Here are your choices: Go to school and get your A&P license, then put in the required 3 years and acquire the IA rating, or build a homebuilt and get a repairman certificate.

Being an A&P in General Aviation simply isn't worth it anymore. Auto shops pay far better wages without the liability and a government agency such as the FAA scrutinizing your every move. Then add in aircraft owners that threaten lawsuits over anything they are unhappy with, or the "I'm gonna call the FAA!" threats when you try to tell them why their annual is going to cost a lot more than they have budgeted.

Most aircraft owners view this as their hobby and expect the mechanic to treat it as his hobby also. These same owners will balk and raise hell about paying $60 an hour for an A&P, but gladly pay the Chevy dealer $90 an hour to work on his SUV.

I can't count the times when pilots on the airport discovered I had an A&P/IA would come to me wanting "sign off my annual" if they "do all the work". What this really meant was "I'll open up the panels and cowlings, then you take my logbooks and sign them". I even had one guy walk in my hangar with his logbooks and told me "I've done everything, I just need these signed".

Needless to say, I don't work on anyone's airplane except my own.


So bitch and complain all you want. This doesn't affect me since I can do all my own work. And as time goes by, it's only going to get worse.