- BLS median (May 2025)
- $79,870
- What a scale is
- A contract
- Shop rate
- Posted
Aircraft mechanics — a photograph, not a step
Year 1 / year 4 / year 12 plus license and shift
MRO and GA hire to a number, not a grid
People type “AMT pay scale 2026” because someone at a school or on Reddit used the word scale. A scale is a contractual ladder: year-one, year-four, year-twelve, plus license, airframe, and night differential. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a scale. It publishes a median — $79,870 in May 2025 for aircraft mechanics and service technicians. Mixing the two is how a recruiter sells a first locker with a twelfth-year number.
Airline and cargo properties that are unionized print the grid in the contract. MRO shops print a shop rate and maybe a lead premium. General aviation often prints nothing; you find out when the first check clears. If a page on the internet shows one national “AMT scale,” it invented it. We will not invent a 2026 major’s grid on this desk either. Contracts move. Starting pay is what year one actually looks like. This page is how to read the words people use when they pretend otherwise.
Three numbers that are not the same
BLS median, airline step, and shop rate get used as synonyms by people who benefit from the confusion. They are not synonyms. The median is a national photograph: half of U.S. mechanics earned less than $79,870 in May 2025, half earned more. The 10th percentile was less than $48,780. The 90th was more than $128,890. An airline step is a cell in a contract: longevity in that agreement, plus license and shift lines. A shop rate is what a 145 or a GA hangar will print on your first check in that zip code.
| Label | What it is | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| BLS median | Half of U.S. mechanics earn less, half more | National planning, not an offer |
| Airline step | Contract year + license + bid | Ask for the current PDF, not a forum screenshot |
| Shop rate | Hourly the 145 or GA shop pays that zip | Ask nights, tools, and who signs |
| Starting offer | What they will actually print on day one | The only number that pays rent |
The combined OOH family — mechanics plus avionics — photographs at $80,180. Do not use that blended figure as “the AMT scale.” Avionics is a separate SOC with its own median of $82,280. If someone quotes $80,180 as your future line rate, they are reading the wrong row.
How to read a step chart
When a carrier will show you the grid, read it like a mechanic, not like a brochure. Year is often longevity in that contract, not years holding an A&P. A person who spent six years at a 145 and then hired on at a major may still start at year one on that paper. License premium and Inspection Authorization are sometimes separate lines and sometimes not. Overtime and field trips can outrun the hourly. Ask for last year’s typical check for the bid you would actually occupy, not the theoretical top of the chart.
- Year is often longevity in that contract, not years holding an A&P.
- License premium and Inspection Authorization are sometimes separate lines.
- Overtime and field trips can outrun the hourly. Ask for last year’s typical check, not the theoretical.
- A city with a high sticker and a high rent is not a raise.
- A screenshot from 2022 is how people pick the wrong coast.
We will not type American, Delta, UPS, FedEx, or anyone else a 2026 number. If you need the number, open the current agreement. If they will not show it in the interview, that is information. The salary desk will keep citing BLS. This desk will keep telling you to open the PDF.
MRO shop rates are not steps
A Part 145 that is not on a major’s property usually hires to a shop rate: one number, maybe a lead premium, maybe a night differential, maybe a tool stipend. There is no year-twelve cell unless they built one. That is not a slight. It is a different animal. Compare two 145 offers on hourly, shift, overtime history, and who signs. Do not compare a 145 shop rate to year twelve at a major and call the 145 insulting.
GA is even less of a grid. You may be paid like a person who also answers the phone. IA can become the business. Until then, the “scale” is whatever cleared last Friday. Get it in writing anyway. People remember handshakes differently after the second annual of the month.
License, shift, and the lines people skip
A&P is often a prerequisite, not a premium, on a mechanic scale. GROL can be a prerequisite on an avionics bench and invisible on a structures line. IA is usually invisible on an airline grid and load-bearing in GA. Night differential is the line that actually moves a first-year W-2. Read every line. Then ask which ones you will touch in the first six months. A premium you will not be eligible for until year four is a brochure.
If you do not have the ticket yet, none of this is your scale. Finish the FAA path, then come back. A school that sells “you will be on the airline scale” without saying which year and which city is selling a hoodie.
How to compare two offers without a fantasy
- Write the hourly, the shift, and the city on one card each.
- Add last year’s typical overtime for that bid or shop, if they will say. If they will not, assume less than the story.
- Subtract rent, commute, and tools. The starter box is not free.
- Ask who signs in year one. A pretty rate next to a broom is still a broom.
- Ignore BLS in the comparison. BLS already did its job on the other desk.
The job outlook says 6 percent growth and about 13,100 openings a year. That is demand. It is not your step. A tight market can still pay badly in a training-mill town. A loose market can still pay well on a night sort. Run the offer, not the headline.
Words to take into the interview
Bring a notebook to the interview and write the words they use. If they say “scale,” ask for the PDF. If they say “competitive,” ask for the number. If they say “BLS,” thank them for reading the Handbook and ask again for the cell you would occupy in month one. A lead who respects that question is a lead who will not surprise you on payday. A lead who bristles is telling you how the shop talks about money when you are not in the room.
Keep your own running sheet after you hire on: hourly, shift, overtime hours, license lines, the date you became eligible for the next cell. People who can show that sheet at the next interview do not have to rely on memory or on a recruiter’s folklore. The Pay desk will still quote medians. Your sheet is the only scale that ever had your name on it.
Say “shop rate,” “step,” and “median” out loud until you do not mix them. Hiring leads notice. So do loan officers, unfortunately — they love a median. Your job is to keep the starting-pay number and the scale number in different columns. The Pay desk exists so those columns stay labeled.
If a recruiter only quotes BLS, ask for the step chart or the posted rate. If they only quote a year-twelve cell, ask for year one on that same paper. If they quote a competitor’s leaked screenshot, smile and ask for their PDF. You are not being difficult. You are refusing to plan a life on folklore.
Is there a national AMT pay scale?+
No. BLS is a median. Airlines have steps. MROs have shop rates. Use all three, plus the city. See aircraft mechanic salary.
Does BLS $79,870 mean year one at a major?+
No. That is the U.S. median for the occupation in May 2025. Year-one line is a different conversation — see starting pay.
Will you post American / Delta / UPS rates?+
No. Contracts move. Open the current agreement. A 2022 forum screenshot is not a 2026 offer.
Where does avionics sit on “the scale”?+
Often on a different scale, or a different shop. National median $82,280 in May 2025. Avionics salary is the desk.
Does IA have a step?+
Rarely on an airline grid. In GA it is a routing of work, not a cell. IA pay explains the difference.
Sources (verified)
Planning figures only. Verify the current BLS OEWS table and any union contract before you relocate. Aviation Titans is independent editorial.