After leaving the military in 2016, Austin Newby was unsure of what to do. His stepfather, Richard Rawling, began taking Newby with him to work on his planes. Here, he fell in love with working on aircraft.
“He's pretty much the biggest reason I got into aviation. So if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be here where I'm at right now,” Newby said.
Newby would go on to earn his A&P, while also apprenticing on Part 135 and Part 91 aircraft. Recently, Newby has moved from general aviation to commercial operations, performing line maintenance for United Airlines.
“I've always wanted to get here. I've just progressed through the small aircraft and started to get higher up into the private sector, private jets, and this is just where I've been aiming to go since I started in aviation,” Newby said.
He added that’s it’s been both challenging and fun learning to work on wide-bodied aircraft.
“It was a jump going from the small aircrafts, but the iPads and systems – they have make it a lot easier than you would think to be able to work on these things. Everything's broken down. Everything, you can look up and go in order, and as long as you can read and follow directions, you can do it. You can work on any of these systems,” he continued.
