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The route into aircraft maintenance engineer

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Physicsrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Aerospace Engineering

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Physics HLrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Design Technologyhelpsfor Aerospace Engineering

Advanced Placement

  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Aerospace Engineering
  • AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Aerospace Engineering
  • AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetismhelpsfor Aerospace Engineering

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Aerospace Engineering

    The licensed, hands-on side of aviation engineering.

    Four to five years. A master's is common and is close to expected for design roles.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • ESAT or PATOctober

    Required at Cambridge, Imperial and Oxford for engineering; not required at most universities.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi engineering composite.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • Security clearanceAt employment, not admission

    Much aerospace work is defence-related and gated on nationality and clearance rather than on qualifications. Worth knowing which employers that opens and closes.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

Saudi Arabia · Licensed engineer route — technical training, no degree required

  1. schoolSecondary school with physics, mathematics and strong English3 yr
  2. trainingApproved aircraft maintenance training at an authorised organisation — the basic licence course2–3 yrs
  3. trainingSupervised maintenance experience before the licence is issued2–4 yrs
  4. licensingGACA aircraft maintenance engineer licence, then type ratings on specific aircraft0–1 yrs
  5. practiceCertifying engineer with an airline or maintenance organisation0 yr

LicensingA GACA licence, endorsed with type ratings for each aircraft you certify. The licence is the career: without it you can do the work but not release the aircraft, and the pay difference is large. Type ratings are employer-funded in most cases and tie you to the fleet you are rated on.

United States · Airframe and Powerplant certificate — the standard route

  1. schoolHigh school diploma4 yr
  2. trainingApproved aviation maintenance technician school — 66% of the occupation's highest qualification is a post-secondary certificate1–2 yrs
  3. licensingAirframe and Powerplant certification by written, oral and practical examination0–1 yrs
  4. practiceCertificated mechanic, adding inspection authorisation later0 yr

LicensingAirframe and Powerplant certification, with inspection authorisation available after several years. One of the shortest routes to a licensed, well-paid technical profession in the US.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 4–7 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 3 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 420,000–660,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 2–4 years.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.