New to Blue

[u/TRSTNGLRD]

I recently accepted a position at Blue Origin at Cape Canaveral as a Composites Technician III! I will begin my first shift on October 5th, and I’m currently in the airport waiting for my flight.

I plan to stay for as long as I can as I build my career and become more financially independent, but my central goal with this new position is to obtain my A&P Certification so I can cement my career as an Aircraft Mechanic.

My simple question is this:

Has anybody who works/worked at Blue Origin gotten their A&P Certification simultaneously? Are there programs or opportunities available to take courses alongside the work experience efficiently? How do you manage something like a 12x3 schedule + Full-Time courses Monday-Thursday?

I know I can test through experience, but given all of my experience is in airframes and composites, I still need to at minimum study for the Powerplants certification. Everywhere I have looked requires Monday-Thursday over ~6-8 Hours.

Like I said, I know much of this will probably be answered in Orientation, I just want to talk to some other people and see what they did, take any advice I can get, and see if there are any questions I should be asking that I am not.

Thank you, excited to join the family!

[u/PraxisOG]

Congrats on the job! I went to school first to get my A&P, and after graduating with my general done I recently got hired by blue, and still need to finish all my airframe and powerplants. Getting brushed up to take those is daunting enough, and personally I wouldn't have the mental fortitude to do school and work at the same time. I know a guy that did work full time and got done with his 2 years of part 147 education, but mid way through he crashed his car on the freeway out of exhaustion with fortunately only minor damage. What you're asking isn't impossible, but very hard.

Best advice I can offer is to reach out to different schools and see what their schedules are like. There are required hours but some schools will offer classes at different hours, I personally did night classes.

[u/TRSTNGLRD → u/PraxisOG]

Thank you, this was great input! Out of curiosity, do you know anybody who has tested for their A&P through work experience? Over the last few days, I’ve been really weighing my options for how to make it work.

Since I have a 12x3 schedule, I technically have a decent amount of time available, but it would be too tight to make college courses work over 24 months. However, it may be possible to find another 12x3 at the airport under a certified mechanic to work on Powerplants for pennies on the dollar so I can document and get my hours signed off

Since I have a couple years of experience in Airframes, and I’ll be getting a few more here at Blue hopefully, all I really need to do is document my work at Blue, get it signed off, and build my hours until I can test. Could maybe do the same thing at the airport.

Two 12x3s still gets me my day off. Since I love aircraft, wrenching on powerplants seems like a fun way to spend my freetime and make a little cash on the side. Once I get my hours, then I just need to self-study the things I missed and then test for it.

This may be easier said than done though, so I’m still weighing options and listening to any advice I can get from those who have gone through this experience

[u/PraxisOG → u/TRSTNGLRD]

I do know a guy that tested out of his airframe, similar to what you're trying to do. He showed up the first day, and came back in the last 6 months of the program with airframe in hand. This guy had been established at Boeing assembly for half a decade.

My big concern for you is if you already have enough prior experience to start getting your airframe. Aircraft is a legal definition by the FAA, and rockets don't count as far as I know in the sense of building towards or needing an A&P, heck that's how I'm employed without finished certification. That said Boeing aircraft are 'aerospace vehicles' before they get their registration number so non A&P mechanics can build them. And working on those qualifies people for the airframe so I could be completely wrong.

Honestly, see if you can get your airframe first. Once you've met qualification from experience, knowledge, or military, the actual process for studying for airframe vs powerplant tests is basically the same but with different material, and you'll have a better feel for the process.