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The differences between flight engineers and crew chiefs can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a flight engineer has an average salary of $85,035, which is higher than the $51,616 average annual salary of a crew chief.
The top three skills for a flight engineer include FAA, flight operations and simulator. The most important skills for a crew chief are safety procedures, customer service, and GPS.
| Flight Engineer | Crew Chief | |
| Yearly salary | $85,035 | $51,616 |
| Hourly rate | $40.88 | $24.82 |
| Growth rate | 6% | - |
| Number of jobs | 2,042 | 75,589 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Average age | 44 | 24 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
A Flight Engineer monitors and controls various aircraft systems, such as airplanes and helicopters. They ensure that all components of the plane are in proper working order, as well as diagnose and rectify problems that may arise.
Crew chiefs are the ones responsible for the whole helicopter crew. They are in charge of all that happens to the helicopter, often working for a few hours prior and after their mission. Their job responsibilities also include instructing where the cargo should be loaded and where one should sit, dropping smoke grenades for landing zones, operating the machine gun, instructing the pilots, and assisting in helicopter repair and maintenance. They also conduct a safety helicopter inspection, organize any gear needed for a day's mission, and update the logbook.
Flight engineers and crew chiefs have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Flight Engineer | Crew Chief | |
| Average salary | $85,035 | $51,616 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $129,000 | Between $24,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | Gilbert, AZ | Cambridge, MA |
| Highest paying state | Arizona | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Learjet | Harvard University |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a flight engineer and a crew chief in terms of educational background:
| Flight Engineer | Crew Chief | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 33% |
| Most common major | Aviation | Business |
| Most common college | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | - |
Here are the differences between flight engineers' and crew chiefs' demographics:
| Flight Engineer | Crew Chief | |
| Average age | 44 | 24 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.7% Female, 5.3% | Male, 85.4% Female, 14.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.7% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 2.7% White, 81.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 14.7% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 6.9% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 4% |