AVIATIOR DOUGLAS HAMILTON
New milestone for Air Operations Support technicians
By WO Charles Stuart,
Senior Technical Instructor, 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron
The RCAF employs military aircraft maintenance technicians to maintain the majority of its fleets. The training is a significant investment of time and effort and produces skilled technicians who are in high demand. Feedback from the operational squadrons across the CAF indicated that these skilled technicians were being stretched thin in their day-to-day operations due to the requirement to conduct less technically demanding and routine elementary tasks.
Enter the Air Operations Support (AOS) technician! The role of AOS technicians is to support base security, perform aircraft servicing, and assist with aircraft operations. By employing these new reserve-only technicians in these important roles, it allows the maintainers to concentrate on their core duties, increasing efficiency at the tactical level. The AOS technician trade has gone through its conception, an interim program, and has now been implemented within most fleets across the RCAF in just over 5 years.
The Maritime Helicopter Community achieved a new milestone in January 2023, as two of 12 Wing’s AOS technicians completed the CH148 Cyclone servicing course at 406 (M) OTS Sqn. Having successfully completed this course, these AOS techs are now empowered to gain more responsibility and authorizations for the Servicing and Elementary tasks of the CH 148 Cyclone, thereby increasing the capacity of the aircraft maintenance organization at 12 Wing Shearwater. Congratulations to the AOS technicians on completing the next step in the evolution of this new trade in Shearwater!
