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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Airfield Operations Specialists?
Task-level automation exposure for Airfield Operations Specialists: 27 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
36%
weighted task index
27 of 27 tasks scored
Median Salary
$56,850 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
15,190 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+7.8%
employment change
1,500 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 36 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$28,670 – $123,290
Highest medians
Kentucky $123,290
Washington $84,050
Alabama $78,590
Arizona $77,570
Colorado $77,500
Lowest medians
West Virginia $28,670
South Carolina $33,590
Montana $33,990
North Dakota $37,550
Indiana $37,730
State figures come from the 53-2022 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 36%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 12%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 42%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 6%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 9%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 85/100
High
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
27 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 12%
4 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 42%
12 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 46%
11 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- Revision 08/2021 · Incumbent
Inspect airfield conditions to ensure safety and compliance with federal regulatory requirements.
Replaced: Inspect airfield conditions to ensure compliance with federal regulatory requirements.
- New 08/2021 · Incumbent
Issue notices to advise flight crews of airfield status.
- New 05/2025 · AI/SME
Monitor and manage the operation of drones within the airport airspace to ensure safe aircraft operations.
- Revision 08/2021 · Incumbent
Train operations staff on topics such as driving on airfields and security identification display area (SIDA) procedures.
Replaced: Train operations staff.
Constituent Tasks
#23939 · Core · 21% automatable
Revision
Inspect airfield conditions to ensure compliance with federal regulatory requirements.
visual inspection — Physical conformance inspection of facilities/equipment
Inspect facilities, equipment or supplies to ensure conformance to standards. Inspect facilities.
#10613 · Core · 45% automatable
Implement airfield safety procedures to ensure a safe operating environment for personnel and aircraft operation.
decision support — Flight planning aided; regulatory and safety sign-off human
Plan flight operations.
#23940 · Core · 22% automatable
Conduct inspections of the airport property and perimeter to maintain controlled access to airfields.
visual inspection — Hazard identification on site requires physical presence
Inspect work sites to identify potential environmental or safety hazards. Inspect facilities to ensure compliance with security or safety regulations.
#20456 · Core · 10% automatable
Assist in responding to aircraft and medical emergencies.
situated mobility — Assisting during emergencies requires physical presence
Assist others during emergencies.
#23941 · Core · 31% automatable
Initiate or conduct airport-wide coordination of snow removal on runways and taxiways.
interpersonal — Maintenance coordination tied to physical scheduling
Remove snow. Confer with coworkers to coordinate maintenance or cleaning activities. Coordinate operational activities.
#20457 · Core · 15% automatable
Manage wildlife on and around airport grounds.
physical manipulation — Facility upkeep is hands-on physical work
Maintain facilities.
#10621 · Core · 35% automatable
Coordinate communications between air traffic control and maintenance personnel.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10622 · Core · 25% automatable
Perform and supervise airfield management activities, including mobile airfield management functions.
interpersonal — Flight control coordination is real-time human safety work
Coordinate flight control or management activities.
#10614 · Core · 60% automatable
Plan and coordinate airfield construction.
decision support — Operational planning drafted; execution accountability human
Plan work operations.
#10616 · Core · 55% automatable
Monitor the arrival, parking, refueling, loading, and departure of all aircraft.
information retrieval — GPS/telematics tracking is digital; exceptions need human handling
Monitor vehicle movement or location.
#10618 · Core · 30% automatable
Revision
Train operations staff.
interpersonal — Hands-on transport equipment training is physical and human
Train transportation or material moving personnel.
#10615 · Core · 25% automatable
Coordinate with agencies, such as air traffic control, civil engineers, or command posts, to ensure support of airfield management activities.
interpersonal — Flight control coordination is real-time human safety work
Coordinate flight control or management activities.
#10619 · Core · 35% automatable
Relay departure, arrival, delay, aircraft and airfield status, and other pertinent information to upline controlling agencies.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10630 · Core · 35% automatable
Provide aircrews with information and services needed for airfield management and flight planning.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10626 · Supplemental · 25% automatable
Coordinate with agencies to meet aircrew requirements for billeting, messing, refueling, ground transportation, and transient aircraft maintenance.
interpersonal — Flight control coordination is real-time human safety work
Coordinate flight control or management activities.
#10632 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Use airfield landing and navigational aids and digital data terminal communications equipment to perform duties.
situated mobility — Piloting aircraft demands real-time physical control
Pilot aircraft.
#10623 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Receive, transmit, and control message traffic.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10617 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Maintain air-to-ground and point-to-point radio contact with aircraft commanders.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10620 · Supplemental · 82% automatable
Procure, produce, and provide information on the safe operation of aircraft, such as flight planning publications, operations publications, charts and maps, or weather information.
text generation — Record travel operational details from provided info
Record operational details of travel.
#10629 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Anticipate aircraft equipment needs for air evacuation and cargo flights.
decision support — Flight planning aided; regulatory and safety sign-off human
Plan flight operations.
#10633 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Post visual display boards and status boards.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10624 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Receive and post weather information and flight plan data, such as air routes or arrival and departure times.
situated mobility — Vehicle movement coordination is real-time physical
Communicate with others to coordinate vehicle movement.
#10631 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Conduct departure and arrival briefings.
interpersonal — Work-order meetings are live coordination
Meet with coworkers to communicate work orders or plans.
#10627 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Collaborate with others to plan flight schedules and air crew assignments.
decision support — Flight planning aided; regulatory and safety sign-off human
Plan flight operations.
#10625 · Supplemental · 82% automatable
Maintain flight and event logs, air crew flying records, and flight operations records of incoming and outgoing flights.
text generation — Record travel operational details from provided info
Record operational details of travel.
#10628 · Supplemental · 25% automatable
Coordinate changes to flight itineraries with appropriate Air Traffic Control (ATC) agencies.
interpersonal — Flight control coordination is real-time human safety work
Coordinate flight control or management activities.
#10634 · Supplemental · 80% automatable
Check military flight plans with civilian agencies.
information retrieval — Parse work orders into procedures reliably
Review work orders or schedules to determine operations or procedures.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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