I'm a licensed Aircraft Mechanic & Inspector with twenty five-plus years in the field. I've had a varied career so far, with time spent in the sheetmetal, mechanic, and inspection specialties. Most of my time is on heavy Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft, of the passenger, cargo, and experimental type. This career isn't for everyone, but I enjoy it.
Please do NOT ask me to troubleshoot problems with your airplane, that is not what this Q&A is for.
You keep reiterating the “Aircraft Maintenance Engineer” phrase, which leads me to believe you are not based in the USA.
I can really only speak from the experience of a USA based A&P technician.
You get approved to take your licensing exams based upon either a certain number of hours of certified classroom and practical instruction, or a certain number of months of on the job training experience. Avionics, structures, and general mechanic work will be a part of either path to your certification.
Those subjects will be on your testing as well.
Aircraft mechanic, technician, acft engineer, are all kind of generic terms for the same thing. Depending upon the country you are living in, a more descriptive one would be Airframe & Powerplant Technician (for those licensed in the USA); or an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (for those licensed in Canada).
If you embark on the path to being a licensed aircraft technician, you will study all of the disciplines: avionics, structures, powerplants, and general subjects (math, english, hardware identification, etc). A licensed school will put you through all of these subjects on the way to getting your own certification.
It really comes down to the particular employer, whether that DUI will effect your ability to get employed by them.
One fun fact to remember, now that you have a DUI, you probably won't be able to go into Canada. This is also an employment factor, if the prospective job has a travelling facet.
A lot would also depend on whether your DUI was classed as a misdemeanor or a felony, in a lot of cases it could be either.
Obviously, a felony version will impact you more.
Regardless, a DUI will come up on a competent employer's background check; or any government clearance check (which we have to have for airport badging access).
It just depends on the employer, and their requirements.
I don't think you will have trouble finding a job. Licensed aircraft mechanics are at a premium these days.
I highly recommend you find a competent aircraft mechanic, preferably with their IA, to thoroughly assess your aircraft before you purchase it.
Good luck to you, aviation is an adventure.
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There are lots of jobs out there for newly licensed aircraft mechanics. But you usually have to be willing to move to get them. There could be some in your immediate area; you should check with the career openings on company websites, such as UPS, FedEx, United Airlines, etc, etc. Also go on jsfirm.com and search for openings, you might be surprised at how many there are. Not all of them will be for new mechanics with no experience, but some will be.
I don't know of anything preventing you from working as an apprentice before you are 18. Just be sure to fill out a training logbook of some kind, and have whomever is supervising sign it every day as well, so as to document all of your training tasks.
Do you mean “Flight Engineer”? If so, then yes. There are still some three person cockpit planes flying around.
Not that many. And fewer every year.
Troubleshooting questions about their aircraft.
It’s not practical to do it; and there is potential liability issues for me as well.
So just no.
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