Forum: Careers & Assignments

I am a 42 year-old (ouch!) woman with a degree in Physics and a PASSION for military aircraft. Due to a terrible personal loss, I find myself at a crossroad where I would like to follow my dream and work with the planes I read and think about. On Friday I am going to Williamsport, PA to visit the A&P school there. Is there any hope of my getting to work on (fondle seems a bit much! Embarassed

) a B-52 or an F-16 or ......

Thanks for any wisdom!
Shocked

F-16.net Sponsor

It will be a difficult road but never say never. First you will need your A&P. Then I would try to get as much hands on experience as you can. That might be at a local airport or aviation school or whatever. Even if it means doing just ramp work. Then if you want to get on fighters the best bet will be applying with a defense contractor perhaps at a depot base. Hill AFB or Warner Robins or some others. Down here in the panhandle of Florida there are a bunch of aviation jobs, with a lot more on the way. Don't worry the hurricanes are no big deal. That is about the best route you could take, It will probably be VERY difficult to do but you never know.

Not to be a dick but aren't you too old to be in the military?

flanker_hater wrote:

Not to be a dick but aren't you too old to be in the military?

I dont think she said anything about joining the military....

serino wrote:

I am a 42 year-old (ouch!) woman with a degree in Physics and a PASSION for military aircraft. Due to a terrible personal loss, I find myself at a crossroad where I would like to follow my dream and work with the planes I read and think about. On Friday I am going to Williamsport, PA to visit the A&P school there. Is there any hope of my getting to work on (fondle seems a bit much! Embarassed

) a B-52 or an F-16 or ......

Thanks for any wisdom!
Shocked

Here are some questions for you....
Do you like to get dirty?
Are your good working with your hands?

cant say i have ever met a female A&P......(that wasnt full time SM)

Rolling Eyes

stutler wrote:

It will be a difficult road but never say never. First you will need your A&P. Then I would try to get as much hands on experience as you can. That might be at a local airport or aviation school or whatever. Even if it means doing just ramp work. Then if you want to get on fighters the best bet will be applying with a defense contractor perhaps at a depot base. Hill AFB or Warner Robins or some others. Down here in the panhandle of Florida there are a bunch of aviation jobs, with a lot more on the way. Don't worry the hurricanes are no big deal. That is about the best route you could take, It will probably be VERY difficult to do but you never know.

where are you in fl?

I am in Crestview, 10 miles north of Eglin. There is a bunch of stuff here related to aerospace, Plus the BRAC is bringing a whole bunch of stuff on top of what is already here.

I can tell you that at Boeing NAS Fallon the Navy has F-16's and I can think of 2 guys of the top of my head who work on them and have never served a day in the military.

Pete

It's possible that you could get a contractor job. With an A&P and being a woman it will help. If you have a minority background that will help too. I'm not stating any sort of bias or personal opinion on the woman/minority thing - just reality as far as how HR depts work. The advice I always give everyone who is thinking civil aerospace/A&P is to be willing to move. True - they are people who get on at one place and stay there for a whole career but that is not the norm. But with a degree in physics have you considered aerospace engineering? Believe me - I'm nearly 48 and the flightline is getting pretty tough on the old bones. Still do it but the effort is starting to tell on me. On the civ side I do engineering work and worked F-22 for a while. It's pretty interesting and in the right jobs you get to be around the jets quite frequently. And there will be more job opportunities for you.

Thanks everyone. I know I'm too old for the military unless I'm a nurse or a lwayer, both of which are NOT me. It's my loss that I didn't sign up a long time ago. I have deep respect for Veterans and contribute to Vet organizations as often as I can. I have no problem at all getting dirty: I fought fires in coastal Oregan in getting a BS in Forestry. Right now I am taking care of my fiance's sled dog team; he passed away 1 October 2005. I work at Penn State and am sitting in on an Aerospace Engineering course (Astrodynamics) and wondered if the Aerospace Eng degree would be a better plan. I don't know how good of a designer I could be (never know till you try!), but I like the idea of working directly with the aircraft. I also did some graduate work using a large piston/cylinder and really liked working with my hands.

Oops! So that's why I opened this dialog because I don't know much about being on the flightline. ViperKeeper: is that true that there are not many female A&P? That shocks me in this PC-world because women seem to want to prove something. I don't mind being a "minority", but I think it's silly. Also, I am 5'2" and about 100 lbs. Is that a problem for the line?

I appreciate the positive comments. And no, I don't mind moving. Even Alaska. And I am svaing my money now to start my private pilet's license.
Thanks

Over all it is a male dominated field. Thru my career I have seen a couple of female crew chiefs and mechanics on the civilian side but over all it is a guy thing. There are certain things that you would probably struggle with as far as lifting componenets if you are working by yourself. I know on the civilian side you are more on your own then the military side (i.e like a main tire on a Md-80) or like an ADG on the 16. If you are only 100lbs this would be a problem. Remember you are lugging around tool boxes and support stands and other hardware so it might take its tole on your body real fast.

So what do women who love military aircraft and want to participate in the mission of our Free Country do? Are there other kinds of work that I might be better suited for? I am going tommorrow to check out the A&P school.
(sigh) I don't FEEL old.

Hey - I'd use any advantage I had to get a job - as long as I was qualified otherwise and good at it. There are female mechs but very few. Probably less than 1% of the workforce. Most women normally migrate to non-flightline jobs (e.g. support/mgmt) because they don't like the working conditions nor being around a bunch of rough guys. It doesn't sound like you would have a problem wiith the environment though. I've seen women your size install BIG wheel assys and airliner brakes. Plus they do have specilized equipment in many cases for that sort of stuff. Upper body strength is needed sometimes but you can develop that if you want to. There are engineering jobs that don't involve design and focus more on supportability. That's what I do and and A&P with an engineering degree would set you up well.

BTW - sorry for your loss.

Stutler - what is your part of Florida like? In John Boyd country (Eglin). Is Crestview small? I lived in Bishop, CA during high school and was able to visit Edwards once. Isolated, but way cool! My uncle is Army, so I have seen several army bases, most recently Carlise where he was Commendant (how do you spell that?)

Forum: Careers & Assignments

Can I be a mechanic?