It’s also because the pay in the industry has been shit for a long long time. I worked in aircraft maintenance for 10yrs and left to pursue a tech job because the pay in aviation was no where near acceptable for the knowledge, skill and physical exertion required of the job. I’ve been out of that industry for almost 9 years and I still get calls and emails frequently from recruiters desperate to find anyone willing to fill the wide open positions.

Another problem is that airlines treat maintenance, and the downtimes required to perform it properly, as a liability. They constantly push for work to get done faster than possible and pressure mechanics to cut corners. I could make multiple effort-posts detailing the things I personally saw and even more things that I heard from my colleagues. It would make most people never want to fly again.

I’m not at all surprised this has happened. This has been coming to a head for almost 20yrs.