Hire A&P Apprentices in Gun Barrel City, Texas

Gun Barrel City sits on Cedar Creek Lake about an hour southeast of Dallas–Fort Worth — lake-country general aviation on the edge of one of the biggest aviation employment markets in the country, with more than 35 FAA-certificated repair stations and shops within 50 miles in the Grease Pilot directory. Metroplex wages pull certificated A&Ps toward the city, so a local shop that trains its own apprentice keeps its bench without bidding against DFW. 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 Texas start near $48,600/year statewide and the Texas median for certificated mechanics is $84,440 (BLS, May 2025) — and DFW metroplex shops an hour away bid those wages up. An apprentice starts below entry-level mechanic pay and grows into it as their signed-off hours build — and a mechanic you trained on Cedar Creek Lake is far more likely to stay than one you outbid Dallas for.

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 North Texas FSDO in Irving — the office serving Henderson 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 35+ certificated shops within 50 miles all fishing from the same DFW talent pool, training your own A&P is the reliable way to stay staffed at the lake.

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.