If a student just messaged you asking to log OJT hours under your supervision, you probably have two questions: what would I actually be signing up for, and is it worth my time? This guide answers both — in plain language, without the FAA jargon.
I'm Michael Sawyer, A&P/IA #3402802IA, and I built Grease Pilot after watching too many qualified mechanics walk away from mentorship because the paperwork felt like a liability. It isn't, once you know what's actually being asked of you.
Here's what we'll cover:
- What supervising an A&P apprentice actually means
- What documentation you actually sign (hint: not the 8610-2)
- Ways to supervise A&P apprentices
- Benefits to supervising A&P apprentices
- Supervisor liability and protections
- How to start an aircraft maintenance business
- How Grease Pilot handles the paperwork for you
- Frequently asked questions
What Supervising an A&P Apprentice Actually Means
Under 14 CFR 65.77, a candidate who wants an A&P certificate through on-the-job training needs 30 months of documented practical experience (18 months for a single rating). Your job as a supervising A&P is simple: observe the apprentice do real maintenance work, verify it happened, and sign off on the hours. You're confirming the experience — you're not teaching from scratch and you're not running a Part 147 school.
The FAA requires the apprentice's hours to cover at least 50% of the ACS subject areas per FAA Order 8900.1 for each rating they seek. That's their responsibility to track. Your responsibility is to verify the work you actually observed. Grease Pilot automatically maps every logged event to an ACS subject so the apprentice stays honest about coverage.
What Documentation You Actually Sign
Here's the biggest misconception we need to clear up: you do not sign the FAA Form 8610-2. That's the apprentice's own application, and it's signed by an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) at the local FSDO in Block V once the experience is accepted.
Your role is to provide the evidence the ASI reviews:
- An employment / experience verification letter — on company letterhead, confirming dates, job duties, hours supervised, and that the apprentice meets the requirements of 14 CFR 65.77
- Signed apprentice hour logs — ongoing sign-offs that confirm the work was performed under your direct supervision
- Your A&P attestation — name, certificate number, and scope of what you observed
That's it. You're essentially writing a recommendation letter and signing a timesheet. The FAA paperwork itself stays between the apprentice and the FSDO.
No letterhead? No problem. Grease Pilot has a built-in Verification Letter Generator. The apprentice fills in FSDO office, employer info, dates, and the certificate rating they're seeking. You review the letter, apply your digital signature, and the platform produces a tamper-evident PDF with your A&P certificate number, a unique verification code, and a SHA-256 signature hash. Submit it with the apprentice's 8610-2 and you're done. No Word doc, no physical printer, no scan-and-email.
Ways to Supervise A&P Apprentices
There's no single "right" way to supervise. Pick what fits your shop and your time.
Direct shop employment
The most common path. You hire the apprentice (or they're already your helper), they work under you at a Part 145 repair station, Part 91 corporate flight department, FBO, or independent A&P shop. Hours accrue naturally as they do the work you'd be doing anyway. Grease Pilot's hour tracker handles the ACS-subject categorization so you don't have to.
Owner-based mentorship
Very common in general aviation. An aircraft owner hires or partners with an apprentice to do maintenance on their own aircraft under your supervision. You don't need to employ them in a W-2 sense — you just need to observe and verify the work. Great for experienced A&Ps who still do side work at the local hangar.
Part-time / weekend supervision
The apprentice has a day job but spends nights and weekends at your shop building hours. Works for anyone pursuing A&P while keeping their current paycheck. Grease Pilot's part-time-friendly tracking lets you approve however many hours they actually logged that week, without forcing you to a full-time schedule.
Military-to-civilian bridge
Veterans often have DoD maintenance experience that needs civilian documentation to count toward 65.77. You can supervise the translation — reviewing their military records, validating their hands-on skills on civilian aircraft, and building the civilian-side hour log that the FSDO wants to see alongside the DD-214.
Virtual mentorship (limited but useful)
The FAA requires direct supervision for hours that count toward 65.77 — you can't log supervised hours over Zoom. But you can mentor ACS written-test prep, documentation workflow, FSDO process, and career direction remotely. This doesn't accrue hours, but it fills a gap plenty of apprentices need.
