How to Become an Aircraft Mechanic: FAA Routes, Tests, and Timelines

Aircraft Mechanic Requirements Set by the FAA

The eligibility list in 14 CFR 65.71 is short. You must be at least 18 years old. You must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English. You must meet the experience rules in 65.77, and you must pass every required test within a 24-month period. That's the whole list for the certificate itself.

A few things people expect to see aren't there. The FAA doesn't require a medical certificate for mechanics, and it prescribes no general education requirement. The catch is school admission: the FAA notes that most FAA-approved schools ask for a high school diploma or a GED before you enroll, and some employers want one too.

A maintenance license from another country doesn't substitute for any of this. You still meet the FAA eligibility rules and take the FAA tests.

Three Routes to the FAA Mechanic Certificate

The FAA recognizes two ways to build the training and experience: an FAA-approved Aviation Maintenance Technician School (AMTS) and on-the-job training. On-the-job training splits into civilian and military experience, which gives you three practical routes. The ATEC 2025 Pipeline Report found about two-thirds of new mechanics came through a school, 20% through civilian work experience, and 14% through the military.

Route One: An FAA-Approved School

An FAA-approved school teaches a curriculum built to match the Aviation Mechanic Airman Certification Standards. When you graduate, the school gives you an authenticated certificate of completion, and that certificate is your authorization to test, with no FAA inspector visit first. There are 225 FAA-approved schools on the FAA list, and you can compare them in our directory of FAA-approved aircraft mechanic schools.

School also lets you start testing early. Once you finish the general portion of the curriculum, the school can issue a document that lets you take the General knowledge test before you graduate. And a school can clear a student who's making satisfactory progress to take the oral and practical tests during the final subjects of training.

Route Two: Documented Civilian Experience

Under 14 CFR 65.77 you can skip school if you document at least 18 months of practical experience for one rating, or 30 months of experience working on airframes and powerplants concurrently for both. The FAA says the hours must reflect a typical 40-hour work week, so overtime doesn't shrink the calendar. Only time spent doing maintenance counts. Time in training doesn't.

You can gain this experience working or volunteering at a maintenance facility, but a mechanic who holds an Airframe and/or Powerplant certificate has to supervise you. Log each task, the time spent, and your supervisor's validation. The FAA accepts pay receipts or supervisor-signed logs that list hours, tasks, and aircraft registration numbers. An aircraft mechanic apprenticeship is one structured way to build those months.

Route Three: Military Maintenance Experience

The Joint Service Aviation Maintenance Technician Certification Council (JSAMTCC), set up by the Department of Defense with the FAA, reviews military aviation specialties across all branches to decide what credit the FAA may grant. The specialties are listed in FAA Order 8900.1. Serving isn't enough on its own, though. Only time you spent working in the specialty counts, not time spent training for it.

To apply, bring your DD Form 214, your evaluation records, and a letter from your Executive, Maintenance, or Classification Officer showing your time in each specialty code and the aircraft you worked on. An FAA inspector at a Flight Standards District Office interviews you. Eligible service members, dependents, retirees, and DoD and DHS civilians can take the knowledge tests at no cost. Our military aircraft mechanic guide covers each branch.

How to Become an Aircraft Mechanic, Step by Step

Whichever route you take, the sequence after it is the same. The FAA's process runs from eligibility to a temporary certificate in your hand.

The FAA Tests: Knowledge, Oral, and Practical

There are three knowledge tests: General, Airframe, and Powerplant. You take General plus whichever rating tests match what you're applying for. The questions are objective multiple choice, you get up to two hours for each test, and you pass with 70% or higher. You have to pass every section before you can apply for the oral and practical tests.

The oral and practical tests are given by a Designated Mechanic Examiner (DME) using the same standards document, FAA-S-ACS-1. Its General section covers 12 subject areas, Airframe covers 15, and Powerplant covers 13, from weight and balance to turbine engines to propellers. The FAA has no DMEs outside the United States, so plan to take the oral and practical tests here.

In 2025, DMEs approved 11,065 of the 14,838 original mechanic applications they tested, per FAA Civil Airmen Statistics. That's 11,065 divided by 14,838, or 74.6%. About one in four applications didn't pass on that attempt. If you fail any part, you can retest after 30 days, or sooner with a signed statement from a certificated mechanic who gave you more instruction.

For a subject-by-subject breakdown and study approach, read our guide to the FAA mechanic exams.

How Long Does It Take to Become an Aircraft Mechanic?

At an FAA-approved school, the FAA estimates 18 to 24 months depending on which ratings you want. The lengths schools publish land in the same range. We computed the figures below from the 46 schools in our directory that state their program length in months on their own sites.

