aircraft mechanics

kingsley16

ok heres the story....

i'm 16 going 17 on monday and i'm in 5th year, but the thing about me is that i always plan ahead...like nearly every1 in my year don't know what they wana do when they finish school.

anyways i'm really into planes and cars...i just love anything to do with mechanical engineering and i'm thinking of becoming an aircraft mechanic. i know i'd love it coz i'm really interested in it!! thing is though i know not about planes (well i learned a few things from watching discovery tourbo lol) and i was wondering if anyone can lemme me know...how old i have to be, what education requirements i need, do i go to a college to study it or is it like becoming an auto mechanic and get an apprenticeship and what i'd have to do when i finish school because i'm not doing anything untill i finish secondary school, i don't wana be a drop out.

so if anyone who knows a good bit about aviation or has any experience in aircraft mechanics please please tell me all about it coz i really want a good future.

THANKS :-D

enda1

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0212/breaking9.html?via=mr

Maybe look elsewhere...

kingsley16

:eek: wow dis is after giving me a big scare!!

but i hope by thr time i finish school things will be ok...

thats in 2010

PurpleFistMixer

There's job losses all over the place atm so that's not really indicative.

Anyway. www.qualifax.ie Great site. You can search for courses.

Here are some related ones I found...
Aircraft Systems - Avionics & Airframe
Institute of Technology Carlow

Aerospace Engineering
Queen's University Belfast

Engineering - Aeronautical
University of Limerick

Engineering - Aircraft
St. John's Central College

And there are others, but you can look it up for yourself.

You need to look into each course individually, however. For example, that one in UL there is very theory-based - lots of maths and mechanics (mechanics as in "the projectile is fired with a speed x in a direction y", not fixing things etc.), whereas the the one St. John's seems to be more practical. (Well also they're two different kinds of qualifications, so the whole ball-game is different, but still.)

the_syco

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Here are some related ones I found...
Aircraft Systems - Avionics & Airframe
Institute of Technology Carlow

Off topic, but I remember the lolz at wondering how they got the plane into the building (PDF gave the IT one of their older planes). It looks like a hands on thing. Search the Carlow forum http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=318 if anyone there did the course. Pretty sure there was a thread about it some time ago.

Delta Kilo

kingsley16 wrote: »

ok heres the story....

i'm 16 going 17 on monday and i'm in 5th year, but the thing about me is that i always plan ahead...like nearly every1 in my year don't know what they wana do when they finish school.

anyways i'm really into planes and cars...i just love anything to do with mechanical engineering and i'm thinking of becoming an aircraft mechanic. i know i'd love it coz i'm really interested in it!! thing is though i know not about planes (well i learned a few things from watching discovery tourbo lol) and i was wondering if anyone can lemme me know...how old i have to be, what education requirements i need, do i go to a college to study it or is it like becoming an auto mechanic and get an apprenticeship and what i'd have to do when i finish school because i'm not doing anything untill i finish secondary school, i don't wana be a drop out.

so if anyone who knows a good bit about aviation or has any experience in aircraft mechanics please please tell me all about it coz i really want a good future.

THANKS :-D

Hmm your kinda like me. You can train to be an aircraft technician as an apprentice with Shannon Aerospace. They take on apprentices every year AFAIK and I know a guy who is now an apprentice with them at the moment.
Here is the link:
http://www.shannonaerospace.com/shannonaerospace/careers/traineeships/traineeships.html

As regards your age etc. i do not know what the minimum requirements but drop them an e-mail or ask your guidance councilor to ring them and they will tell you. You may even be able to go there for work experience.

There are other similar places in Shannon such as Air Atlanta but I don't really know anything about them. Shannon is a good place for the aircraft maintenance industry and planes come from far and wide to be serviced there. John Travolta even gets one of his jets serviced there.

Another alternative would be the Air Corps. They take on apprentices most years but I don't think there are any this year due to the embargo in the army at the moment. It is a very good apprenticeship and you are guaranteed a well-paid job once you complete it but competition for the apprenticeships is fierce.

