Demand for Licensed Aircraft Engineers in Uk
In 1999, the House of Commons Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee (ETRAC) held an inquiry into aviation safety. Amongst the wide range of evidence it considered was the Royal Aeronautical Societys (RAeS) report The Challenge of the Future in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering which identified a potential shortage of suitably qualified aircraft engineers. [1]
Skills shortage normally happens when there is difficulty or less number of professionals to fill the vacant posts. This can be due to less remuneration package, harsh working environment, industrial instability, remote location, and lack of charm in the profession. It may also exist due to tremendous increase in aviation growth proportional to increase in demand for skilled aviation professionals.
Development of modern transport aircraft equipped with complex avionics and electrical systems has also impacted the role of license aircraft maintenance engineer in recent years. In last few years a remarkable change in the role of license aircraft maintenance engineers has been observed which has added more responsibilities to their role, such as an addition of a trade taking care of aircraft electrical systems and replacement of avionics line replaceable units. This is the transformation of old British Civil Airworthiness Requirements (BCAR) system aircraft maintenance engineer license (mechanical trade A & C) into European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) category B1.1 license.
First of all we have to understand what aircraft maintenance engineers do and how they are sub divided into categories. Maintenance engineers carry out routine/non routine inspections, servicing repair, replacement and modification on aircraft to maintain its airworthiness. They are divided into two categories or trades i.e. Mechanical and Avionics. Mechanical engineers look after aircraft structures, engines, components, systems including electrical and replacement of line replaceable