Your education, your talents and skills, your hobbies and interests, and your desires for the future will all come together when you take that first step down the career path of your choice. It may be true that pilots are the first thing you think of when considering careers in aviation but pilots would not stay in the air for very long without mechanics and avionics technicians. Aircraft mechanics are responsible for maintaining the aircraft engines and airframes, while avionics technicians take care of the electronic systems inside the plane. Aircraft are very maintenance-intensive. They are subject to much greater stresses than cars, for example. When cars break down, drivers can coast onto the side of the road and call a tow truck. When aircraft break down they can fall out of the sky. Aircraft mechanics and avionics technicians are very highly skilled and highly valued. Pilots may get the recognition from the public, but pilots know the importance of the mechanics and technicians who service their planes. When an aircraft mechanic says there is a problem, everybody waits for the mechanic to fix it. If you have ever experienced a flight delay and sat in the airport fuming, you can thank an aircraft mechanic. Without these skilled professionals you would never get to your destination at all. Airlines, parcel delivery services, freight carriers, the military, and every other enterprise that uses aircraft all depend on mechanics.