I am going to do Aeronautical engineering in UL after the LC and then apply for a cadetship in the Air Corps. If that dosen't work out then I will go abroad and hopefully be employed by an aviation company in America or Europe while training to be a pilot in my spare time.

enda1

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Aerospace Engineering
Queen's University Belfast

Engineering - Aeronautical
University of Limerick

That's really not the same thing!

Engineering is not the same as mechanics.

PurpleFistMixer

enda1 wrote: »

That's really not the same thing!

Engineering is not the same as mechanics.

Did you read the rest of my post where I said some of the courses are theoretical?

enda1

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Did you read the rest of my post where I said some of the courses are theoretical?

Yes I did.

So? You may as well have suggested Theoretical Physics as an alternative for all the relationship they have to each other.

PurpleFistMixer

enda1 wrote: »

Yes I did.

So? You may as well have suggested Theoretical Physics as an alternative for all the relationship they have to each other.

The OP said they were interested in mechanical engineering. I gave them a random bunch of vaguely related courses from qualifax, just to show some of the options that are out there, and then told them to look into it themself. I know perfectly well that Engineering is not the same thing as Mechanics (though it's much closer to mechanics than theoretical physics is, anyway), which is why I added that last bit in about some of the courses being theoretical.

kingsley16

tanx very much Delta Kilo, i really like ur ideas...when i go bk to school on monday after the mid-term i'll speak to my guidance councilor about it and if they could give me work experience i would really love it!!! but where would i get the time for it?

and thanks everyone for helping me...dis website is great!!

kingsley16

emm Delta Kilo i'm just wondering when my counclier ring shannon aerospace what will i tell her to say...could you please give me the full details. tanx.:cool:

Delta Kilo

kingsley16 wrote: »

emm Delta Kilo i'm just wondering when my counclier ring shannon aerospace what will i tell her to say...could you please give me the full details. tanx.:cool:

S/he will know what to say. Just the usual ...student interested in the internship... would like to get any info available... blady blah... My guidance councilor rang them and she got loads of info for me. Shannon Aerospace probably get loads of questions like this so they will have no problem in dealing with the call so I wouldn't worry about it. Have the phone number with you and any other relevant info when you go to your guidance councilor so they have no excuse not to ring. They mightn't ring while you are there (mine didn't) but make sure they do!

There was no problem either with going down for a day and looking around work shadowing kinda thing. I was going to go but i'm doing the LC and i can't really be taking days off plus Shannon Aerospace is a bit of a hike from me (bout 2 hrs in a car) plus I kinda had my heart set on Aero engineering in UL as opposed to the internship with Shannon Aerospace so I didn't bother going. You are in 5th year so now is the time to go!! Don't put it on the long-finger, keep nagging your Guidance Councilor if you have to. My current guidance councilor is really good but my last one was a joke so if yours is anything like the latter, you will need to hassle him/her.

I was beside Shannon Aerospace one day and it is pretty impressive. Its really modern looking and it is literally humongous so it would be well worth a visit.

Best of luck and enjoy 5th year because LC is a different story but never lose sight of where you want to go and what you want to do, regardless of whatever others think of you. Do what you want, follow your heart, not what others think you should do. It is the only thing keeping me sane at this stage of the LC!!

If the Air Corps apprenticeship comes up next year, try and get up there for a visit. Air Corps is a bit tricky though because you kinda have to know someone up there or write a nice letter, things like that. It is possible though, just requires work and a patient guidance councilor!

Btw, Happy Birthday!

Delta Kilo

Can I just say, the ongoing "argument" between enda1 and PurpleFistMixer is really childish and not of any benefit to the OP. I would side with PurpleFistMixer because he was just trying to give some information but come off it will ye? enda1, just go out and buy a punch-bag and blow off some steam because there is no reason to be coming on here starting arguments!

wannabparamedic

just to the arguement going on there.
engineering is applying physics and maths to problems involving aircraft. the mechanic is the person who actually carries out the work on the aircraft

Skuxx

The aprentership scheme in Shannon Aerospace is really good. I did two weeks out there on work experience in 4th year and I'm hopeing to go there when I finish the leaving (this year).
I have also put carlow IT down on my CAO to do Aircraft Maintence but i'm not really interested in going there. I went to the open day and I didn't think it was great. Just my opinion but I would recommend going to an open day if your considering going there.