Expert: James Bell - 11/2/2010

Question
Sir, I am looking to retrain into either flight engineer or inflight refueling. I am married and a mother of two but still would like to expand in my career. Could you please lend me some advise from someone with experience in either of these career fields for someone in my position. Thank you.

Answer
Sarah -

Wow, so many things to talk about.  I would suggest you look at some of my previous answers, as I have discussed various snippets of those career fields at length.  There are so many different aspects of the aircrew fields to discuss, I would need you to ask something more specific to give you a really good answer.

As a married woman with children, I can imagine TDY and deployment rates are important to you.  Bear in mind that flying would be your job, so going TDY is the name of the game.  Depending on the airframe you are assigned to, typical TDY missions range from a couple of days to three weeks.  Deployments affect everyone in the military in our post-9/11 world, so I am sure you are already familiar with that.

Another thing to consider is a massively increased responsibility.  As a flight engineer or a boom operator, if a dire emergency happens, you could very well have the important piece of information to make the difference between life and death for the entire crew.  You need to understand and be ready to accept that responsibility.  As a boom operator, you are the eyes of the tanker as you direct the movement of receiver aircraft into contact with the refueling boom.  If something happens that destabilizes either aircraft, you need to be ready to make the call for an emergency separation.  That is no small responsibility.

As a flight engineer, you are the systems expert when it comes to fuel, electrical equipment, hydraulics, pressurization, engines, auxiliary power, etc.  Mechanical malfunctions happen and you need to have the wherewithal to recognize a malfunction through your instruments and make split second decisions on the proper course of action to safely remove that piece of equipment from the equation by either shutting it down or isolating it.

Other than that, there are so many different aspects to discuss, I would gladly answer more if you had specific questions.  Let me know what job you currently hold so I can get a better idea of what would be the best fit for you.

Sincerely,
James Bell