Increasing Aircrew Flight Equipment Personnel Proficiency: Insights from Members of the Career Field

The Air Force Aircrew Flight Equipment (AFE) specialty - created in 2008 as a merger of two previously distinct career fields, Aircrew Life Support and Survival Equipment - plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of aircraft pilots, other aircrew, and special warfare operators via training and by engaging in maintenance, inspection, repair, and adjustment, of aircrew flight equipment, such as flight helmets, parachutes, and safety rafts. However, despite career field and Air Combat Command (ACC) leadership attention, proficiency of airmen in this career field has generally declined. ACC/Flight Operations Division (A3T) asked RAND Project AIR FORCE to investigate the causes for the decline in AFE proficiency and develop courses of action to mitigate the issue. The effort focused on collecting and analyzing subject-matter experts' viewpoints, insights, and suggestions for addressing the proficiency issues, which were gathered from interviews with a wide range of AFE personnel from eight Air Force bases. The research reported here was commissioned by Air Combat Command, Directorate of Air and Space Operations and conducted within the Manpower, Personnel and Training Program as part of a fiscal year 2018 project. It should interest AFE community leadership; Air Force and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) leaders concerned with the safety of aircraft pilots and the effectiveness of the Air Force more broadly; and Air Force and DoD senior leaders responsible for maintaining and refining the structure of Air Force organizations.