Aircrew members, often just called aircrew, may include pilots, flight attendants, navigators, TACCOs, flight engineers, signallers, observers, (aerial) gunners, weapons specialists, loadmasters, rescue swimmers or divers, and various electronics system operators depending on the age during which the aircraft operated and the type of operations. General aviation aircraft may have only a pilot. Large passenger jetliners such as Concorde typically had no more than 7 inflight cabin staff aircrew members and 3 flight deck crewmembers. Later generation wide body aircraft may have 10 or more flight attendants and at least two pilots. Military aircraft have at least one and possibly as many as 70 crew.
Among some of the perils civilian aircrew members face besides aircraft disasters, and turbulence, are aircraft hijackings, homicidal terrorist acts (9-11), hostile government actions (aircraft shoot downs), and the dangers of wartime operations theaters during the activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. In one such attack a, former JAT Airways aircrew member and flight attendant, Vesna Vulović, survived a fall of 33,000 feet and survived after an in flight disintegration. She is noted as being one of only four other people to have survived a fall of such as distance with no parachute as many military aviators are equipped with.
Some military aircraft may also have divisions between the flight crew and the mission crew, or tactical crew. Large passenger aircraft operators almost always differentiate between the flight crew and the flight attendants (Cabin Crew) usually as a result of varying governmental crew rest requirements. This is especially true in the United States, where Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations permit varying crew rest requirements for certain components of the aircrew compliment depending for example if a flight engineer, auxiliary pilot, or relief flight crew has been manned and scheduled on longer range flights. Generally cabin crews, are not permitted the same rest requirements as flight crews however, the FAA does stipulate in certain instances extra cabin crew members may be required to be on board an aircraft in the interest of safety, for a flight to be conducted.
In the United Kingdom, the Air Navigation Order, which is an act of parliament, makes clear who the members of the aircrew are. Just because someone is working on the aircraft does not automatically make them part of the aircrew. For example, manufacturer's representatives working on the flight deck to study the operation or behaviour of equipment are not members of the aircrew, since such personnel are not in control of the aircraft and not responsible for the progress of the flight.
There is also an article with historical information on aircrew badges/wings of the United States Army Air Forces, as well as information on those aircrew who worked on the Norden bombsight during World War II.
