Analysis and Evaluation of Current Challenges in the Aeromedical Evacuation Mission Segment of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet

摘要

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is a contractual arrangement between Air Mobility Command (AMC) and U.S. air carriers. The agreement states that the airlines will commit a specified number of planes to AMC in return for a portion of peacetime government business. The Aeromedical Evacuation (AE) segment of CRAF is the only segment that requires modification to committed aircraft and, therefore, more risk to the airlines. Up until fiscal year 2000, AMC had never filled its requirements for AE. AMC would like to have more airlines join the AE segment, with each airline providing a few aircraft. This thesis considers the history of the program, lessons learned from previous operations, current strategies, and some alternatives to investigate in order to improve the CRAF AE program and participation by the airlines.