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The Air Force Enlisted Classification Manual describes the crew chief's duties in four broad areas:
- Day-to-day maintenance, including "end-of-runway, postflight, preflight, thru-flight, special inspections and phase inspections"
- Diagnosing malfunctions and replacing components
- Detailed inspection, record-keeping, and administration
- Supervision and coordination of aircraft care, as well as such varied duties as crew chief, repair and reclamation, and crash recovery duties
What is an aircraft maintenance crew chief?
Flying crew chiefs are specially trained maintenance personnel who attend a six-week maintenance special operations course in addition to the hundreds of hours of training it takes to become 7-level aircraft maintainer.
How long does it take to become a crew chief?
It's hard to say how long the rest of a crew chief's initial schooling takes. This official fact sheet from the Air Force claims initial training at Sheppard lasts close to three months, but that may not include training on a specific aircraft.
What does it take to be a C-17 crew chief?
Tech. Sgt. Mark Graveline performs a walk-around inspection on a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft Jan. 1, 2013. Flying crew chiefs are specially trained maintenance personnel who attend a six-week maintenance special operations course in addition to the hundreds of hours of training it takes to become 7-level aircraft maintainer.
Where do airmen contracted as crew chiefs go to school?
Airmen contracted as crew chiefs stay on in Texas for technical school at Sheppard Air Force Base. It's hard to say how long the rest of a crew chief's initial schooling takes.
What rank is a crew chief in the air force?
staff sergeantTo be a DCC, an Airman must have a minimum of six months of experience on the job as a crew chief, and hold the rank of staff sergeant or higher. A qualified senior airman may become a DCC after obtaining a waiver allowing them to apply.
Do USAF crew chiefs fly?
Though many crew chiefs stay on the ground, flying crew chiefs actually fly on the aircraft they maintain, providing their technical expertise for the full-time aircrew and keeping the machine running smoothly.
How much does a crew chief make in the air force?
US Air Force Salary FAQs The average salary for a Crew Chief is $38,210 per year in United States, which is 20% lower than the average US Air Force salary of $48,201 per year for this job.
What is the job of a crew chief?
An Army crew chief is a specialist who keeps the inside and outside of a helicopter safe, well-maintained and productive at all times. They instruct their Army crew on how to operate, repair and complete tasks on the aircraft.
How long is training for an Air Force crew chief?
The six-week course features intensive instructor-led hands-on training to familiarize the Airmen with location-specific maintenance operations.
How often do crew chiefs deploy?
Depending on the tempo of your base, those longer deployments may only happen once every 2-3 years. While every situation is a little different, you can rest assured that your spouse will be home much more often than they'll be away.
How long does it take to become a crew chief?
The RL progression consists of two to three months of classroom time, hands-on training and flight training. "We have flight instructors or standardization instructors who do the training," Sargent said. "You go through a lot of ground classes before you are ready to do any flying."
What are the best jobs in Air Force?
Best U.S. Air Force jobsPilot. Pilots are responsible for completing missions by flying various Air Force aircraft. ... Public affairs officer. ... Flight engineer. ... Security forces. ... Operations intelligence. ... Air traffic control. ... Tactical aircraft maintenance. ... Aircraft loadmaster.More items...
Do crew chiefs travel?
Douglas said they will usually spend a lot of time away from home station, flying an average of 60 missions per year. Technical Sgt. Ed Abell, 437 AMXS flying crew chief, has been at Joint Base Charleston for one year. He said he enjoys following an aircraft into its mission.
What Asvab score do you need to be a crew chief?
But regardless of their interests, before enlisting, recruits must graduate high school and pass the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) with a qualifying Air Force mechanical score of 47 or higher.
What Mos is a crew chief?
Marine Corps Job: MOS 6174 Helicopter Crew Chief, UH-1.
Do crew chiefs travel?
Douglas said they will usually spend a lot of time away from home station, flying an average of 60 missions per year. Technical Sgt. Ed Abell, 437 AMXS flying crew chief, has been at Joint Base Charleston for one year. He said he enjoys following an aircraft into its mission.
What does a C 130 crew chief do?
Supervises and performs aircraft and component inspections. Interprets inspection findings and determines adequacy of corrective actions. Inspects and checks components for clearances, tolerances, proper installation, and operation. Inspects and operates powered and nonpowered aerospace ground.
What is the job of a crew chief?
