Expert: David A. NewMyer - 11/30/2007

Question
Hello Mr. David.A
I am vishal kadu from India.
Basically a LINE MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN and have been maintaining AIRBUS A320-232/233/214.
Sir, I am planing to move into TECHNICAL WRITTING in some good AEROSPACE COMPANY such as QUEST, HONEYWELL, SNECMA etc...
Do you think my move from LINE MAINTENANCE TO TECHNICAL WRITTING would be good enough to explore my future in aviation.
Frankly speaking I am blank about technical writting.
but I have a good hand on computer programming and computer operatings.
I am pretty confused to make this move.Hope you will help me out of this.
And the most important question I wanted to ask is WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF AEROSPACE TECHNICAL WRITTING IN FUTURE AND HOW ABOUT THE PAY SCALES COMPARED TO AN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE ENGINEER ?
Can I get a job directly in some overseas AEROSPACE COMPANY for technical author's post ?

I hope you will solve my querry and help me out of this by giving some good suggestions.

THANKING YOU

YOURS SINCERELY
VISHAL KADU


Answer
Hi,

I have limited expertise in this area of aviation, but, it seems to me that you have an advantage in that you have experience working on Airbus aircraft....so, whatever you do for a manufacturer or a major overhaul company (Goodyear Aerospace, etc) in the technical writing area should be focused on Airbus since you already know this field.  The other thing is:  Do you have a college or university degree.  Making a transition to technical writing (which is considered by some companies to be an engineering position) may require a degree.  Finally, the good thing about technical writing at aerospace companies in the future is that much of it will require an intense knowledge of converting the technical writing products to on-line/web-based manuals.  So, your skills in the computer areas should help with this.  I am sorry that I do not know about pay scales but you might want to check direclty with the Airbus website or go on to such websites as:

www.aviationemployment.com

www.aeps.com

Best of luck to you,

David A. NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale