Any Aviation guys in here? (blackhawk in general)

asd_srt

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So I've come to that point where I figure its time to get a job skill I can use outside the military. I've been looking into reclassing to a 15T Blackhawk repairer. If you are or have been in the aviation world how was it? I'm coming from combat arms where we don't ever do our jobs, or we just kinda sit around all day and just do random classes or pass notes around for each other to copy. I love my job when we go to the field, but that's a rare thing to do now. I've been told by a few people that aviation is the way to go its a good job skill for the civilian world, and that most the people love their job even though they work long days. That's the military I wanted to be in where you work hard do your job but at the end of the day you love it. Not sitting around picking up trash or doing the same classes over and over all the time. I love working on cars, and working with my hands. I use to work in a auto machine shop and loved it but it was a small town shop with only 3 employees so not really a good career. I just want something i'll love doing at the end of the day and look forward to going to work most days.
 

ImThatGuy

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There is a few guys in here that are pilots. But that is a huge money maker when you get out. A friend of mine just graduated WOC yesterday for the National Guard. He was 15T before WOC, and the offshore company he works for paid for him to move from Leesville to Lake Charles, performing maintenance on Blackhawks. He rakes in between $3500-$4K a month working 4 days a week.
 

Cowboytk

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I was a 15t and with blackhawks there is always something to do. the civilian application isnt as easy to get into unless you get your airframe and powerplant license and even then its difficult. I did enjoy the job though, esp getting to fly. I will suggest going for the 15u ch47. there are a bit more tasks to learn and you get more experience. but if you do transition to aviation, look into trying to get with the 160th soar. it is the best rotary wing aviation group around.
 

asd_srt

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I was a 15t and with blackhawks there is always something to do. the civilian application isnt as easy to get into unless you get your airframe and powerplant license and even then its difficult. I did enjoy the job though, esp getting to fly. I will suggest going for the 15u ch47. there are a bit more tasks to learn and you get more experience. but if you do transition to aviation, look into trying to get with the 160th soar. it is the best rotary wing aviation group around.

Yeah I've been talking to a guy in my unit who use to be a 15T with soar he loved it. That's what i was looking into that way i get a skill a little better than just my combat arms stuff plus I think that soar would give me that excitement I look for in life.
 

Cowboytk

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Yeah I've been talking to a guy in my unit who use to be a 15T with soar he loved it. That's what i was looking into that way i get a skill a little better than just my combat arms stuff plus I think that soar would give me that excitement I look for in life.

Oh yea, if you are combat arms then green platoon will most definitely give you that excitement. It was the best times of my career. Whether you pick 60's or 47's they are both great careers, but the heavy lift helicopter op's give you a bit more experience for the civilian world. One thing i will suggest is take leave after a year or two and get your a&p license. The A&P will help your post military career significantly. Just as an example, I was offered a job by a subsidiary of Shell Oil for a very very good salary, but it required that I be available 2 week's flying back and forth from an oil rig in the gulf and 1 week local with 1 week off. Lots of opportunities your aviation, just can be difficult to get.
 

redfiresvtsnake

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Having worked on the 60A/L/M model Black Hawks and 60R/S model Sea Hawks, CH-53E, CH-47F, CH-46E, and the S-61N and T models, being a 60 mech will give you some great skills for the civilian world as an A&P mech. As far as the 47 giving you better skills, not sure, I don't see how, but thats me. In my experience, 13 years as a helicopter mech, 9 in the Marine Corps as a CH-53E mech, a helicopter is a helicopter is a helicopter. If you can learn to excel as a mechanic on one helicopter, you can very easily apply those skills to another helicopter from a different manufacturer by applying your skills and the maintenance manual and some common sense. Having said that, Sikorsky helicopters are the most maintenance involved and complicated helicopters I've worked on, and made it pretty easy to learn the CH46E and 47F.

There is a FAA website with a military MOS/job rate(ie 15T, 15U, etc) list that tells you if you qualify for just airframe, power plant, or both, based solely on your military experience.

