What about the ground crew receiving an aircraft, not knowing if it is armed or disarmed?
For us, it's drilled from training that you always stop and have a good look of the AAES, checking that all pins are fitted before entering the cockpit. Even if you leave the aircraft and come back again.
If a pin is in the wrong place or incorrectly fitted
* , nobody can enter until an Armorer or the Aircrew are recalled to refit the pin.
There is a cockpit access auth that we need, that requires revalidating every 6 months. This auth includes training on AAES and switches ( arrestor hook, brake chute, emergency jettison, selective jettison, canopy jettison, etc ).
The cockpit access auth is type specific, if we are posted onto a new Sqn we need to do the training and auth again.
I believe its a similar requirement for RAF Firefighters too?
* Note... Pins have been fitted but the pip pin not pushed all the way through. Or on a Tornado canopy, missed the hole entirely and placed the pin in an adjacent gap.