Optimized Air Force Flight Scheduling Considering Pilot’s Mission Efficiency

Abstract

Human and material resource planning is one representative example of Operations Research. Resource planning is important not only in civilian settings but also in military ones. In the Air Force, flight scheduling is one of the primary issues that must be addressed by the personnel who are connected to flight missions. However, although the topic is of great importance, relatively few studies have attempted to resolve the problem on a scientific basis. Each flight squadron has its own scheduling officers who manually draw up the flight schedules each day. While mistakes may not occur while drafting schedules, officers may experience difficulties in systematically adjusting to them. To increase efficiency in this context, this study proposes a mathematical model based on a binary variable. This model automatically drafts flight schedules considering pilot’s mission efficiency. Furthermore, it also recommends that schedules be drawn up monthly and updated weekly, rather than being drafted from scratch each day. This will enable easier control when taking the various relevant factors into account. The model incorporates several parameters, such as matching of the main pilots and co-pilots, turn around time, availability of pilots and aircraft, monthly requirements of each flight mission, and maximum/minimum number of sorties that would be flown per week. The optimal solution to this model demonstrated an average improvement of nearly 47% compared with other feasible solutions.