UK AI Exposure · Process, plant and machine operatives
Air transport operatives
Air transport operatives refuel, load and unload aircraft, direct the movement of aircraft at airports, and positions gangways or staircases to allow passengers to board and disembark aircraft.
- Employees (UK)
- 14k
- Median annual pay
- £32,376
- Exposure score ?
- 0.7/10 Minimal 0.7/10 Minimal strict reading · with tools is 0.7/10 with-tools reading · strict is 0.7/10
- Wage exposure
- £32m £32m
Higher exposure than 42% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgment, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where we start — flip the toggle to 'With tools' to see what AI plus the right context can compress.
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Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
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Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions.
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Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars.
Most roles have at least three wedges where AI plus the right tools removes real time. For this role the labelling doesn't surface obvious ones, so we'd start with the highest-stakes tasks below and figure out the AI angle in conversation.
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Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
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Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions.
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Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders" (53-7121.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 19 tasks · unaided
Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, gauge readings, and operating times, manually or using computers.
Where humans still hold the line
18 of 19 tasks
Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions.
Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars.
Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures.
Check conditions and weights of vessels to ensure cleanliness and compliance with loading procedures.
Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times.
Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow.
Copy and attach load specifications to loaded tanks.
Remove and replace tank car dome caps, or direct other workers in their removal and replacement.
Operate ship loading and unloading equipment, conveyors, hoists, and other specialized material handling equipment such as railroad tank car unloading equipment.
Test samples for specific gravity, using hydrometers, or send samples to laboratories for testing.
Test vessels for leaks, damage, and defects, and repair or replace defective parts as necessary.
Operate industrial trucks, tractors, loaders, and other equipment to transport materials to and from transportation vehicles and loading docks, and to store and retrieve materials in warehouses.
Unload cars containing liquids by connecting hoses to outlet plugs and pumping compressed air into cars to force liquids into storage tanks.
Clean interiors of tank cars or tank trucks, using mechanical spray nozzles.
Lower gauge rods into tanks or read meters to verify contents, temperatures, and volumes of liquid loads.
Operate conveyors and equipment to transfer grain or other materials from transportation vehicles.
Perform general warehouse activities, such as opening containers and crates, filling warehouse orders, assisting in taking inventory, and weighing and checking materials.
Tasks via O*NET "Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders" (53-7121.00).
What AI can already do
1 of 19 tasks · with tools
Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, gauge readings, and operating times, manually or using computers.
Where humans still hold the line
18 of 19 tasks
Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions.
Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars.
Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures.
Check conditions and weights of vessels to ensure cleanliness and compliance with loading procedures.
Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times.
Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow.
Copy and attach load specifications to loaded tanks.
Remove and replace tank car dome caps, or direct other workers in their removal and replacement.
Operate ship loading and unloading equipment, conveyors, hoists, and other specialized material handling equipment such as railroad tank car unloading equipment.
Test samples for specific gravity, using hydrometers, or send samples to laboratories for testing.
Test vessels for leaks, damage, and defects, and repair or replace defective parts as necessary.
Operate industrial trucks, tractors, loaders, and other equipment to transport materials to and from transportation vehicles and loading docks, and to store and retrieve materials in warehouses.
Unload cars containing liquids by connecting hoses to outlet plugs and pumping compressed air into cars to force liquids into storage tanks.
Clean interiors of tank cars or tank trucks, using mechanical spray nozzles.
Lower gauge rods into tanks or read meters to verify contents, temperatures, and volumes of liquid loads.
Operate conveyors and equipment to transfer grain or other materials from transportation vehicles.
Perform general warehouse activities, such as opening containers and crates, filling warehouse orders, assisting in taking inventory, and weighing and checking materials.
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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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