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Pilot Engineers


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So the common view of P/Es is probably not as shiny as it was 10 years ago(?). If the goal is to fly anyway, could a guy with a little bit of maintenace experience get his foot in the door and pull a few wrenches until he has enough hours to fly full time, without the spectre of a company using him solely for the maintenance licence? I've heard quite a few stories of P/Es getting hired and then spending the whole season glued to their toolbox. This happened to me earlier on as an apprentice, but to be fair I was hired as a mechanic first with the promise of a few hours on the duals as a "carrot".

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Donny' - I suspect that 'little bit of maintenance experience' wouldn't be likely to get you early prospects for any flying in very many shops, which I trust you can understand. I'd suggest your focus should be on the maintenance until you've got a bit of a track record there, then find a place where you could pursue both as you choose. Or, if you prove to be a bust wrenching, you're probably a 'natural' pilot. :rolleyes:

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Maintenance diploma + 4 yrs apprentice on mostly 206 series helicopters. I've got a few hundred hours heli and 120 fixed. I would eventually like to fly full time and leave the mech stuff to those with a genuine desire. Thoughts? ie. Keep at the AME stuff or go for broke, hopefully not literally, as a pilot? I guess this is also a "state of the industry" question for those in the trenches, wrt the requirements companies need for insurance, etc.

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donnybrook,

 

I beleive you have a good head start on the rest of the guys/gals wanting to fly. I am also a firm beleiver in Knowledge and Experience is never anything lost, it's always something gained. You're experience will/is making you more marketable than the average guy/gal out their with a 100hr lic. What you have will make you more marketable and if you stay with it, stay positive and maintain the RIGHT ATTITUDE no matter what, you'll get to somewhere you want to be.

 

Take it from a guy who didnt and really regrets it.

 

Cheers

 

R B)

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A good friend of mine who also is a p/e....as I am , summed it up perfectly...become a p/e and be the most hated person in aviation....both sides hate you for knowing too much .and can't be bullshitted by either side....take my advice and do one or the other....a lot less agravating . ;)<_<:wacko:

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DGP: Pilot/Engineers were not formed by the colleges.

 

I have no idea why the analogy goes P/E when actually it should be E/P, which I was.

 

Most engineers became pilots back when 3-4 months in the bush was common and then park the machine till next season. The engineer found the time very boring sitting around the camp all day long, so eventually quite a few got pilots licence.

 

The thinking back in those days were as follows; send an a/c out with an experienced bush engineer and low time pilot or high time pilot and low time engineer. The idea was one would learn from the other.

 

An engineer has at least three years on aircraft before he gets a license, add two or three tours in the bush and he is experienced. To get a pilots license is a matter of putting in the required hours on something he knows inside out.

 

A pilot trying to become an engineer is another matter. Most pilots do not have the patience to do so and or the interest. Most pilots do not have enough of a maintenance background to make good engineers and I know off very few that have gone that route.

 

One draw back to being an E/P is that you will be restricted to a/c that you can handle doing both, including flight hours (avg. 80 hr.)

 

:unsure: :shock: B)

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Anything to get a pilot prepared to take a machine to BF nowwhere should be the most valueable asset a company should desire.We have all seen guys with no idea how to change a grease gun, even put a fuel barrel into use..I try and go over stuff all the time with drivers. What to do etc,

we were reviewing some allison stuff a month ago, and I read about water/alcohol, and about using arizona road dust,and dumping it into the engine at full bore...

where you get the stuff at,beats me...

If the guys you work with, aren't into dual rated guys, you nhave to be prepared to move on.. It seems to be the only thing they understand...

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