The Canadian AME Licence, Explained

An Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) licence is issued by Transport Canada under the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs). It authorizes the holder to certify — "sign the maintenance release" of — aircraft maintenance work within the scope of their rating. That signature is a legal statement that the work was done to an airworthy standard; it is the credential that lets someone independently certify maintenance rather than working only under someone else's certification.

The licence is rating-based, not a single blanket qualification. A person is licensed for specific categories of aircraft and specific types of work, and can add ratings over time as they gain the required experience and pass the corresponding exams.

Transport Canada currently defines five AME rating categories: M1, M2, E, S, and Balloons. Each is scoped to a specific class of aircraft or type of work rather than "all aircraft" in general.

M1 covers non-turbojet aircraft built to specific airworthiness standards (Standard 522, 523, 523-VLA, 527, and 549, and equivalent standards) — in practice, this is the piston-engine and light-aircraft category. M2 covers all aircraft not included in M1, excluding balloons — in practice, turbine and larger/more complex aircraft. E covers aircraft electronic systems, including communications and navigation equipment. S covers aircraft structures — airframe structures specifically, as distinct from the mechanical systems M1/M2 cover. Balloons is its own separate, narrower category for balloon-specific maintenance.

M1 and M2 licence holders are also permitted to maintain turbine helicopters and SFAR 41C aeroplanes within their category. See our dedicated guides to M1 vs M2, the E licence, and the S licence for a closer look at each.

Broadly, the path runs through three stages: completing Transport Canada–approved basic training (or documenting equivalent experience), accumulating the required hands-on maintenance experience in the specific rating being sought, and passing Transport Canada's examinations for that rating. See our full How to Become an AME guide for the step-by-step version of this path.

Because the specific figures (minimum hours, minimum months, specific task lists) are set by regulation and are periodically amended, PassCARs does not restate them as a substitute for the current official text — see CARs Standard 566 Explained and the Transport Canada links below for the authoritative, current requirements.

PassCARs is a study platform for the Transport Canada written examinations covering the M1, M2, E, and S rating knowledge areas — not a substitute for approved basic training, not a logbook system Transport Canada accepts as your official experience record, and not affiliated with or endorsed by Transport Canada in any way. It exists for the specific, narrow problem of preparing for the regulatory and technical knowledge exams themselves: structured lessons organized by topic, a mock-exam mode that mirrors the real exam's format, and spaced-repetition flashcards for the regulatory material that tends to be memorization-heavy.