interviewed...don’t know how to use a volt ohm meter," said one representative of many.

The lack of trained technicians was a common theme. "Lack of significant, in-depth, aircraft systems training and troubleshooting. The present complexity of aircraft requires a harder approach to training," said one frustrated manager. "Finding quality employees. Most of the newer (younger) employees don’t seem to have the ‘heart’ for the airline industry," replied another challenged manager. "They don’t have very much pride in doing a ‘job well done’ and only seem to care about getting out of work and whining. Their professional habits are lacking and cleaning up seems foreign to them. The safety of the aircraft, the passengers and crews seems to extend only towards their personal liability and not the collective good." To conclude, a general lack of "skilled workforce availability" was a prominent theme in the responses.

Training requirements, being non-existent in the regulations once the certificate is obtained, were mentioned by numerous people. "Self improvement efforts — training and career path projects for individuals — are misguided. Until this becomes a regulatory requirement, it is the employees that are paying for these types of programs. Unless it is a requirement, most employers are not interested in self-promotion or advancement at their expense," said one response, although 77 percent of the responders said that their companies do pay for both initial and recurrent training (see Chart 15, page 24). "Lack of training. Airlines not training sufficient mechanics and technicians for the future. I believe the shortage of suitably qualified personnel will eventually limit the growth of airlines," said another foresighted responder.

Surprisingly, outsourcing moved from third on the list to sixth. However, it still dredges up strong feelings as evidenced by this response, "Outsourcing! I feel that quality is compromised for cheap labor in third world countries. The FAA can not afford to properly monitor maintenance procedures overseas."

On to the issues specifically regarding the job held by the participant (see Chart 20). The top two issues are the need for better compensation and the lack of training and these were reflected in the previous question’s responses. But another frequently discussed issue was poor management. Here are some comments from the group. "Indifferent management. Basically their attitude is to not acknowledge problems and to see if the techs will overcome the problem somehow. If you can’t, you aren’t a team player or a disgruntled employee. I’ve had managers laugh in my face, verbally belittle me in public and I’m asking for very basic support that, oddly enough, would make the operation run much smoother." Another put it succinctly, "Lack of support from management (i.e. tools, equipment, benefits, training, etc.)."

And this answer was also given numerous times, "Non-aviation types in charge. Bean counters with no knowledge of the industry or what makes it work." One technician gave a frightening view of his company’s management philosophy, "Management expects the maintenance technicians to complete their work without the proper tooling, inadequate pay, and less than ideal working conditions. Management bullying the employees is the norm at the company I work for." (See related story page 38).

Several other comments point to industry growth and this one by a chief inspector was representative, "We do not have enough technicians. The hourly guys are putting in 10-12 hours a day, six, sometimes seven, days a week. We worked the entire Memorial Day weekend. I’m the chief inspector and I was working on the floor. Because of that, my duties and responsibilities got behind." Another responder was looking on the bright side when answering what the biggest issue with his job is, "Actually it’s a good thing: growing pains."

Not everybody had negative things to say. Here are two positive comments that reflect the 55 percent of respondents who rate their work environment between eight and ten on a scale of 10, with 10 being the best (see Chart 19). "My current employer has created a great work environment by caring about the people that make the company," said one professional. "I have no complaints with the company I work for. The mechanics are respected and treated as professionals by the pilots. We’re like a family. I couldn’t ask for a better work environment," said another. It’s good to know some companies are getting it right.

Winner of the Aviation Maintenance 2007 Salary Survey $100 Prize

As part of our effort to entice readers to fill out the salary survey online, we offered a $100 prize to one respondent chosen at random. The winner of the $100 is Jeff Middaugh. Middaugh works for Boeing Support Systems in San Antonio, Tex., as an aircraft avionics and electrical systems technician. He works on the C-17 program doing avionics upgrades and has been with Boeing for more than nine years. He has been in the aircraft business for more than 27 years. Thanks to all who participated and to Jeff for letting us use his name and image here. Congratulations, Jeff!