Air Force Jobs: Aerospace Ground Equipment AFSC 2A6X2

In the Air Force, Aerospace Ground Equipment Specialists are tasked with maintaining aerospace equipment that supports aircraft systems on the ground. You probably won't see a lot of flight time in this role (if any), but you'll be ensuring that Air Force pilots and aircrew are flying in the safest possible aircraft.

If you're good with your hands and have a knack for working with engines and other vehicle equipment, this may be the Air Force job for you.

This job is categorized with Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) 2A6X2.

Duties of Aerospace Ground Equipment Specialists

These airmen are tasked with making sure the equipment used to repair planes' hydraulic and electrical systems is up to date, which helps get the planes ready for flight. Their duties include a long list of repairs, troubleshooting, and maintenance work on these critical aircraft systems.

In addition to diagnosing malfunctions and repairing aerospace ground equipment (AGE), these airmen advise and perform troubleshooting on the equipment, inspect and approve maintenance and prepare the equipment for storage and mobility deployment.

They solve repair problems by studying drawings, wiring diagrams, and schematics, as well as Air Force technical publications. They learn to use the Air Force's automated maintenance system to monitor maintenance trends, analyze equipment requirements, maintain equipment records, and document maintenance to keep records up to date.

These airmen use conventional and digital multimeters, voltmeters, ohmmeters, frequency counters, oscilloscopes, circuit card testers, transistor testers and hand tools as part of their day-to-day repair work.

In addition, aerospace ground equipment specialists are tasked with maintaining external fuel and grounding systems which includes storing, handling, using and disposing of hazardous material and waste according to environmental standards.

Qualifying

These airmen are expected to have some basic knowledge of electronics and general mechanics. Insights into reading schematics and an understanding of wiring diagrams would be helpful and any experience with aerospace equipment would be a plus.

To be eligible for this job, you need a score of 47 on the mechanical (M) and a 28 on the electrical (E) segments of the Air Force Qualifying Test areas of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) tests.

There is no security clearance required from the Department of Defense for this job, but you'll need a high school diploma or its equivalent, and must be a U.S. citizen. Normal color vision (which means you can't be colorblind, even partially) also is required.

Training

After Airmen's week and the usual 7 1/2 weeks of Air Force basic training (also known as boot camp), these airmen spend about 95 days in technical training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.

After tech school, they will complete a basic Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) training course to qualify for the job.

Similar Civilian Jobs

While you'll be working specifically on Air Force equipment, the skills you'll learn in this job should help prepare you for work as a mechanic in the civilian workforce, or for a job with a military contractor or government agency that uses aerospace equipment.