A-10 fixers log deployed phase maintenance

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Adam Johnston
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group
OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (AFPN) --  Maintainers at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, are performing groundbreaking maintenance checks on their aircraft under a unique program they say is an Air Force first.

Maintainers deployed with the 104th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron are completing the first-ever "contingency phase maintenance" on their A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft. The A-10s here provide close-air support to Opeartion Enduring Freedom ground forces.

Maintenance officials here say what makes this feat unique is that it is the first time such work has ever been done in a contingency setting since the A-10 joined the Air Force fleet in 1975.

"This is extremely unusual," said Chief Master Sgt. William Staats, 104th EFS superintendent of A-10 maintenance. "Most Air National Guard deployments are 60 to 90 days so things like phase maintenance have never been required," the Maryland Air National guardsman with 34 years of maintenance experience.

Phase maintenance, a series of comprehensive safety checks and preventative maintenance work, is performed on A-10s after every 400 flight hours, officials with the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group said. Phase maintenance ensures an aircraft is functioning properly under advanced criteria that day-to-day maintenance checks may not reveal.

Although phase maintenance on an A-10 usually takes about a week, the maintenance crews here have cut that time to an impressive two days, said Lt. Col. James Coleman of the 104th EFS. "It's phenomenal, he said. "Not only is this being done at an Army base, but crews here were able to complete this process in 48 hours. They really jumped into it," he said.

Although maintainers may have jumped at the opportunity to prove their mechanical prowess while deployed, Coleman said that gearing up maintainers for the challenge was not a snap decision.

"Extremely apprehensive" is how Staats characterized reaction to the initial word that higher-level phase maintenance was being considered by Air Force officials here. "But we were able to bring in additional people, and our unit's maintenance capability is pretty high because as guardsman we stay with the same people and plane for years," Staats said. "We've got several folks who have been working on the A-10 since we got them."

"I think the concerns at (U.S. Central Command) levels about doing this type of maintenance were resolved because we happen to have a very experienced crew here," Staats said. Coleman said being able to do this type of maintenance in the field is largely because his maintainers contain "the right skill mix and the right people."