Hire A&P Apprentices in Fort Collins, Colorado

Fort Collins anchors Colorado's northern Front Range — Northern Colorado Regional Airport, shared with Loveland, is one of the busiest general-aviation fields in the state, while Denver's enormous maintenance market sits an hour south and pulls certificated mechanics away. BLS counts only about 30 aircraft mechanics in the whole Fort Collins–Loveland metro, and the Grease Pilot directory lists 20 FAA-certificated repair stations and shops within 50 miles — scarcity a shop can beat by training its own. 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 Colorado start near $60,960/year and certificated mechanics in the Fort Collins–Loveland metro earn a median of $83,260 (BLS, May 2025). An apprentice starts below the entry-level figure and grows into it as their signed-off hours build — and in a metro where BLS counts only about 30 certificated mechanics, growing one is cheaper than poaching one.

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 Denver FSDO — the office serving Larimer 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 20 certificated shops within 50 miles all drawing on a metro bench of about 30 mechanics — and Denver bidding an hour south — growing your own is how a Front Range shop keeps a bench at all.

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.