Hire A&P Apprentices in Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a serious maintenance town — Davis-Monthan Air Force Base hosts the 309th AMARG 'Boneyard,' the world's largest aircraft storage and regeneration facility, Bombardier runs a major business-jet service center at Tucson International, and the Arizona Air National Guard's 162nd Wing trains F-16 crews across the same field. The Grease Pilot directory lists 25 FAA-certificated repair stations and shops within 50 miles of the city. Demand for certificated mechanics is strong — training an apprentice under 14 CFR 65.77 lets your shop grow its own A&Ps instead of competing for them.

You set the wage — there's no mandated apprentice rate. For context, entry-level aircraft mechanics in Arizona start near $48,290/year and certificated mechanics in the Tucson metro earn a median of $73,340 (BLS, May 2025). An apprentice starts below the entry-level figure and grows into it as their signed-off hours build — a smaller bill than hiring experienced A&Ps away from the Boneyard's contractors or Bombardier's service center.

You do — but there's less than people expect. You document the supervised training as it happens (Grease Pilot's records system does the tracking and signatures); nothing is filed with the FAA until your apprentice is ready to test. At that point FAA Form 8610-2 goes to the Scottsdale FSDO — the office serving Pima County, shown with its address and phone in the section above — which verifies the supervised experience and authorizes the mechanic exams.

Yes — repair stations are exactly where this works. Your apprentice performs work under the supervision of your certificated mechanics (14 CFR 43.3(d) covers supervised work), and every logged hour counts toward the experience requirement — 18 months for airframe or powerplant, 30 months for both, under 14 CFR 65.77. With 25 certificated shops within 50 miles — plus the Boneyard, Bombardier, and the Guard hiring from the same pool — Tucson's bench runs short; training your own is how a shop stays staffed.

Check the relocation line on their profile — apprentices state whether they're willing to relocate, and many will move for the right training opportunity. To maximize the quality of apprentice recruits, fill out your supervisor listing inside your account — once published, it shows to apprentices across the Grease Pilot network.