Benefits to Supervising A&P Apprentices
Skilled help without the cost of a full hire
An apprentice brings motivated, documented labor to your shop. They're incentivized to perform because every hour they log is progress toward their own certificate. You get real hands on real work without the overhead of a full-time journeyman technician.
Network and reputation building
Former apprentices become future employees, referral sources, and partners. The best shops in your region were usually staffed by people somebody took the time to train. Fifteen years from now, your mentees will be the A&P community.
Pay it forward — and fill the shortage
Boeing projects 610,000 new aviation technicians needed globally through 2034. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the 2024 median aircraft-mechanic wage at $78,680, up sharply — the market is telling us there aren't enough qualified mechanics. Every apprentice you sign off is one less empty hangar stall five years from now.
Personal and professional growth
Teaching sharpens you. Explaining why you torque to a spec, why you prefer MS21919 clamps over tie-wraps, or why a borescope inspection beats a compression test on certain engines — that reinforcement makes your own work better. Plus, supervising documented OJT hours is itself valuable experience if you're working toward your IA.
Path to IA and beyond
To earn an Inspection Authorization (IA), you need to have been an A&P for three years with at least two years actively maintaining civilian aircraft. Supervising apprentices keeps you in the shop doing hands-on work. Once you have your IA, you unlock annual inspections, major alterations, and 337 sign-offs — some of the highest-value work in general aviation maintenance.
Supervisor Liability and Protections
This is the question that stops most experienced A&Ps from saying yes. Here's the straight answer:
When you sign off an apprentice's hours, you're attesting that the work was performed under your supervision and the apprentice demonstrated competence at those tasks. You are not guaranteeing the airworthiness of any aircraft going forward, and you are not assuming the apprentice's future liability.
FAA Order 8900.1 Volume 5 governs supervisor attestations. The standard the FAA applies is good faith — if your records show that the work happened and your sign-offs reflect what you actually observed, the FAA will not strip your own certificate. What gets A&Ps in trouble is fabricating hours or signing for work they didn't witness. That's rare and fraud-grade.
Practical protection: keep records. Every hour log Grease Pilot generates includes a digital signature, timestamp, IP address, and tamper-proof SHA-256 hash. If the FSDO ever asks "how do you know the apprentice performed this work?", you pull the record. It's stronger evidence than a handwritten logbook.
If you'd sign a logbook entry for your own aircraft work, you can sign an apprentice's hour log for work you observed.
How to Start an Aircraft Maintenance Business
Supervising apprentices pairs naturally with running your own maintenance operation — either as a side hustle or a full shop. Here's the straightforward path.
Step 1: Get your A&P and build experience
If you're reading this, you probably already have your A&P. If you're thinking about the path, start with our detailed guide: How to Get Your A&P License Through OJT Experience. Thirty months of hands-on work, a signed Form 8610-2, and nine FAA tests — but the route is real.
Step 2: Decide your legal structure
Two practical options for independent maintenance work:
| Part 43 (Individual A&P) | Part 145 (Repair Station) | |
|---|---|---|
| Authority | You, the individual A&P (with IA for inspections) | Company-level FAA certificate |
| Typical clients | GA aircraft owners, flight schools, small FBOs | Airlines, fleets, international operators |
| FAA paperwork | Your A&P / IA + 337s + logbook entries | Quality systems, ops specs, chief inspector, FAA audits |
| Cost to start | Low — LLC filing, insurance, tools, hangar access | Significant — application, facilities, staff, manuals |
| Best for | Most independent A&Ps their entire career | Scaling to corporate / airline work |
Most independent A&Ps operate under Part 43 their entire career. You can supervise apprentices under either structure.
Step 3: Get your Inspection Authorization (IA)
The IA rating is the highest-value credential an individual A&P can hold. It unlocks annual inspections, progressive inspections, and major alterations / major repairs. Requirements: three years as an A&P, two years actively maintaining civilian aircraft, access to FAA data and a fixed base of operations. Supervising apprentices while building toward this qualifies.
Step 4: Location, insurance, and tools
You need a place to work — whether that's a hangar lease, a corner of a shared shop, or a mobile setup for owner-based field maintenance. Get aviation-specific liability insurance (Avemco, AvSure, Global Aerospace are the usual names). Don't use general-contractor insurance — aviation work needs aviation coverage. Budget for diagnostic tools, borescope, torque wrenches, and specialty tooling specific to the aircraft you'll work on.
