What do you know about Cirrus Aircraft? The company is opening a big new sales and service hub at McGhee-Tyson Airport here in Knoxville. They're going to be creating a lot of jobs and I'm considering trying to apply with them depending on what they're looking for - provided what they're looking for is a 30something night school student with no previous training in the aviation industry. I figure with a background in parts and service for ground vehicles maybe I can jump in on the maintenance side of things, not necessarily working on the planes themselves but something in a support role there.
The new hub is going to be focused on their new personal jet, the Vision SF50. I don't know much about planes but this thing looks pretty freaking sweet.
Having spent more than a few years in the aircraft industry ( military) the amount of support personnel per aircraft is almost staggering in its amount. as a side note... a total crash course in one of the fields of aircraft maintenance can have you certified in that particular field in a year ( i'm talking military styled learning) after that it can take 3-5 years to branch out enough to qualify for a A&F license ( Airframe and powerplant) the sheer amount of potential in Aircraft maintenance is overwhelming.. if you have so much as one single mechanically inclined bone in your body there is a area in AC maint. that you can fit in comfortably. Cirrus is a 30 yr old company... that gives them a decent footing in the industry... and with their AC parachute, that gives them a somewhat unique position. i would say go for it
Sorry could not help myself. the HE162 was way ahead of its time. Read the reports on it by Captain Winkle Brown. In Fact read about Captain Winkle brown, The guy was extraordinary. Apply the job you got nothing to lose and it could be a major life changing experience. Sounds exciting.
Cirrus is a good company, their whole aircraft ballistic parachute systems have made them a go to for people who want that extra level of safety. Avoid assembly line production, it is about as boring as you can get in aviation, service center work is on the other hand not as bad but then you are looking at doing the same inspections and regular maintenance items over and over again. With the jet they will be wanting a very professional image for their clients so it should be a really nice facility to work in, now how they treat their employees compared to their customers may not be quite as nice but then I've not worked for them nor had any friends work for them directly. Sticking with parts you would not need any licenses, just a dot drug testing program, as a mechanic you would need and A&P (airframe & powerplant) license. It takes 18 months in school to get it or 36 months as an apprentice. The VLJ (very light jet) market has been a bit of an issue for companies. Dimond tried to get their D-Jet to market and had to give up on it as it destroyed the whole company. Piper also had to give up on its Jet as the market just didn't support it. Adam Aircraft didn't fair any better with their A700, Eclipse aviation went bankrupt with their design but at least had certified it and produced quite a few before failing. The last players in the field are Cessna with their smaller citation jets and in no threat of shutting down, Embraer in the same boat with their large production lines of regional airliners to keep things steady, Honda which is honda and has the resources to weather the economy and finally Cirrus. Cirrus has had a bit better fortunes with being bought by a chinese aerospace company than the other smaller companies, also their piston engined range of aircraft are more expensive and better lined up to move owners up into a jet than Diamond ever was. All in all Cirrus seems like a good steady company with the resources to pull off producing the jet but their production facilities are still up in the air as I understand it while waiting on state support in MN.
That's some helpful industry information, thanks. I don't think there's going to be any actual assembly here but it will be the main sales hub for the jet and also service and customization center for all their models.
I would suggest getting your A&P if you want to get into aviation maintenance. You'll max out at 15$ or so an hour as a stores or toolroom clerk (and that's after YEARS with the same company). A&Ps start out at 16$ at most airlines, and top-out varies widely but usually 25$ at least (and after you get some experience, the majors are all above 40$ or about to be). Unfortunately for you, the biggest employer at TYS is about to dramatically downsize. Expressjet (my former employer) is shutting down their two heavy check lines and moving some of the work to SHV (where I used to work). They're only keeping a dozen or so guys for line maintenance. So about 150 A&P jobs (top out 27$ an hour) are going away. Cirrus isn't going to pick up nearly that many people, probably a few dozen A&P's at most, and maybe some unlicensed techs for significantly less money. Some of the guys will follow the work, or move on (one of my buddies went to AA in DFW), but a decent amount will stay in the area and commute until they can get a job at TYS again, so the competition for A&P jobs will be fierce at TYS for awhile, and its never been all that easy to get a job there in the past either. My best advice is if you decide to get your A&P, don't fall into the "gotta go to a big name school" trap. Last I heard, Spartan and Embry-Riddle were running about 50 grand for an A&P, and that was a couple years ago. Even smaller for-profit schools are gouging people for 35-40k. I went to a community college in MS that had a little A&P program and got my license for less than 3k. That was 10 years ago, but even now it would be around 5-6k. Just look around, you might be surprised how many places there are to get training and not have years worth of student loans to pay off. And don't let the recruiters for the big-name schools blow smoke up your ass about how they have the "in" at employers: the only thing that matter in aviation is your EXPERIENCE. Nobody gives a damn where you got your license, as long as you have one. They might be able to help you a little finding an entry-level job somewhere, but you'll be working right alongside guys who paid less than 10k for their license. If you have any more questions let me know, I've accumulated a bit of insider knowledge of at least the airline side of the business over the last 10+ years.
What about parts and supply? Is that something that airlines utilize much or do they get away with 1-2 guys handling everything since there's much less volume than say a car dealership?
if they're opening up a new facility, there's going to be openings for just about everything, unless they decide to import someone from another location. There will undoubtedly be a number of people so imported, but many of those may be temporary simply to get things rolling smoothly and train up the hires. I'd recommend sending them a resume with an in depth look at the broad range of your experience and what you're looking to be/interested in doing. Course you can always use my grandpa's approach, he simply put in an application every day until they hired him just so he wouldn't waste any more paper... somehow I don't think that would work as well today, but it snagged him a career with Boeing so... XD
As Guppy said, avoid the big name schools. I am a graduate of Embry-Riddle. I have a 4 year degree and a commercial rating. I'm also still paying off my debt and will be until I'm 43. I do not recommend my alma-matre.
My brother in law went from car mechanic to Hawk maintenance. It took him like a year of studies to get started. Go for it.
Expressjet supported a fleet of 275 regional jets with around 50 stores (parts and supplies) clerks system wide. And most of them made around 12$ an hour. If you could work your way into a lead or management position, the pay would go up somewhat. Although us A&P's probably made more money than the stores manager when you factor in OT. That would be pretty typical for a regional airline (ExpressJet, Skywest, Endeavor, Envoy, Mesa, etc). On the other hand, United (where I work now) has HUNDREDS of stores clerks, but then they support 750~ jets that range from 737's to 747's. There's a warehouse right next door to where I work that has over a BILLION dollars worth of parts in inventory, and that's probably <1/3 of the parts they have company wide (there's another massive depot in San Fransisco and all the hubs have a lot of parts on hand as well). The stores clerks make a bit more here, but again, far less than A&P's do. I think their top out is 18-ish in 10 years. The other major airlines would be pretty similar.
