HANDS ON

摘要

BRICE WEYRICH WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN AVIATION. "INSTEAD OF baseball cards, I collected airplane cards. They were pictures of airplanes with statistics-they listed engines, where they were made, what year, how many. My favorite was the Black Hawk." After four years of college and a stint in the Marine Corps, Weyrich is now an assembly and test technician at GE Aviation. He works on the Boeing 737 Max and the Airbus A320, after graduating with certificates in aviation maintenance technology and aviation electronics technology from the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics (PIA). "I've seen a lot of people go through a two-year school and get out in the industry and make just as much money, if not more, than a four-year-school graduate," he said. Avionics technicians test, maintain, and produce aviation electronics-which could include missile guidance systems, jet engines, and flight-control circuitry-as well as the old reliable systems on your GA piston airplane. Much of an avionics job is preventive: caring for the systems that keep aircraft safe and pilots safer. Technicians can often work unusual hours, providing maintenance and support when needed, as needed.