The math: sort the 46 lengths, and the median is the average of the 23rd and 24th values, 18 months. A quarter of schools publish 15 months or less and a quarter 21 months or more. Of the 46, 3 list 24 months, mostly two-year community college programs.

Earning one rating takes less time than two. At Guilford Technical Community College, for example, the school lists six semesters for training in both ratings and 3.5 to 4 semesters for a single Airframe or Powerplant rating. Add the time to schedule and pass your tests, which the rule caps at 24 months from your first test to your last.

The experience route has a hard floor. You can't count less than 18 months for one rating or 30 months for both, measured on full-time 40-hour weeks. Thirty months is two and a half years before you can even sit the first knowledge test. Military timelines depend on how long you work in a creditable specialty. Our guide to how long aircraft mechanic school takes breaks this down by schedule.

What the Tests and Training Cost

The FAA charges nothing to issue the mechanic certificate. The tests are a different story. The knowledge tests are given at commercial testing centers that charge a fee, and DMEs charge for the oral and practical tests. The FAA's General, Airframe, and Powerplant handbooks are free to download, which covers most of your study reading.

School is where the money goes. Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, Pittsburgh Campus lists $44,250 in tuition for its 20-month program and bills FAA mechanic exam fees of $1,725 separately. At the other end, Sacramento City College lists $3,220 for its four-semester program for California residents, a figure dated fall 2022. Tools, books, and fees change the total a lot, so compare what each figure includes.

On the experience route, the FAA calls on-the-job training usually the least expensive way to meet the requirement, since you're working instead of paying tuition. You'll still pay testing fees and may buy a prep course. Our aircraft mechanic school cost guide compares published prices, what they include, and how GI Bill benefits apply.

How to Choose an Aviation Maintenance School

There are 225 FAA-approved schools spread across 48 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico on the FAA list. Rhode Island and Wyoming have none, so students there look across the border. Of the 225, 170 publish both Airframe and Powerplant training on their own sites.

Compare these before you enroll:

• Ratings offered. Confirm the school trains for both ratings if you want the full certificate, and whether it adds avionics.
• Schedule. 40 schools publish evening or night options. Sacramento City College's evening program, for one, runs classes from 3:30 to 9:35 p.m. on weekdays.
• Credential. Some programs award a certificate or diploma, others an associate degree. See our guide to the aviation maintenance degree.
• Testing results. The FAA's school rule requires at least 70% of students who test within 60 days of graduating to pass, measured over three years. Ask each school how its graduates do.
• Hands-on format. Shop classes are capped at 25 students per instructor, and the work is in person. Read our take on online aircraft mechanic school before paying for a remote program.

Start with the list of FAA-approved schools by state, then read how we rank aircraft mechanic schools and the methodology behind our data.

First Jobs and Aircraft Mechanic Pay

BLS counted 138,090 aircraft mechanics and service technicians in May 2025, with a median annual wage of $79,870, or $38.40 an hour. The median is the midpoint, not a starting offer. The spread runs from $48,780 at the 10th percentile to $128,890 at the 90th.

Where you work matters. The largest employer group is support activities for air transportation, which includes repair stations and ground handlers: 42,580 jobs at a $72,910 median. Scheduled airlines employ 29,480 at a $98,300 median, and aerospace manufacturers employ 24,910 at $82,720.

Projections Central expects employment to grow from 139,400 in 2024 to 145,000 in 2034, a 4% gain, with about 11,300 openings a year on average, counting mechanics who retire or change occupations. See the full breakdown in our aircraft mechanic salary guide, the airline mechanic salary data, and where aircraft mechanic jobs are.

New certificates come with limits. You can't supervise or approve work you haven't done before unless you've shown the FAA you can, or you work under someone who has. The aircraft mechanic career profile covers the day-to-day, and the avionics technician and helicopter mechanic profiles cover the specialties.

Later in Your Career: Inspection Authorization

A mechanic with both ratings can return an airframe or powerplant to service after routine work and can perform 100-hour inspections. Approving aircraft after a major repair or alteration, or signing off an annual inspection, takes Inspection Authorization (IA). That's the next credential most career mechanics look at.

To apply, you need both ratings in effect for at least 3 years, at least 2 years of active aircraft maintenance right before you apply, a fixed base of operations, and a passing score on an IA written test. Fail it and you wait 90 days to retest. Each IA expires on March 31 of every odd-numbered year. Our Inspection Authorization guide walks through renewal.

Our look at whether aircraft mechanic is a good career covers the tradeoffs if you're still deciding.