HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah – Pilots may often be considered the face of the Air Force, but behind them is a powerhouse that ensures they are always ready to fly.
The Reserve 466th Fighter Squadron’s aviation resource management team is crucial to the success of the flying mission at Hill. The team of seven is responsible for coordination of aircraft and pilots – tracking required training, logging flight data and schedules, and many other tasks necessary to make sure pilots can fly and deploy at a moment’s notice.
“We’re the program managers for F-35 pilots,” said Tech. Sgt. Ryan Miller, NCOIC with the 466th FS. “We inform them weekly of what tasks have to be done, along with their flying schedule.”
All pilots have what is called a training product – an individual training summary that shows task IDs, upcoming training, when they last completed a training, and if they happen to be overdue.
“Everything pilots do is logged and tracked using a large spreadsheet,” Miller said. “This shows us what each pilot has completed or needs to complete, and by what date.”
The aviation resource management teams also meticulously keeps track of each pilot’s flying hours – and with the 466th flying anywhere between 6 to 14 sorties daily, logging this and other stats in a timely manner is vital.
“Once the pilot lands, they log everything,” Miller said. He said this data is also used by maintainers to complete their day-to-day tasks and address any issues encountered during the flight.
The reservists in aviation resource management have also formed a strong working relationship with the active-duty fighter squadrons, working closely with them and assisting in supporting their F-35 pilots as well.
“The 466th has quite a few evaluator and training pilots,” Miller said. “So our team also has a hand in making sure active-duty pilots are trained as well.”
Miller said aviation managers are crucial to the flying mission here, serving as an information hub that works regularly with teams across Hill AFB – base operations, aircraft maintenance, aircrew flight equipment, and many more.