Step 5: Pricing and customer acquisition
Know your market rate. The 2026 Aircraft Mechanic Salary Guide breaks down what A&Ps actually earn by sector and region. Start with direct relationships at your local airport — FBO management, flight school owners, hangar neighbors. Word of mouth beats advertising for aviation maintenance.
Step 6: Grow with apprentices
Once you have steady work, an apprentice lets you scale without full-time payroll. They bring effort, you bring judgment. Create a free Grease Pilot supervisor account to see apprentices actively looking for mentors in your area.
Step 7: Tracking and paperwork (the Grease Pilot piece)
Grease Pilot's OJT Tracking Software handles every piece of paper the FSDO wants to see: ACS-categorized hour logs, digital supervisor sign-offs, tamper-evident records, and FSDO-ready PDF packages. Your apprentice fills it out as they work. You click to approve. When the 30 months are up, the whole package — including the verification letter — is one export away.
How Grease Pilot Handles the Paperwork for You
The only things a supervisor actually needs to do are observe, verify, and click to sign. Everything else is automated:
| Task | You | Grease Pilot |
|---|---|---|
| Observe and verify apprentice's work | ✓ | |
| Sign off on individual hour logs | ✓ (digital) | |
| Review & sign the FSDO verification letter | ✓ (digital) | Pre-fills from hour history |
| Categorize hours by ACS subject | ✓ automatic | |
| Store tamper-proof records with SHA-256 hash | ✓ | |
| Generate FSDO-ready verification letter PDF | ✓ | |
| Bundle hour logs + letter into FSDO package | ✓ | |
| Track progress against the 30-month goal | ✓ | |
| Message apprentice in-platform | ✓ |
And supervisor accounts are free. We charge the apprentices for their tracking software — you never pay a dime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I get paid to supervise an apprentice?
That's between you and the apprentice. Some supervisors pay apprentices as employees, some bring them on as unpaid learners, and some are simply owners paying a helper hourly to work on their own aircraft. The FAA doesn't require a specific employment arrangement — they only require verifiable practical experience. Most independent A&P/apprentice arrangements in general aviation are paid at a reduced rate because the apprentice gains something valuable in exchange: documented hours.
What's my liability when signing off OJT hours?
You're attesting to what you observed — that the apprentice performed the listed work under your supervision and demonstrated competence. You're not guaranteeing future airworthiness of any aircraft they touch. As long as your records reflect reality, FAA Order 8900.1 protects good-faith supervisors. Fraudulent sign-offs are what get A&Ps in trouble, and those cases are rare and documented. Grease Pilot's tamper-evident records are defensive evidence for exactly this reason.
How many hours per week do I need to commit?
Zero required. The commitment scales with your apprentice's availability and the work you actually have. In a busy shop, supervision happens naturally as the apprentice does tasks you'd be doing anyway. In a slower setting, reviewing and signing a week's worth of hours in Grease Pilot takes about 5 minutes. There's no minimum.
What if the apprentice isn't a good fit?
You're not locked in. You can stop supervising at any time, and the apprentice can transfer to another supervisor without losing logged hours — Grease Pilot's hour records follow the apprentice, not the supervisor. Be honest early if it isn't working; that's better for both of you.
Can I supervise an apprentice who isn't my employee?
Yes, as long as the work is performed under your direct supervision per 14 CFR 65.77. That commonly means an apprentice helping on your own aircraft, on a customer's aircraft you're maintaining, or in a shared hangar where you have working authority. The FAA cares about the supervision, not the W-2 status.
Does Grease Pilot charge supervisors anything?
No. Supervisor accounts are free. Apprentices pay for their tracking tools; you get the messaging, hour-review, verification-letter signing, and apprentice-matching features at no cost.
How do I get started?
Create your free supervisor account. Set your availability and location, browse apprentices actively looking for mentors in your area, and message anyone who looks like a fit. Or if a specific apprentice messaged you first, click "View Student's Profile" in the email they triggered and take it from there.
Ready to start?
Create your free supervisor account and review the apprentices matched to your location. There's no subscription, no contract, and no commitment. The sooner you start, the sooner you're part of the next generation of A&P mechanics.
Questions? Email us at office@greasepilot.com — we're certificated A&Ps too, and we'll help you work through anything that's unclear.
