Airborne Sensor Operators Group

The Airborne Sensor Operators Group (ASOG) is a non-profit global professional aircrew association based in Vienna, Austria.

ASOG allows members to network, collaborate, & share information to shape the Airborne Sensor Operator (ASO) profession, individual careers, & the industries that ASOs participate in. As such, ASOG’s focus areas are:

Aviation Safety
Aerial Remote-Sensing Operations
Non-rated Aircrew Career Management
Industry Support

An airborne sensor operator (aerial sensor operator, ASO, Aerial Remote Sensing Data Acquisition Specialist, Aerial Payload Operator, etc.) is the profession of gathering information from an airborne platform (Manned or Unmanned) for academic, commercial, public safety, or military remote sensing purposes. The airborne sensor operator is considered a principal flight crew or aircrew member.

Services

The primary responsibilities of an airborne sensor operator are to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft, effectively operate assigned remote sensing systems & support the processing, exploitation & dissemination of collected information.

Some of the general duties of an airborne sensor operator are:

Flight & sensor planning,

Sensor Installation, testing & Maintenance

Flight & crew management

Collection management

Sensor Operations

Quality Control (QC) of acquired data

Processing, exploitation & dissemination of acquired data

Industry Sectors

The specific industry sectors that require airborne sensor operators are varied. The primary sectors are in commercial surveying, science, public safety & security & defence. Most airborne sensor operators either work for specific government organisations or aerial surveying-imaging firms specialising in data acquisition & processing versus directly with the end user.

In the commercial sector, airborne sensor operators primarily support the agricultural, construction, power supply & mining industries. They routinely support crop monitoring, power line mapping, pipeline monitoring, & geophysical surveying. However, airborne sensor operators support many other sectors that include radio & television, private security, marketing & real estate.

In the Science & Academic sector, airborne sensor operators primarily support both the commercial & academic communities with developing & testing new remote sensing technology & advancing the knowledge base of specific academic disciplines. In the academic sector, airborne sensor operators are currently supporting archeologists, geologists & meteorologists to integrate remote sensing data into their various disciplines, methods & studies.

In the Public Safety & Security sector, airborne sensor operators primarily support law enforcement & firefighting operations. In the law enforcement sector, the sensor operator is known as a Tactical Flight Officer (TFO) which includes many air-to-ground coordination responsibilities besides managing the aircrafts’ primary sensors. Furthermore, airborne law enforcement sensor operators support border-control, maritime security & counter-narcotic operations. In the firefighting sector, sensor operators are used in forest firefighting” Lead Plane” functions, metropolitan & urban firefighting support & search & rescue operations.

In the defence sector, airborne sensor operators primarily support intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance collection operations. The type of collection & systems they manage are in the military disciplines of Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), Measurement Intelligence (MASINT), & Imagery Intelligence (IMINT). However, airborne sensor operators also operate in many other military roles which include tactical combat operations & Combat Search & Rescue (CSAR).

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