Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians

Low Risk
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Explore safer careers (2)

Lower estimated automation risk

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Why it fits

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Why it fits

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
6.9/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

32% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Show 2 more strengths

Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 276 votes

24% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 32% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians was $78,680 ($38 per hour).

The median annual wage for Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians was 58.9% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians' job openings is expected to rise 4.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 136,390 people employed as 'Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians' within the United States.

This represents around 0.09% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians'.

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What people are saying (9)

Leave a comment
Jason (Low)
16 Jan 2026 13:10
Regulation in the Avaition industry
Tony (Low)
11 Mar 2025 04:12
Current amt student. High chaos element with very unique and unpredictable problems that require human input to solve safely and intelligently.
Diogo (No chance)
30 Nov 2024 21:11
diferent jobs every day, dexterity, irregular position to work
Horse
07 Jul 2024 07:59
Even if newer planes were designed specifically to enable robotic maintenance access, there is no chance.

The shortcomings of self-diagnostic systems and the inability to work in the very human "grey area" of the maintenance manual would ground every aircraft in no time.
Mailong (No chance)
26 Jun 2023 14:21
Aircraft’s need copious amounts of TLC to keep in service. Most components are in awkward locations, thanks engineers, and there’s no change a robot could isolate problems that arise with the various systems and fix the issue. Half the time my co-workers can’t seem to do the same.
Mr. Mantilla aircraft maintenance (Low)
21 Mar 2023 23:12
I don't think it will be replaced in the next 50 years (being very negative), because disassembling, diagnosing, inspecting, repairing and reassembling is human dexterity with many abilities and use of the senses, something that robots have difficult to overcome
Cal (No chance)
26 Sep 2022 21:03
I'm an aircraft mechanic. Things break in far more convoluted ways than one could practically program for. Sure, it's theoretically possible, but not within 20 years.
Jacob (Low)
13 May 2022 15:33
I am currently working as an aircraft mechanic. I do not see how robots/automation could be calibrated to deal with some of the areas we have to reach into. We have around 20 of the same model aircraft, and each one is slightly different with different clearances and sometimes different hardware.

While some tasks certainly could be automated (such as wheel and tire changes), it would still require someone to double-check the work to verify it was good. Even major jobs require two people - one to fix it and one to check it.

Obviously, it's hard to say how quickly robotics technology will move ahead. But personally, I don't see a complete replacement of aircraft mechanics happening for several decades. Laws and regulations would need to change as well for that to happen.

Just my opinion though. We will have to see.
Date ceramusi (No chance)
18 Apr 2021 04:58
Repair industry(plane/boats/cars) use powerful diagnostic tools since decades. Still needs human labor to mount and dismount parts.
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Job description

Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul aircraft engines and assemblies, such as hydraulic and pneumatic systems.

O*NET-SOC code: 49-3011.00