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Increasing Aircrew Flight Equipment Personnel C O R P O R A T I O N CHAITRA M. HARDISON, LESLIE ADRIENNE PAYNE, RUSSELL H. WILLIAMS, DANIELLE BEAN, KENRIC SMITH, HANNAH ACHESON-FIELD, IVICA PAVISIC, ANTHONY LAWRENCE, BENJAMIN M. PANCOAST Increasing Aircrew Flight Equipment Personnel Proficiency Insights from Members of the Career Field For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RRA114-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-1-9774-0675-0 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © 2021 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Cover: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Isaiah Miller. Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface The Air Force Aircrew Flight Equipment specialty (AFE)—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 (PAF) 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. RAND Project AIR FORCE RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF), a division of the RAND Corporation, is the Department of the Air Force’s (DAF’s) federally funded research and development center for studies and analyses, supporting both the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force. PAF provides DAF with independent analyses of policy alternatives affecting the development, employment, combat readiness, and support of current and future air, space, and cyber forces. Research is conducted in four programs: Strategy and Doctrine; Force Modernization and Employment; Manpower, Personnel, and Training; and Resource Management. The research reported here was prepared under contract FA7014-16-D-1000. Additional information about PAF is available on our website: http://www.rand.org/paf/ This report documents work originally shared with DAF on August 12, 2019. The draft report, issued on August 9, 2019, was reviewed by formal peer reviewers and DAF subject- matter experts. iii Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iii Figures ............................................................................................................................................ vi Tables ........................................................................................................................................... vii Summary ...................................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... x Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Exploring Potential Causes and Remedies ................................................................................................ 2 Goals of This Project ................................................................................................................................. 4 Our Approach ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Organization of This Report .................................................................................................................... 10 2. Problems in the Training Pipeline ............................................................................................. 11 Background on Aircrew Flight Equipment Training .............................................................................. 11 Participant Views of Problems with the Training Pipeline ..................................................................... 15 Other Topics Relevant to Training .......................................................................................................... 26 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 29 3. Reducing the Number of Tasks ................................................................................................. 35 Task-Specific Problems .......................................................................................................................... 35 Task Volume and Its Impact on Proficiency ........................................................................................... 42 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 48 4. Cultivating Capable Leaders ..................................................................................................... 54 Leadership and Proficiency ..................................................................................................................... 54 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 61 5. Retaining and Using the Best Subject-Matter Experts .............................................................. 66 Loss of Experience After the Merger ...................................................................................................... 66 Importance of Aptitude Scores ................................................................................................................ 67 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 69 6. Increasing Aircrew Flight Equipment’s Connection to the Mission ......................................... 72 Being in the Operations Support Squadron ............................................................................................. 72 Perception That Morale Is Low and Aircrew Flight Equipment Is Not Valued ..................................... 74 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 77 7. Where Do We Go from Here? ................................................................................................... 80 Views on the Magnitude of the Problem Within Their Community ....................................................... 80 Solutions Suggested by Our Participants ................................................................................................ 82 Courses of Action That May Have the Biggest Impact on Proficiency .................................................. 83 Added Costs May Bring with Them Some Cost Savings ....................................................................... 88 Advocacy May Be Critical to Fixing the Problem .................................................................................. 89 iv Some Caveats and Notes of Caution ....................................................................................................... 90 Next
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