Deck Crew Jumpsuits

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Deck crewmen working in a hangar bay or other launch facility aboard a vessel wear color coded jumpsuits to indicate their function or duties. This color-coding enhances communication on deck. In a typical shuttlebay, only one shuttlecraft is usually being operated at any given time, and noise and deck confusion are rarely a problem. However, on a carrier or starbase, dozens of aerospace craft may be in simultaneous operation, making it nearly impossible for pilots and ground crewmen to communicate easily with engines turning over, craft launching or landing and all the other things going on in such an environment.

The color coded jumpsuit gives an instant indicator as to what the crewman is concerned with, and makes it easy for everyone to understand what is going on. Each color jumpsuit is associated with a specific crewman and their duties, and is shown in the table below. Note that there is normally only one Launch Controller or Hangar Officer (Yellow jumpsuit) in a given launch area, and one Crew Chief (Brown jumpsuit) for each deck crew assigned to an aircraft.



CREW
CHIEF

Crew Chiefs are in charge of a specific deck crew, typically a crew assigned to a specific aerospace craft. These in particular are sometimes referred to colloquially as "plane captains".

AIRCRAFT
HANDLER

Deck crew/aircraft handler. These crew members are generally charged with arranging and securing parked craft on the flight and hangar decks. They also direct taxiing craft with batons or hand signals.

MAINTENANCE
PERSONNEL

"Green-shirts" are responsible for performing periodic preventative maintenance on aerospace craft as well as repairing failures and malfunctions. They may also perform between-flight servicing to ready the craft for the next flight.

ORDNANCE
PERSONNEL

These crew members are tasked with arming, disarming, and rearming aerospace craft. This may include assembling warheads or weapon components, loading ammunition drums or charging energy weapons.

SAFETY &
MEDICAL

White jumpsuit are worn by safety crews and deck medical personnel. Often, these shirts are marked with additional indicators (such as a red cross for a medic).

HANGAR
OFFICER

There is typically only one Hangar Officer per launch and/or recovery area. If directing a launch operation, the officer is referred to as the Launch Controller. When directing recovery operations, he is sometimes referred to as the LSO (landing signals officer).