Apprenticeship will take 4-5 years, flat out no way around that. First 6 months you don't take class, so do the math.

Seattle is booming, we have more TMs working now than I have seen in 15 years, but we have peaked with qualified mechanic material. They still are taking transients last I heard, but there aren't a whole lot of people willing to move. Until this next group tests out, and the second years become TM eligible, the list will slow.

On a good note, the last bunch of probies we took at TKE seem to have been pretty good. I even kept my first day hire, and that's fairly unusual for me.