Deck

Hangar Deck / "Deck Gang"

The Hangar Deck is where all primary maintenance on Hestia's four squadrons of Vipers and Raptors is done. While the Hestia originally deployed with four Deck crews, most of its technicians have been moved into either Deck Crew One or Deck Crew Two, following heavy losses taken in the early days of the war.

The Deck Crew itself is made up mainly of enlisted ratings with one overall enlisted in charge of the day-to-day operations: The Deck Chief. There are officers allotted to this Department and the DH is the Landing Systems Operator (LSO), but the majority of officers don't deal with the day to day maintenance of the Air Wing in the same fashion that the mechanics do. However, every crewmember pulls a heavy load with this being one of the busiest departments on a battleship during wartime. Damage control operations (firefighting, etc.) fall jointly under the Deck department and Engineering department.

Job Specifications

Personnel below the rate of Petty Officer are trained as specialists in one of three fields: Aircraft Technician, Munitions Technician, and Aircrew Equipment Specialist. For promotion to Petty Officer and above, a crew member is expected to broaden their knowledge in all specializations in order to effectively lead a multi-disciplinary team. Chiefs and Petty Officers will stand watches in overall charge of the Flight Deck, its safety, and operational readiness.

  • LSO - The Landing Systems Operator is the Department Head of the Deck. This concept should be familiar with mechanical aspects of the deck crew, munitions handling, and would ideally be a former pilot. The Landing Signals Officer is ultimately responsible for making sure that the aircraft of the fleet find safe routes to their destinations. And whatever the mission, whether in peace or war, they have the equally essential role of making sure the aircraft return home safely.
  • Deck Chief - This is the senior enlisted of the Hangar and Flight Decks. They are not necessarily the highest ranking enlisted on board, though. The Deck Chief handles the day to day activities on the Decks, organizes the enlisted crews and ensures that the Vipers, Raptors, and other ships are repaired and function properly. The Deck Chief should have a background as something else within the Deck and that should be specified within all applications, including Aircraft Tech, Munitions Tech, or Aircrew Equipment.
  • Aircraft Technician1 (Electrical or Mechanical) - These are Deck personnel that repair the Vipers, Raptors, and shuttles. A char can specialize in Electrical, Mechanical, or both if they have the time and experience. Electrical will deal more in the avionics systems, DRADIS, and landing systems. Mechincal Techs will deal more with the physical labor including repairing aircraft skin, landing gears, engines, deep repairs to the aircraft itself or anything else.
  • Munitions Technician - These chars, members of the Deck Crew, deal specifically with the ordnance on board the Hestia. They operate the lift and load systems for moving the munitions out of the Ordnance Bay as well as the loading and unloading of all weapons systems. They deal with anything on the Vipers and Raptors that involve guns or missiles to include the targeting and gun systems.
  • Aircrew Equipment Specialist - These Deck members are in charge of a few specific areas that nobody else is to touch: Ejection seats, flight suits, helmets, and all survival gear issued to pilots. If there is any single group that ensures the survival of a pilot in combat, it is them. They ensure that if anything else fails, the pilot still has a chance to make it home alive. These are also the aircraft handlers aboard the Hestia. While everyone in the fleet is trained in firefighting duties, AES's also train in specialist aircraft-crash firefighting and rescue duties. They also learn to maintain safety and security standards in aircraft hangars and carry out routine maintenance on all the equipment used.
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