How to become a Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician 2024

Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul aircraft engines and assemblies, such as hydraulic and pneumatic systems.

Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician is Also Know as

In different settings, Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician is titled as

Aircraft Maintenance Technician (Aircraft Maintenance Tech)
Aircraft Mechanic
Aircraft Restorer
Aircraft Technician
Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic (A and P Mechanic)
Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT)
Aviation Mechanic
Helicopter Mechanic

Education and Training of Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Training Required for Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician in different industries are

What Do Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician do?

Read and interpret maintenance manuals, service bulletins, and other specifications to determine the feasibility and method of repairing or replacing malfunctioning or damaged components.
Inspect completed work to certify that maintenance meets standards and that aircraft are ready for operation.
Maintain repair logs, documenting all preventive and corrective aircraft maintenance.
Conduct routine and special inspections as required by regulations.
Examine and inspect aircraft components, including landing gear, hydraulic systems, and deicers to locate cracks, breaks, leaks, or other problems.
Inspect airframes for wear or other defects.
Maintain, repair, and rebuild aircraft structures, functional components, and parts, such as wings and fuselage, rigging, hydraulic units, oxygen systems, fuel systems, electrical systems, gaskets, or seals.
Measure the tension of control cables.
Replace or repair worn, defective, or damaged components, using hand tools, gauges, and testing equipment.
Measure parts for wear, using precision instruments.
Assemble and install electrical, plumbing, mechanical, hydraulic, and structural components and accessories, using hand or power tools.
Test operation of engines and other systems, using test equipment, such as ignition analyzers, compression checkers, distributor timers, or ammeters.
Obtain fuel and oil samples and check them for contamination.
Reassemble engines following repair or inspection and reinstall engines in aircraft.
Read and interpret pilots' descriptions of problems to diagnose causes.
Modify aircraft structures, space vehicles, systems, or components, following drawings, schematics, charts, engineering orders, and technical publications.
Install and align repaired or replacement parts for subsequent riveting or welding, using clamps and wrenches.
Locate and mark dimensions and reference lines on defective or replacement parts, using templates, scribes, compasses, and steel rules.
Clean, strip, prime, and sand structural surfaces and materials to prepare them for bonding.
Service and maintain aircraft and related apparatus by performing activities such as flushing crankcases, cleaning screens, and or moving parts.
Examine engines through specially designed openings while working from ladders or scaffolds, or use hoists or lifts to remove the entire engine from an aircraft.
Remove or install aircraft engines, using hoists or forklift trucks.
Inventory and requisition or order supplies, parts, materials, and equipment.
Fabricate defective sections or parts, using metal fabricating machines, saws, brakes, shears, and grinders.
Remove or cut out defective parts or drill holes to gain access to internal defects or damage, using drills and punches.
Clean, refuel, and change oil in line service aircraft.
Communicate with other workers to coordinate fitting and alignment of heavy parts, or to facilitate processing of repair parts.
Trim and shape replacement body sections to specified sizes and fits and secure sections in place, using adhesives, hand tools, and power tools.
Clean engines, sediment bulk and screens, and carburetors, adjusting carburetor float levels.
Prepare and paint aircraft surfaces.
Spread plastic film over areas to be repaired to prevent damage to surrounding areas.
Check for corrosion, distortion, and invisible cracks in the fuselage, wings, and tail, using x-ray and magnetic inspection equipment.
Disassemble engines and inspect parts, such as turbine blades or cylinders, for corrosion, wear, warping, cracks, and leaks, using precision measuring instruments, x-rays, and magnetic inspection equipment.
Determine repair limits for engine hot section parts.
Cure bonded structures, using portable or stationary curing equipment.
Listen to operating engines to detect and diagnose malfunctions, such as sticking or burned valves.
Accompany aircraft on flights to make in-flight adjustments and corrections.
Remove, inspect, repair, and install in-flight refueling stores and external fuel tanks.

Qualities of Good Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.

Tools Used by Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Acetylene welding equipment
Adjustable wrenches
Air compressors
Air drills
Aircraft lifting jacks
Aircraft maintenance management systems
Aircraft test stands
Aligning jigs
Allen wrenches
Ammeters
Aviation spark plug sockets
Ball peen hammers
Bastard files
Borescopes
Brakes
Brass punches
Brazing equipment
Bucking bars
Cable splicing knives
Calipers
Center punches
Channel lock pliers
Cleco pliers
Cold chisels
Combination squares
Combination wrenches
Compasses
Compound leverage snips
Continuity meters
Cordless drills
Desktop computers
Diagonal cutting pliers
Dial indicators
Digital diagnostic equipment
Dividers
Drill bit sets
Drill presses
Duck bill pliers
Electric drills
Electrical current meters
End cutters
End wrenches
External power units
Feeler gauges
Flat blade screwdrivers
Flat chisels
Forklifts
Global positioning system GPS devices
Go/no-go gauges
Hacksaws
Hammers
Hand clamps
Hand drills
Hand nibblers
Hand trucks
Handheld computers
Hearing protectors
Heat guns
Hoists
Ignition analyzers
Ignition wrench sets
Inspection mirrors
Integrated maintenance and inventory systems
Internal power units
Ladders
Laptop computers
Laser printers
Lathes
LTB/400 maintenance management system
Machinists' double point scribers
Magnetic inspection equipment
Magnetic pickup tools
Maintenance and engineering information systems
Maintenance planning systems
Mallets
Manlifts
Measuring tapes
Mechanical lifts
Micrometers
Multimeters
MxManager
Needlenose pliers
Offset left aviation snips
Offset right aviation snips
Ohmmeters
Open end wrenches
Oscilloscopes
Paint sprayers
Personal computers
Phillips head screwdrivers
Pin punches
Plastic tip hammers
Pneumatic riveters
Pneumatic wrenches
Portable maintenance access terminals
Portable maintenance aids mobile computing devices
Portable rectifiers
Power grinders
Power lifts
Power shears
Pressure gauges
Putty knives
Pyrometers
Ratcheting screwdrivers
Ratchets
Resistance meters
Respirators
Reversible safety wire pliers
Rivet guns
Rulers
S.M.A.R.T aircraft maintenance tracking
Safety glasses
Safety wire pliers
Scaffolding
Scales
Screw extractor sets
Scribers
Sheet metal breakers
Shielded arc welding tools
Single-cut mill saw files
Slip joint pliers
Socket wrench sets
Soldering equipment
Speed wrenches
Spring balance scales
Squares
Straight chisels
Straight cut aviation snips
Tablet computers
Taper punches
Templates
Timing lights
Torque wrenches
Touch screens
Tow vehicles
Ultrasonic inspection equipment
Unmanned aerial vehicles UAV
Utility knives
Vernier calipers
Vibration analyzers
Vise grip pliers
Voltmeters
Wearable computers
Wearable data input systems
Wearable point and click devices
Welding goggles
Wire crimpers
Wire cutting tools
Wire strippers
X ray inspection equipment

Technology Skills required for Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician

Access Software AIRPAX
CaseBank SpotLight
Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
Computerized aircraft log manager CALM
DatcoMedia EBis
Disassembler software
Engine analysis software
Maintenance information databases
Maintenance planning software
Maintenance record software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Word
Mxi Technologies Maintenix
Operating system software
Operational Data Store ODS software
Pentagon 2000SQL
SAP software
Supply system software
Technical Data Management System TDMS
Technical manual database software
Tracware AeroTrac
Web browser software

US Universities

How to become Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technician in 2024