Scroll to the last few pages in the link below to view the list.

http://fsims.faa.gov/wdocs/8900.1/v05 airman cert/chapter 05/05_005_002rev1.pdf.

If you work as a 15T long enough, you can take your DD214 or a letter from your maintenance officer to the FAA FSDO, go through an interview, and if you sound like you know what you are talking about when asked some questions, you'll get your 8610 forms that authorize you to take the 3 A&P written tests and practical exam. From there you can attend a short A&P prep course like I did at Baker's School of Aeronautics in Nashville, or a similar course.

Granted I've never been paid $4k to work 4 days, I do get about $150k per yr at my current job working for DynCorp as a contractor in Afghanistan on a U.S. State Dept contract as a helicopter A&P mech in Kabul, on a 90 on 30 off schedule. PHI and ERA in the Gulf of Mex can pay $60-80k per yr working 6 months out of the year on a 14 on 14 off work schedule.

The only thing I like doing more that working with helicopters is flying them. And believe it or not, in the civilian helicopter sector you have to be a pretty experienced pilot to make considerably more than a well qualified and experienced A&P mech, because the pilot side is a pretty competitive career field with more pilots than there are jobs.
 
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Cowboytk

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Having worked on the 60A/L/M model Black Hawks and 60R/S model Sea Hawks, CH-53E, CH-47F, CH-46E, and the S-61N and T models, being a 60 mech will give you some great skills for the civilian world as an A&P mech. As far as the 47 giving you better skills, not sure, I don't see how, but thats me. In my experience, 13 years as a helicopter mech, 9 in the Marine Corps as a CH-53E mech, a helicopter is a helicopter is a helicopter. If you can learn to excel as a mechanic on one helicopter, you can very easily apply those skills to another helicopter from a different manufacturer by applying your skills and the maintenance manual and some common sense. Having said that, Sikorsky helicopters are the most maintenance involved and complicated helicopters I've worked on, and made it pretty easy to learn the CH46E and 47F.

There is a FAA website with a military MOS/job rate(ie 15T, 15U, etc) list that tells you if you qualify for just airframe, power plant, or both, based solely on your military experience.

Scroll to the last few pages in the link below to view the list.

http://fsims.faa.gov/wdocs/8900.1/v05 airman cert/chapter 05/05_005_002rev1.pdf.

If you work as a 15T long enough, you can take your DD214 or a letter from your maintenance officer to the FAA FSDO, go through an interview, and if you sound like you know what you are talking about when asked some questions, you'll get your 8610 forms that authorize you to take the 3 A&P written tests and practical exam. From there you can attend a short A&P prep course like I did at Baker's School of Aeronautics in Nashville, or a similar course.

Granted I've never been paid $4k to work 4 days, I do get about $150k per yr at my current job working for DynCorp as a contractor in Afghanistan on a U.S. State Dept contract as a helicopter A&P mech in Kabul, on a 90 on 30 off schedule. PHI and ERA in the Gulf of Mex can pay $60-80k per yr working 6 months out of the year on a 14 on 14 off work schedule.

The only thing I like doing more that working with helicopters is flying them. And believe it or not, in the civilian helicopter sector you have to be a pretty experienced pilot to make considerably more than a well qualified and experienced A&P mech, because the pilot side is a pretty competitive career field with more pilots than there are jobs.

it will be better because they always need maintenance. ..lol...but seriously the heavy lift aspect is a good trait...I just found them more interesting. amazing machines.
 

TaraFirma

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When I joined up I was an airframe guy. I worked on everything the Army flies. I now fly Blackhawks and love everyday I'm up in the air. The Warrant Officer gig is definitely better than the enlisted side of the house.
 

medicdroid

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When I joined up I was an airframe guy. I worked on everything the Army flies. I now fly Blackhawks and love everyday I'm up in the air. The Warrant Officer gig is definitely better than the enlisted side of the house.
So you went WO after enlisted? How hard was the packet process? Any tips?
 

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