They are in charge of all that happens to the helicopter, often working for a few hours prior and after their mission. Their job responsibilities also include instructing where the cargo should be loaded and where one should sit, dropping smoke grenades for landing zones, operating the machine gun, instructing the pilots, and assisting in helicopter repair and maintenance. They also conduct a safety helicopter inspection, organize any gear needed for a day's mission, and update the logbook.
How much does a crew chief make?
A crew chief annual salary averages $61,918, which breaks down to $29.77 an hour. However, crew chiefs can earn anywhere from upwards of $26,000 to $145,000 a year. This means that the top-earning crew chiefs make $119,000 more than the lowest-earning ones.
How many crew chiefs are there at Wendy's?
According to crew chief resumes that we searched through, crew chiefs are hired the most by Wendy's, Braun Intertec, and Brink's. Currently, Wendy's has 17 crew chief job openings, while there are 8 at Braun Intertec and 6 at Brink's.
What is the job of ensuring the safety of crew?
Ensured safety of crew by adhering and enforcing safety procedures.
What is the job of a military commander?
Coordinate and manage daily briefings with senior military leadership on status of communication infrastructure and open trouble tickets/work orders.
What skills does a crew chief need?
As far as similarities go, this is where it ends because a crew chief responsibility requires skills such as "safety procedures," "customer service," "aircraft parts," and "gnss.".
What do crew chiefs study?
The crew chiefs who went onto college to earn a more in-depth education generally studied business and aviation, while a small population of crew chiefs studied automotive technology and criminal justice. Once you're ready to become a crew chief, you should explore the companies that typically hire crew chiefs.
What is a flying crew chief?
Flying crew chiefs are the mechanics of the sky, flying missions all over the world and a pilot's best friend. "These guys have saved many, many missions," said Lt. Col. Jeffery Smith of the 300th Airlift Squadron. "They make our job of flying the airplane much easier.".
How long does it take to become a flying crew chief?
Flying crew chiefs are specially trained maintenance personnel who attend a six-week maintenance special operations course in addition to the hundreds of hours of training it takes to become 7-level aircraft maintainer.
What do pilots call when an airplane breaks down?
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) -- When a $200 million aircraft breaks down in a dangerous place like Afghanistan or Colombia, pilots just can't call "triple A" but they can call on their flying crew chief who, as most aircrew members know, knows everything. Flying crew chiefs are the mechanics of the sky, ...
What does Graveline do in his flight suit?
In his trademark green flight suit, Graveline climbs under the wheel well to inspect the tires of the enormous aircraft. Carefully and methodically he covers every inch of the outside of the jet even taking note of rivets in the tail towering five stories above.
What pride does a crew chief have?
Aside from taking pride in one's work, the sight of an aircraft safely departing and returning home never gets old - especially when you know you personally had a lot to do with that happening at all.
What is the AMC in the Air Force?
I can't say all in crew chief-land is hunky dory though. Those who work on heavies usually belong to the Air Mobility Command (AMC), which is one of the Major Commands (MAJCOMs) within the Air Force. We actually nicknamed AMC "Always Moving Command" because there really aren't any actual days off. Even when the normal workweek is Monday-Friday, AMC aircraft frequently get tasked for routine missions that span weekends. Not even holidays are certain days off, even when not deployed. Most stateside bases work a typical Monday-Friday work week, but most overseas bases I know use either a "Panama" schedule (3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off, with each "on" being a 12hr shift) or some other variation of 12hr shifts (6 on, 1 off; 3 on, 1 off; etc.). If you end up in an Air Combat Command (ACC) unit, which is where all fighters, a small number of C-130 units, etc. are, the odds of working weekends goes down. But even those units have weekend duty assignments, which is essentially a regular "on call" rotation in which one might not actually have to work, but they can't drink and they can't go anywhere).
How long does a heavy aircraft take to fly?
