Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians

44% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): Occupations with a moderate risk of automation usually involve routine tasks but still require some human judgment and interaction.

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

User poll

Sentiment

The following graph is included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians' was $75,020, or $36 per hour

'Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians' were paid 56.1% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

Comments

Horse 4 months ago

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.

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Mailong (No chance) 1 year ago

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.

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Mr. Mantilla aircraft maintenance (Low) 1 year ago

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

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Cal (No chance) 2 years ago

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.

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Jacob (Low) 2 years ago

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.

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Date ceramusi (No chance) 3 years ago

Repair industry(plane/boats/cars) use powerful diagnostic tools since decades.

Still needs human labor to mount and dismount parts.

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