AboutJames Bell Expertise I am a retired MSgt (2004) with 24 years experience in the aircrew career field, both as a loadmaster (AFSC 1A2x1) and flight engineer (AFSC 1A1x1). I have been to every continent at one time or another, and regularly flew 300 to 500 hours a year. I have been involved in the operations in Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. I can answer most questions you may have about enlisted Air Force life in general, assignments, benefits, and enlisted aircrew operations.
NOTE: If you have specific recruiting and/or medical questions about how to get into this career field as a civilian, they have changed since my time, so that is best answered by a recruiter or MEPS. I can answer questions about military personnel wanting to RETRAIN. If you are asking about being an Air Force pilot, please be advised my area of expertise is ENLISTED aircrew operations, NOT OFFICERS.
Experience Loadmaster (AFSC 1A2x1): 7 years - 2,000 hours - C-5A Galaxy cargo plane. Flight Engineer (AFSC 1A1x1C): 7 years - 2,500 hours - C-141B Starlifter cargo plane, 10 years - 3,800 hours - KC-10A Extender aerial tanker. Served as aircrew Flight Instructor, Flight Evaluator and Training Manager
Question I am considering retraining into a FE job from F-16 Avionics Systems Spec. I wanted to find out the main differences between Helicopter FE and Fixed Wing FE. When retraining, do I have a choice of what shred I will be? Also, do you know any websites that show the number of days deployed for the average FE by aircraft? I don't mind doing TDY's I was just curious what the deployment schedule is like for FE's.
Thanks,
Scott
Answer Scott -
The criteria for the "B" and "C" shredouts for flight engineer changed after my departure from Active Duty life. That process has changed dramatically from my day (which was only five years ago), so I really can't tell you about how the selection process is done.
As far as deployment rates, I can tell you that C-5's deploy less, and KC-10's, AWACS and C-130's deploy more. Exact rates I can't tell you because I was never even provided with those numbers. I was told the numbers for my airframe (KC-10), which was lower than AWACS and a lot lower than C-130's. The "10" only has two wings, and we jointly share the same base in the Middle East. Basically, we deploy a lot. During my 2002-2003 year, I was gone approximately 50% of the time. How that has changed in the last five years, I can't say.
I know this didn't answer your question with hard numbers, but I hope it provided a little more information.
