For David Ramirez, the biggest motivation for getting into aviation maintenance, was looking for a stable career that would help provide a comfortable living for his children. Prior to this career Ramirez bounced around from job to job. He worked at Tesla in Fremont, California on the production line building model S and X vehicles, then moved to Utah and worked at a manufacturing company making guns, but would ultimately be laid off.
“I never had a mentor, just the desire to better myself and find a career where I could grow as a person but also a mechanic, something my kids and family could be proud of,” he noted. “I did extensive research about what kind of career I was getting into and how exponentially the need for mechanics was growing.”
After enrolling in Salt Lake Community College to obtain his A&P certificate, Ramirez attended classes for a little over a year and a half and applied for a mechanic helper position at Duncan Aviation, where he has been a mechanic for a little over two years, and has risen from a helper to a mechanic II in that time. His current job responsibilities are to maintain, inspect and return to service airplanes. He received his airframe certificate and started working and currently is working to receive his powerplant through the apprenticeship program that Duncan Aviation offers.
Ramirez mentors other new hires and guides/trains them on how to successfully and properly do their jobs. “Many people depend on us to get them to their destination safely without any hiccups and that is all dependent on how well we do our job when the aircraft is in our facility undergoing maintenance,” he said.
He says his ultimate goal is to find a company that he can grow with, mature as a mechanic and ultimately pass down my knowledge to the younger generation coming into the world of aviation, and quite possibly his children should they decide to follow in their father's footsteps.
“I've only been a working mechanic for two years and have so much to learn, so much growing to do and maturing, as well,” he explained. “I have heard time and time again that the certificates don't make you a mechanic but rather those are a license to learn. I still have a solid 20 years ahead of me to work, learn and grow into the mechanic I want to be with the knowledge, skillset and mindset to tackle any obstacle that this industry may place in front of me.”
