A signing bonus, starting pay of $30-per-hour, and retroactive reimbursement for some training costs.
Those are some of the perks for a mechanic at regional airline Air Wisconsin, headquartered at the Appleton International Airport.
"It very much is in demand work right now," said Ed Baranowski, director of contract maintenance and engine programs for Air Wisconsin.
The two-year training program to become an airplane mechanic is offered at Fox Valley Technical College, or FVTC.
"We really bring people in as entry-level, interested candidates for the program, and take them to entry-level technicians," said Joe Schmidt, Aviation Maintenance Department chair at FVTC.
At FVTC, student Adam Waterman has an internship with Gulfstream, another aviation company in the Fox Valley.
Waterman grew up going to work with his father, also an airplane mechanic, at Chicago's Midway Airport.
"I've just always been pretty interested in mechanical things, getting my hands dirty," Waterman said.
Opportunities right now in airplane maintenance "...couldn't be better," Schmidt said.
"...[A] lot of our students right now are even employed while working on their degrees," Schmidt said.
If potential students "...don't have a lot of hands-on skills exposure in high school or at home... [don't] let that be a deterrent," Schmidt said.
The program can take students who are at a basic level and prepare them for a job in the aviation maintenance industry, which offers "very good-paying jobs," Schmidt said.
At Air Wisconsin, there's a unique benefit for mechanics or anyone else who works at the airline: Free flights.
Air Wisconsin flies connection flights, like Appleton to Chicago, for American and United airlines; in June the company will fly exclusively for American Airlines.
"We get to fly with our family no matter where Air Wisconsin or American or United flies at this point-in-time," Baranowski said.
The space-available flying is free after an annual fee, Baranowski said.
"It's exciting, because you just get to go see the world; you can take a weekend and go to Hawaii and come back."
But asked about life as an airline mechanic, Baranowski said the most job-related gratitude can be felt from the ground.
"...[W]hen you actually see an aircraft depart, and know that you're part of it."
