GO!!,
I'm not a Logistics Officer. I'm sure that the pilots have probably figured out what trade I am by now (eh NaCl?). I am in fact an Aerospace Engineer (AERE). I spelled it out for you when I said in a previous post that I was a D/OC of Maint Flt. Perhaps I should have stated Aircraft Maintenance Flight. Those that know about the aviation community would have figured that out. In case you aren't sure, the typical size of an A/C Maint Flt is around 100 pers, depending on which Sqn you come from, which was 427 Tac Hel Sqn in Pet. Geesh, I've given enough hints out to easily figure this one out. So, I guess that I do in fact know what I am talking about in terms of tech trg, maintaining the a/c, etc. NEVER did I say I was an expert about the infantry. What I stated was that it has given me experience to know what a Tac Hel unit needs in terms of trg, more specifically A/C Maint Flt. Since this is the largest flt in a tac hel sqn, most of the time the personnel for "manpower" jobs such as guard duties, kitchen duties, etc. comes from the Maint Flt. Don't jump on me the rest of you guys and girls (NaCl, 8), the other flts do pull their weight, but the reality is that more of the extra duties while in the field go to the techs in Maint Flt.
Lance,
yes, it does take 4 years to train a tech. Going from basic trg to completing their apprentice logbook and getting their journeyman status takes on average, 4 years. I would not want a tech that does not have this time and experience on the a/c working on it unsupervised. An apprentice MUST be supervised 100% of the time so that he/she does not make mistakes that don't go unnoticed.
Paracowboy,
what trade are you now? I'm thinking that it isn't any of the MOC 500 ones. If I'm wrong, let me know. Good luck learning a trade in 3 months in the MOC 500 community. By the way, that doesn't even get you through 1/4 of the current AVN course, which is 18 months in Borden. After that, the tech must then go on a type course for that specific a/c that the unit flys. Perhaps combining the different former trades was wrong (lots of arguments for and against), but the fact is that everyone has to get on with today and stop dwelling on yesterday. Changes are being made to improve the amount of time it takes to produce a tech that can work on the a/c unsupervised, i.e. a journeyman tech, such as increasing the courses in Borden so that the junior techs come to the units with most of their apprentice logbook already signed off. The units do not have the time or manpower (since the experienced ones are fixing the a/c) to train the techs as has been done in the last 5 to 7 years. The schools have agreed to this and have taken on more of a trg portion of the bill.
I will educate some of you on the realities of flying a/c in the Canadian military. The Aeronautics Act tells the MND that he must look after Airworthiness of CF a/c. The MND delegates the Operational Airworthiness to the Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division (1 Cdn Air Div or 1 CAD for most of us), located in Winnipeg, and Technical Airworthiness to the Director of Technical Airworthiness (DTA), located in Ottawa. DTA then subsequently devolves some of the technical authority to a entity called the Director Aerospace Engineering Program Management (DAEPM). Each weapon system, i.e. a/c and its associated programs, etc, has a sub-unit of DAEPM. The Tac Hel one is called TH, thus DAEPM(TH). DTA developed the Technical Airworthiness Manual (TAM) to guide Maint pers in achieving technical airworthiness. Part of receiving airworthiness is to have a quality system. Thus, AF9000+ was developed in order to meet this requirement. Quite frankly, it doesn't matter whether or not someone has bought into it because it is here to stay. Once a unit achieves AF9000+ registration, they then are scheduled to be audited by DTA for technical airworthiness compliance and if successful (and some are not), the unit becomes an accredited a/c maintenance organization. Thus the development of the AMP, Level II tests (Air Maintenance Policy) to get the Maint pers ready for these audits. Most Maint pers have taken these tests and those that have not will have to get the qual. By the way, civy's use the Transport Canada rules. Biggest difference, the military handles all aspects of airworthiness, whereas the regulator for the civy's is Transport Canada.
The reality is that we lost a lot of experienced techs during the mid-90s FRP. We now have a serious experience gap for techs from 15 to 20 plus years of service. Therefore, there are less qualified and authorized techs out there that can supervise the apprentices, sign and vouch for the techs experience in front of the SAMS (who grants the A, B, or C level AUTHORIZATIONS), and then fix the a/c. Thus, the schools realized the need to take on more of the trg burden and have the young techs come out of Borden with more of their apprentice logbook signed off. Also, the way that the techs receive authorizations must be taught:
"A" level authorization is not a qual. It is an authorization. It certifies that the tech can sign for that particular system or sub-system as being repaired properly and that particular system or sub-system is airworthy for flight. A new system (and here is where my Alzheimer's kicks in as I cannot remember the name of it) has been recently implemented that will hopefully allow for more sub-system A levels being granted. That means that the techs may not be able to sign for every single part of the a/c, but can for more things where they couldn't in the past.
"B" level is a weapon's system release that everything is good to go for the a/c. It is only for basic tasks such as fueling, re-configs of the cabin, etc. Each specific a/c has specific things that can be done to it which are considered "B" level. Anybody can get this qual, even an Infanteer, if the SAMS of the unit thinks he/she has the necessary experience and has demonstrated it.
"C" level is also a weapon's system release, but a lot more in depth than "B" level. Usually, I say again, usually, a tech will have his/her "A" level on that a/c prior to getting the "C" level. The C level must release the a/c to flight after any CF349 is opened (used to track any work done on the a/c).
Oh, by the way, some of a person's "levels" disappear when he /she switches to a new a/c. Before those non-AF personnel say this is crap, think about it. Would you want to fly an a/c or fly in an a/c that was fixed and then released to fly by someone who has no or very limited experience on that a/c. Techs always keep their journeyman status and those that were experienced on another a/c will quickly learn the other a/c and should (and I know that this doesn't always happen) get their A and C's in that new a/c quicker than a young and inexperienced apprentice or junior journeyman. The new system of assigning levels allows for transferring of levels from a/c to a/c if that same component exists on the other a/c, such as radios, etc.
Thus, after my "rant" above, one can see that it is a lot more to train a tech than just giving him a course and kicking him out the doors in Borden and saying, go fix that helo on which a section will be flying today. By the way, get it done while doing all of the other trg that a tac hel unit throws at you.
For others, tac hel does train ALL pers in C7s, select in C6, Sgts and above in 9 mm pistol, gas hut, first aid, and the list goes on and on. This is all done while fixing and flying the helo. Breaks in op tempo, ya right. Doesn't happen. A tac hel unit is go, go, and go. Tac Hel is operational all the time, even in Canada. We conduct trg while conducting actual operational missions in Canada. How many units do that on a continual basis such as Tac hel (SAR does)?
My time in the Army by no means made me an expert. However, it gave me more of an insight into the Army than the typical AF officer to which most of you Army guys love to slag. Answer this question, how many privates have you guys taken with you on an overseas Army mission? How many privates in the AF, more specifically tac hel, have gone on operational missions overseas? I can't think of one while I was at a tac hel unit. Thus my comment about the fact that it takes longer for a tech in the AF to be trained than it takes for an infantry soldier to be considered employable.
Sorry about the length of the post, but I HAD to set some things right.
Scoobs out....
