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Useful experience includes:

• mechanical work
• panelbeating, or work with sheet metal
• electronics or electrical work
• other aviation work.

Aircraft maintenance engineers may do some or all of the following:

• inspect and service engines, propellers and airframes, as well as the hydraulic, ventilation/pressurisation, electronic, and mechanical systems of aircraft, to ensure they operate correctly and meet the safety requirements of the original manufacturer, in accordance with Civil Aviation Authority regulations
• read and comprehend instructions for continued airworthiness, in written or diagrammatic form
• diagnose faults
• repair or replace faulty or beyond-safe life parts or systems
• test parts and systems to ensure sure they operate correctly
• use electronic test equipment to view structures without taking them apart (non-destructive testing)
• keep records of repairs.

Licensed aircraft engineers also inspect, supervise and approve the work of other aircraft maintenance engineers.

Aircraft maintenance engineer vacancies arise when qualified people retire or move overseas to work.

According to Boeing's Pilot and Technician Outlook 2022-41, there will be global demand for 610,000 civil aviation aircraft maintenance technicians over the next 20 years.

Aircraft maintenance engineer will appear on Immigration New Zealand's Green List from March 2024. This means the Government is actively encouraging these skilled workers from overseas to work in New Zealand.

According to the Census, 3,192 aircraft maintenance engineers worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Air New Zealand takes up to 20 trainees a year

Air New Zealand is New Zealand’s largest employer of aircraft maintenance engineers. It runs training programmes through the Aviation Institute in Auckland and Christchurch.

The Aviation Institute accepts between 30 and 50 people a year into its engineering training programme. Air New Zealand then accepts up to 20 trainees a year.

The Royal NZ Air Force also offers traineeships for aircraft maintenance engineers.

Types of employers varied

Most aircraft maintenance engineers work for:

• Air New Zealand, its regional airlines, and other airline and helicopter companies
• aircraft maintenance and design firms
• the Royal NZ Air Force
• the Royal NZ Navy (working on helicopters).

Some aircraft maintenance engineers are self-employed.

Air New Zealand Academy of Learning

(09) 255 5701 - www.airnzlearning.co.nz/ask-a-question- www.airnzlearning.co.nz

Defence Careers - Air Force

0800 1 FORCE (0800 136 723) - www.defencecareers.mil.nz/air-force

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology

0800 422 733 - www.nmit.ac.nz

Service IQ

0800 863 693 - intel@serviceiq.org.nz - www.serviceiq.org.nz

Aircraft maintenance engineers may progress to become licensed aircraft engineers, who supervise and sign for completed work.

They may then move into management roles, or do further studies to move into aeronautical engineering.

Aircraft maintenance engineers may specialise in:

• gas turbine engines and other mechanical systems of aircraft
• aircraft structures and frames
• aircraft electrical systems, instruments and radios (avionics).

With further training, aircraft maintenance engineers specialising in avionics may progress to become aeronautical or electronics engineers.

• Aeronautical engineer job information
• Electronics engineer job information

Aircraft maintenance engineers need to be:

• skilled at solving problems
• good listeners and communicators
• practical, methodical and logical
• patient and accurate
• able to work well under pressure and make good decisions.