Start with the constraint, not the headline number.
The FAA certificate pathway requires documented eligibility and multiple tests, while the job itself may involve nights, weekends, noise, chemicals, weather, and exacting recordkeeping where shortcuts are unacceptable.
Typical entry route
- Entry education
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- Related experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- None
- Work setting
- mixed
30 months: Uses the FAA’s 30-month concurrent practical-experience route as a planning ceiling; FAA-certificated school programs may use different completion schedules. This is a PathGauge planning estimate, not a BLS program-duration measure.
A practical route to entry
- Choose between an FAA-certificated Aviation Maintenance Technician School and a documented practical-experience route.
- Meet FAA age, language, experience or school, and application requirements for the desired rating or ratings.
- Obtain testing authorization and pass the required General, Airframe, and/or Powerplant knowledge tests.
- Complete the oral and practical examination with a Designated Mechanic Examiner.
- Apply within the privileges of the certificate while continuing model-specific and employer training.
Costs to put in your own plan
Costs vary by program, employer, aid, location, and whether training is paid. Use actual quotes rather than a national guess.
- FAA-certificated school tuition, lab charges, books, and tools
- Commercial knowledge-test provider charges
- Designated Mechanic Examiner oral and practical test charges
- Travel, lodging, and forgone earnings during school or testing