Folks:
Last October I got it into my head that the 5500 hours I spent building
two airplanes, and the 1000 hours I've spent since working on the one
I've got should be worth something toward an A&P rating (which normally
required either going to school, or "30 months" of experience, whatever
that means. One of my co-workers pointed out that there are A&P "
finishing
schools", which help train you for the written tests, and then
"finish" you up in preparation for the Oral and Practical tests.
Now, just as you have to have a CFI (or ground instructor's) signoff in
order to take the PP written exam, you need to have the FAA's signoff on
an 8610-2 form in order to take the A&P written tests, and they need
some evidence that they should sign you off in order to do it. I got
one of the A&P/IA's at work to write me a
recommendation letter,
talking about my homebuilding experience as well as experience at work,
and the
FAA agreed
to sit down with me and review my info. Late in November, I did so, and
the FAA FSDO inspector signed off my paperwork, so I was legal to take
the written tests.
I contacted:
http://www.avtech-exams.com/index2.htm
in Riverside, CA, and purchased their AV101 course. This is a
self-paced, computer based
home study guide for the written tests, and then after passing, a
one week on-site course to prepare for the oral and practical.
I spent about two weeks studying at home, mostly over the Christmas
break, and took the written tests in early January. There are three -
Airframe,
Powerplant, and General. I averaged a 93, while passing is 70.
Think about that the next time you bring your aircraft to an A&P :-).
Obviously, however, the score on the written exam is NOT what determines
the quality of a mechanic, at least not after they've been doing it for
a while :-).
At any rate, at that point I scheduled the class time in Riverside for
this past week (2/4 - 2/8), and got Scaled to agree to pay me for two of
the four days I'd be taking off (couldn't get them to pay for the class,
though :-) ). On Sunday night, after watching my NY Giants upset the
heavily favored New England Patriots (my wife and kid's team) in the
Superbowl, I drove
down to Riverside (2.5 hours) and checked into the cheap motel.
The class was not what I expected - after a 1/2 day of collective
instruction, we were turned loose for "self-study". They have a few
study books and manuals, and a room for hands-on demos and practice. I
spent 2.5 days studying, asking questions, getting personalized
instruction (the instructor was VERY nice, helpful and knowledgeable)
and memorizing stuff, and doing homework each night. After Wednesday,
the instructor said I was ready to take the O&P tests, and set me up
with a DME in El Monte.
Early Thursday (yesterday) morning I drove over to the El Monte airport,
met the DME, and spent the whole day with him - 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM,
approximately. We alternated between filling out forms, doing parts of
the three oral tests (airframe, powerplant, and general), and playing
with hands-on demonstrations.
He was fair but tough - most of the time I tried to answer as an
engineer, with explanations, but he was just looking for the "FAA
answer". He roughed me up good a few times, but every hour or two told
me that I was doing "excellent". I spent the last hour and a half
writing up squawks on a C-182RG in his hangar, and he wrote up my
paperwork.
We shook hands, and I am now an A&P mechanic, with a "pending"
certificate #. Whoo-hoo!
To the extent that this may allow me to help folks, I'm now legal to
sign off experimental Amateur Built aircraft's yearly Condition
Inspections. If any of you out there who do not hold the repairman's
certificate for your aircraft (and are somewhere near the SoCal area, or
within a couple hour's flight) need such a service, feel free to drop me
a line and we'll see what we can work out.
Interesting experience!
-- Marc J. Zeitlin mailto:
marc_zeitlin@alum.mit.edu
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2008
http://www.mdzeitlin.com/Marc/
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