Ground crew

In aviation, ground crew (also known as ground operations) are airline personnel that service aircraft while on the ground – as opposed to aircrew, who operate an aircraft while in flight. The term groundcrew is used by both commercial airlines and military aviation.

Photo of a Ground Crew installing a type F.24 camera into a Westlander Lysander Mk II of No. 225 Squadron at RAF Tilshead, Wiltshire, September 1940.

Airline ground crew members include: airframe and powerplant technicians, avionics technicians, ramp agents, customer service agents, and flight dispatchers.[1] Ground crew members are responsible for clearing the runway and gate area of any debris or garbage, in order to prevent foreign object damage by an object being sucked into an engine.[2] The crew visually inspects the tarmac and removes any items found; this is typically called a "FOD walk" and is done prior to an aircraft's arrival and departure.