Powerplant – What does a FAA Powerplant Technician do?
Responsibilities of a powerplant technician
Powerplant is an important job sector for the FAA airframe and powerplant (A&P) certificate holders. An A&P certificate is issued by the FAA. It’s not a must need, but nowadays, it’s a common matter. Powerplant experts obtain their license from the FAA after completing their training at a FAA Part 147 school. In order to work on powerplants, you will be required to have a powerplant license.
Powerplant mechanics have various duties. Their main duties are related to engines or powerplants and electrical systems. They usually inspect engines for faults. If they find faulty items, they must repair or replace the parts. Thus the jobs of a powerplant mechanic are somewhat challenging as they work in the power sector.
Generally, a mechanic is certified in airframe and powerplant. So, he/she needs to do work on all parts of an aircraft. They work on engines, gears, pressurized sections, instruments, brakes, valves, air condition, pumps and many other parts of an aircraft. Their job is to maintain all the equipment and accessories. They also be required to maintain the database of all the equipment. Therefore, good English language and computer skills are two major requirements in their role. Mechanics and technicians do carry out inspections on a regular basis and keep the data of the number of flying hours of the aircraft, cycles of operation, etc. Modern planes have aircraft monitoring systems. So a technician or mechanic can gather data from those systems. In fact it’s an important role for the technician to be computer literate.
A technician takes various data readings from the equipment for diagnostic assessments. Poweplant technicians have a main role of monitoring the engines. To detect invisible cracks mechanics do x-ray and magnetic particle inspections. Mechanics are also involved in repairing sheet metal, measuring the tension of control cables, checking for corrosion and distortion in the fuselage wings and tail.
One important part of a powerplant technician’s job role is that after repairing all the parts, they then check the equipment. Aircraft mechanics are dedicated to do work on different type of aircraft such as jets, helicopters, propeller-driven airplanes, etc. Some of the mechanics are specialized on a specific section of an aircraft such as engine, hydraulics, electrical, etc.
Powerplant mechanics are specially dedicated and limited to work on engines, but airframe and powerplant technicians are not limited to one part, they are allowed to do work on all parts of an aircraft.
It is somewhat difficult to do all of the jobs of a powerplant technician. If you are going to be one of them, you will need to have proper knowledge of the engines. In your FAA approved school, you generally gather knowledge of the various engines. Mostly turbine engines are used in airplanes. So it is important that you know all the required things on powerplant.
If you at least read this article once, you will gain enough knowledge of the responsibilities of a powerplant technician. Your duty is to apply the knowledge in a proper way so that you can benefit by it.
