Thursday, January 28, 2010

GI Bill and USAF tuition assistance.

I hope this Thursday morning finds you all gainfully employed and fixing airplanes. I have been asked if the VA will pay for A&P exams. The answer is: "I think so". My understanding is that under the GI bill, they will reimburse for $100.00 for each written exam, and $500.00 for the O&P exam for A&P. The applicant will have to apply for this, I don't get involved. As for tuition assistance, I don't think so. They will only pay for tuition at accredited schools and universities, which I am not. That is my understanding anyway. Maybe you could email me if you know something about this.

By the way... My wife Linda is in the beach wedding business. Check out her website. http://www.abeachsidewedding.com

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Brand New Airframe Mechanic


Hey fans, congratulations go out to the newest sucessful applicant at Seabreeze A&P. His name is Shawn Nordan and he got his mechanic's certificate with Airframe rating on January 24th. He is a USAF Msgt. and a helicoptor instructor. More to come.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Writing a book (sort of)

I do a preparation class to prepare applicants for the A&P exam. For years, this has been mostly a powerpoint presentation. (yawn) Anyway, it occurs to me that this takes forever, and doesn't even cover enough material to properly prepare for the oral portion of the exam. I would like to spend more time on the "hands on" part of the prep class. In other words, I need more time to show people how to bang rivets, play with magnetos, do a 100-hour inspection and things that are really more useful.
I thought about simply buying books that I could pass out to new students, and there are several O&P guides out there, but all the ones I read are way off-base. The written test guides are very accurate, but the oral and practical guides that are out there are practically useless. So the only thing is to write my own. I have finished the General section booklet, and have started the Airframe section. As you can imagine, it's a big job. Like the rednecks say, I have to just "git 'er done". This is really pretty good advice for everyone and almost every situation.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Getting Busy

I have two new appointments for oral and practical exams. The first one is for the 23rd and 24th of January, and the second one is for the 30/31st. I will post something on the new A&P's when they finish. In the meantime here's a video you might find interesting especially if you haven't taken your exams yet. You need to know this stuff for the oral questions in the communication and navigation section of the Airframe test. Besides, I'm just fooling around with the computer right now to see how much hassle it is to post a video. I made this one when I was still employed at the Eglin Aero Club. Stay tuned for more stuff like this. I should credit Val vor starring in this epic film.

Newest A&P


Congratulations to the latest and greatest new A&P from Seabreeze. His name is Matthew and he sailed right through the exam without a problem. Nobody gets all the oral questions right though. (even Matt) Will Rogers said it best. "We're all ignorant; just about different things".


Thursday, January 14, 2010

Brand New Blog

I am a DME or an FAA Designated Mechanic Examiner. For those of you that don't know what we do, we conduct oral and practical examinations for applicants that wish to become certificated aircraft mechanics. The FAA certificate is Mechanic. The two ratings that fall under the certificate are Airframe and Powerplant. To become a DME, one must be a A&P mechanic, in good standing, and have at least 5 years of experience. There are less than 500 DME's around, and we are supposed to test applicants that live within our assigned areas. To locate a DME near you, go to the FAA website and you can search for one with very little trouble. If you would like to make an appointment with me, my phone number is (850) 936-9202. I live and conduct exams in Navarre, Florida. Navarre is located in NW FL between Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach.