Originally posted by Big G
As a matter of interest here:
Do most American aircraft have a dedicated ground crew? Or are they pooled amongst whoever is working at that time For example, If the night shift are on, do the aircraft get serviced by say one particular Air Radar tech ? Or by whoever is available at the time?
When I was in G-10. Fighter/Attack aircraft had what was called a Dedicated Crew Chief , and Dedicated Assistant Crew Chief. The Crew Chief was usually E-4 to E-6 in pay grade. The Asst Crew Chief E-2 to E-4.
One handled day, and one handled night usually. Plus you were also assigned dutys on other aircraft which may or may not have a crew chief on duty. So even when your aircraft was flying there was usually plenty of work on other aircraft to be done. Crew Chiefs were also called APG, which stood for Airframe,and Powerplant General. Thats pretty much where our skills laid until the late 80's early 90's when in the A-10 community we were also trained to more in depth engine work, as well as hydraulics. I'm pretty sure that was Air Force wide.
Plus this add to this the army of others working on the aircraft. Weapons loaders, and maintainers, Avionics, Electrical, Life Support, Comm/Nav, Fuels, on and on and on. These people froze, sweated , and toiled until all hours weekdays, and weekends , right along with the Crew Chiefs. They just didn't get their names painted on the planes.
