Is there a way to become "aerospace certified"???

Date 06-25-2007 07:57 Edited 06-25-2007 08:01

Howdy fusionman1000

AWS D 17.1 is probably the most prevalent cert used in the aircraft industry today. Its a very flexable cert and easy to maintain (cost) so more and more companies are using it as thier standard. To fully qualify all around in each alloy group would be quite expensive to an individual I would think (lots of coupons per group). I might be corrected here but D 17.1 is lifetime as long as you maintain your visuals and other qualifications on schedule.

Are you wanting to get into aerospace work or are you already in it and wanting to change jobs? This is just my opinion/experience....

If you are applying for aerospace jobs they are going to certify you in house (for what they need) anyway...this is a minor cost compared to all the other costs associated with aircraft/aerospace work. They might ask you to weld some samples on an interview and then ask the lead welder what they think ("will he pass or not"). I was offered my first aerospace job with no current cards at all. Basically if you can Tig real well on very light gauge materials that will get you in the door. OR Being familiar with exotics like hastelloy, inconels and austentic stainless steels and the processess of welding them properly will help as well but not totally neccessary.

The best person here to answer your post I believe would be Lawerence and I am sure he will chime in on this.

By medicinehawk (**)

Date 06-25-2007 08:08

It seems that when I had worked for an aerospace contractor, they had their own FAA sanctioned "certs" pertaining to whatever I was welding. First started out with stainless & inconnel -tube to tube and tube to plate for each material , and then aluminum & titanium awhile later, but those certs stayed with the company, although I had paperwork saying I was qualified to weld to those standards (FAA specs)......the contractor is the only one concerned since they paid for all the NDT testing and paper work. It can be included in my resume, but the cert is no longer valid without verifiable proof of having welded that material. Another contractor would want you re-certified, but would be more interested that you had viable experience to their aerospace plant. I did not actually have a card, but all the paperwork explaining the procedure and material. As stated, the card would not be valid from one company to another although I may be wrong. I do know you are supposed to be welding a specific "cert" at least 4 hours every six months in order to keep it.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-25-2007 14:49 Edited 06-25-2007 14:56

Well, I'm not sure if I should open a can of worms or just answer the question as stated.

Couple of things to note.

Tommy is right on about qualifications to get in the door in the aerospace world.... Most want at least 5 years verified experience... A Looooong personal background check if you work for a carrier. And a high level of competency in GTAW of thin material.

If you have military experience (2219 or 1595 certs) bring the paper to the interview and of course note them on your resume'.

Certs themselves are good to get an interview but will NOT cross over between contractors, you will be tested again. I would not advise getting certified at your own expence unless a specific employer personally recommends it to you, on the other hand I would be skeptical of any employer making this request.

I carried my 1595 cert cards for many years after leaving the military. They did open a few doors, but nobody has ever hired me without a welding test.

As far as FAA goes...... The FAA requires no welding certs. They act more like ISO when it comes to welding, in that they will check to see a company is in compliance with whatever contracts are imposed on the job. In truth, any swingin son of a gun with an A&P (airframe & powerplant) now a days also known as AMT (aircraft mantianence technitian) liscence can weld on an aircraft or sign off on a welded repair that somebody else did under their supervision. Your garden variety A&P has about 3 weeks oxy-fuel training during a 4 semester training course, most aircraft mechanics are not called upon to weld, so it is a very minor part of the overall training curriculum... it is bloody terrible. If there are any AMT's out there who know of traning institutes who actually provide GTAW training to a certifiable standard as part of their AMT/Associates program, do chime in as I would like to be able to recommed their school.

By fusionman1000 Date 06-25-2007 17:30

No actually most of the work I do is on race cars. Most of the material I work on is ss, 4130, aluminum, titanium and inconel. The aerospace cert just covers most of those materials and is pretty well known in my industry as being the best. I am wanting to go solo and run my own shop and would like to have some kind of certification on paper to help bolster my years of experience. What would you guys suggest? Thanks for the info so far!

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-25-2007 17:43

Well,

Thats a horse of a different color!

For your own business you may want to have current qualifications covering the range of materials and processes you are going to bid.

Some customers will require you to requalify anyhow for each individual contract.

I would think ICAR certs covering various materials and Processes would be a good start if autos are going to be your bread and butter.

I'm sure some of the indepentants here at the fourm will pitch in with what they do.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 06-27-2007 09:36 Edited 06-27-2007 09:39

Lawrence / Medicinehawk

You guys are of course right on that you will test wherever you go. When I was talking about lifetime on the cert, that was missleading..I meant that I don't have to redo the coupons on a scheduled basis....As long as I don't screw somthing up and cause inspection to have me do a re-certification. Before we started using D 17.1 you had to do requalification on a regular basis. Sorry bout that. I do have a card in my box with each alloy group listed and it has the typical surrender upon yada yada yada all over it (I still keep a copy of it just in case LOL).

Best regards

Tommy

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-27-2007 15:34

Tommy,

Your right when referring to D17 and it's language about welder performance qualification continuity.

It is not at all uncommon, in fact most of the major aerospace players exceed the code (D17) in some way when it comes to welder performance qualification. Some require recurrent process training set to a calendar or even complete reweld of coupons for each material designation.

A private enterprise doing contract work will be subject to whatever the higher tier contractor may desire when they come to terms and spec out the project.