Flight officer

The term flight officer is sometimes used today to describe job title positions as aircrew members.

The flight officer may function as the navigator, responsible for planning the journey, advising the pilot while en route, and ensuring that hazards or obstacles are avoided.

In the United States Navy and Marine Corps and formerly United States Coast Guard, officer aircrew members responsible for operating airborne weapon and sensor systems are called naval flight officers.

At the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces discontinued the use of the rank of flight officer.

From 1947 until creation of the United States Army Aviation Branch in 1983, Army commissioned officers rated as "Army Aviators" remained commissioned in their Army "basic branch," which included "armor," "Corps of Engineers," "infantry," "field artillery," "Medical Service Corps," "Military Intelligence Corps," and "Transportation Corps," and continued to wear that branch's insignia while assigned to aviation units, generally alternating between aviation assignments and "basic branch" assignments in successive tours of duty.

Army Aviators, both commissioned and warrant officers, piloted Army aircraft (both rotary-wing and fixed-wing) and performed missions including: artillery spotting, tactical observation, scouting, and reconnaissance, and casualty evacuation roles, as well as battlefield troop lift, cargo transport, armed/attack helicopter, electronic surveillance, and communications/electronic warfare missions.