Aviation Maintenance Technology

Aviation maintenance programmes prepare people to inspect, repair and sign off aircraft — airframes, engines, hydraulics, electrical and the inspections that keep an aircraft legal to fly. ⚠ Unlike every other trade programme on this site, the curriculum is set by the FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION rather than by Florida.

The degrees this program covers

The destination is the FAA mechanic certificate with Airframe and Powerplant ratings — the “A&P” — and a programme exists to get you there. ⚠⚠ The school itself must be certificated by the FAA under 14 CFR Part 147; graduating from one is what lets you sit the tests without the alternative route of 18 months of documented experience for a single rating, or 30 months for both. ⚠ Florida institutions deliver it two ways: as clock-hour career certificates (general, airframe and powerplant blocks of 450–480 hours each) and, at a few colleges, as college-credit courses inside an associate degree. Both lead to the same federal certificate; the difference is the transcript and what else it counts toward.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Aviation Maintenance Technician

Aviation maintenance technicians inspect, repair and sign off aircraft — and the signature is the job: a mechanic returning an aircraft to service puts their federal certificate behind the entry. ⚠ It is the highest-paid trade on this site ($79,870 median) and the only one whose curriculum the FAA writes.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Commercial and Airline Pilot

⚠ The other federally certificated aviation career, taught at many of the same colleges, without the per-hour flight bill.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Automotive Technology 47 Florida schools

⚠ The comparison worth making before you choose: both are diagnostic mechanical trades taught at the same technical colleges, but aviation is federally certificated, pays roughly half again as much at the median, and is far more tied to documentation.

Engineering Technology 76 Florida schools

Where an A&P goes next without leaving aviation: avionics, non-destructive testing and aviation maintenance management all sit in the engineering-technology series.

Professional Pilot and Aviation Science 8 Florida schools

⚠ The other federally certificated aviation career, taught at many of the same colleges. It costs a fraction of flight training because the student is not paying by the hour for an aircraft, and it is a common way into an airline for people who later learn to fly.

Florida public institutions offering this program

13 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Certificate (1-2 years). A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Broward College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Charlotte Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Eastern Florida State College

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years)

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years)

George Stone Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

George T Baker Aviation Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Lively Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Lorenzo Walker Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Northwest Florida State College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Pasco-Hernando State College

Associate

Polk State College

Associate

Tom P. Haney Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Traviss Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 21 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.