Heavies - most heavy aircraft fly at least 4hrs each cycle (even for local training missions), and often even longer. Not only are flight times longer, but preflight and postflight activities (both maintenance and flight ops-related) take longer to accomplish. While a heavy crew chief's aircraft is flying or off-station without them, they normally help other crew chiefs with their work, or they might go back to their shop and do secondary duties - or even watch TV, workout, play basketball, ping pong, or whatever else they can do to occupy their time while waiting for their aircraft to RTB or another job on somebody else's aircraft to come up with. Since most heavy aircraft don't fly inverted, their crew chiefs tend to be slightly more laid back when it comes to FOD. A good crew chief will actively search for and remove any and all FOD anyway, regardless of if it has any realistic capability of posing a risk to flight safety. Average crew chiefs might be more apt to let some things go until the aircraft goes to the inspection dock for one of its larger, scheduled inspections (which becomes the responsibility of crew chiefs who don't work on the flightline to find/remove), assuming the FOD is of a particular type and/or in a location which won't realistically jeopardize anybody's safety. As for deployments and any other TDY missions, most heavy aircraft will always have at least 1-2 crew chiefs flying with them as Mission Essential Ground Personnel (MEGP), which are essentially part of the flight crew itself. In fact, some units also have a Flying Crew Chief (FCC) program. Such crew chiefs usually receive advanced troubleshooting training, regularly go TDY - and usually even wear flight suits while on such flights. A heavy crew chief or FCC's TDY assignment might be something as short as a two-day/one-night mission to another stateside location, to a 1-2 week mission that spans several countries, to multi-month contingency/war deployments.
What is an inspection dock worker?
Inspection dock worker - these guys are focused specifically on performing scheduled inspections of aircraft. Different aircraft have different inspection concepts. Some are based on calendar months exclusively, some are based on flight hours exclusively, and others are what I call hybrids (inspections that have both calendar and flight hour requirements, with whichever coming first triggering its actual deadline). These troops remove numerous panels from the aircraft, inspect every nook and cranny possible for any signs of problems (corrosion, cracks, warping, or anything other abnormal observation). They also lubricate numerous moving parts that aren't so easy and/or practical to access while the aircraft is not doing scheduled maintenance. They usually also do some launch/recovery operations on the flightline, but it's usually limited to aircraft that just rolled out of the inspection dock and are doing their first flight after the scheduled inspection. They'll also assist flightline crew chiefs when situations arise where there aren't enough flightline crew chiefs available to do their own work.
How long does it take to fly a fighter plane?
It's common for them to fly 3-4 times in a single shift. For this reason, fighter crew dawgs are culturally much more gung ho and fast paced than crew chiefs who work heavies. Foreign Object Debris/Foreign Object Damage (FOD) is another area where fighter and heavy crew chiefs often differ. While FOD is a serious safety concern for all aircraft types, let's face it. Fighters are designed to fly upside down. Any FOD sitting around anywhere in a fighter aircraft is treated like it's a serious safety concern, no matter how petty or serious it might really seem - because in all likelihood, it really is a serious concern due to the flight tendencies of the aircraft itself. While often not the case, fighters also do their deployments closer to actual battlefields, due to their limited range. Many don't end up inside the actual Area Of Responsibility (AOR), but will be close enough to it to keep ingress/egress flight times as short as possible. Also, because fighters can only hold a pilot (and maybe also a second flight crew member to manage aircraft systems), few fighter crew chiefs ever get to fly with any aircraft they maintain. Most never even get incentive flights while at home station. When fighter crew chiefs deploy to other locations, they usually fly as duty pax in cargo aircraft - or they even fly commercially, whether via public airports or via commercial airlines that are contracted to fly them from their own base to their Temporary Duty (TDY) location.
What does BMT stand for in the Air Force?
After you’ve passed BMT (Basic Military Training), Technical School, where you learn your AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code), also known as your specific trade, the USAF begins to shape you into an educated, technically proficient, professional Airman that develops leadership skills (and “followership” skills of course) along with other experience.
What is the Air Mobility Command?
Those who work on heavies usually belong to the Air Mobility Command (AMC), which is one of the Major Commands (MAJCOMs) within the Air Force. We actually nicknamed AMC "Always Moving Command" because there really aren't any actual days off.
What is a crew chief?
Crew chiefs are part of the maintenance force that ensure aircraft are airworthy and mission-ready so pilots can complete their various variety of missions.
Why is the crew chief job rewarding?
Ricke said the crew chief job, while daunting at times, because of the age of some aircraft in the fleet, is also rewarding because he works on aircraft and builds camaraderie with fellow maintainers. It's why he continues to put on the uniform.
What did Neville say about the crew chief?
Neville said there is no better feeling as a crew chief than seeing your aircraft leave with a pallet of supplies or a pallet of patients or even filled to the brim with bullets and bombs and watch it come back with nothing. Knowing that it completed its mission, but not without the help of the crew chiefs.
What is the heavy aircraft?
Often overshadowed by their more aggressive, quicker and sleeker cousins, the fighter jets, the heavy aircraft are the airframes that carry the US Air Force and sister-service components , and it is about time they get the love they deserve.
