U.S., Romanian air forces discuss aircraft maintenance

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Michael O'Connor
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFNS) --  A U.S. Air Forces in Europe maintenance NCO training program traveling contact team met with Romanian air force instructors and aircraft maintainers during a visit to Bucharest, Romania Aug. 25 through 28.

The primary purpose of the four-day visit was to discuss the U.S. Air Force's cradle-to-grave concept on how the aircraft maintenance community leads, trains and equips its Airmen to perform all levels of maintenance and empowers its NCOs to make substantive programmatic decisions in the field.

The three-person TCT from the 31st Maintenance Group at Aviano Air Base, Italy, led by Capt. Casey Crabill, an aircraft maintenance officer with 12 years prior enlisted time in aircraft maintenance, initially met with instructors at the Traian Vuia Air Force Warrant Officer and NCO Military School in Boboc.

During their visit of the Romanian military school, the TCT received a briefing about the school's two-year aircraft maintenance program and a walking tour of the various classrooms and labs where the students learn everything from theories to performing practical exercises on various operating systems in non-operational aircraft now used for training purposes.

"I have to say that (this) visit was a pleasure for me and my colleagues," said Romanian Capt. Bogdan Marinescu. "Our initial expectation was mainly to learn about your system of maintenance training of technical staff ... and I think that our expectations were fully meet. The (team was) very well prepared in presenting the information to us and I hope (they learned) some interesting stuff from us too."

Captain Marinescu said his colleagues learned a lot about maintenance training on aircraft in the U.S. Air Force, some of which they plan to use to improve their learning system in the school.

"I was impressed with the training of their warrant officers," said Senior Master Sgt. Timothy Kellner, the 31st Maintenance Group quality assurance superintendent. "When their warrant officers graduate from their two-year course, they have a very good understanding of the theory of operations of the specific system they were trained on."

To be accepted into the Romanian air force warrant officer and NCO school, applicants are required to take several examinations and one of them is in English said Captain Marinescu, adding that the standards for acceptance into the school are tough.

Following the visit to the school house, the TCT visited the 86th Air Base in Fetesti, Romania where they met Col. Constantin Dobre, the 86th AB commander, received a briefing on how the maintenance operations and various support agencies are set-up, toured through various back-shops and maintenance hangars. The team wrapped up their visit of the air base watching Romanian aircraft maintainers launch and recover MiG-21 fighters whose pilots were flying local training sorties.

"I think we met all of our objectives during this visit," Sergeant Kellner said.

Some eyebrows were raised in several areas and seemed to generate a lot of discussion, Sergeant Kellner said, such as: the maintenance operations squadron, support and quality assurance sections.

The Airmen in an maintenance operations squadron track and schedule all maintenance on assigned aircraft and share trends and possible fleet-wide safety concerns with other F-16 Fighting Falcon units. The Airmen in the support section issue-out, in-check and order all tools and equipment needed to perform maintenance on the aircraft. The Airmen in the QA section work directly for the maintenance group commander. These Airmen are responsible for conducting annual individual inspections on each aircraft maintainer assigned to the base. They also provide on-the-spot corrections/training, as well as conduct a series of unannounced inspections to ensure that all technical orders and procedures are being followed and done safely.

"There are a lot of similarities in the ways both countries perform maintenance," said Sergeant Kellner, a 21-year veteran in aircraft maintenance, all of which have been spent working on the F-16. "There was a lot of cross-flow and sharing of ideas during our visit and I think we provided some insight to some of their future maintenance leaders."

While the USAFE TCT discussed a wide array of topics with their Romanian hosts, they also learned a lot about their Romanian counterparts both professionally and personally. During the four-day visit, the Romanian air force provided the TCT with several opportunities to experience their culture and learn about their country's history.

"One of things I noticed during our visit was their strong desire for change," said Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey Decker, a 31st Maintenance Squadron accessories flight superintendent and 24-year veteran who's worked on cargo and fighter aircraft. "They're very proud of their heritage and aviation history." 

The Airmen got a sneak peak of the Romanian Aviation Museum scheduled to open in the fall of 2009, as well as the Romanian Military Museum and the Parliament House, all of which are in Bucharest, the Romanian capital and largest city with more than two million people.

Captain Marinescu and others from the Romanian air force said they hoped this military-to-military event would be the first of many to come and looked forward to the next opportunity to meet with Airmen from USAFE. 

The TCTs and familiarization tours are funded by European Command's Joint Contact Team Program and are executed by the components' subject matter experts. These events compare paradigms and promote understanding that facilitates interoperability and friendship between the U.S. and our European allies.

In May 2009, senior enlisted leaders from nine countries including Romania met in the San Antonio area for a closer look at Air Education and Training Command programs and processes. During their visit, they partnered with command chiefs from U.S. Pacific Air Forces, USAFE and AETC.

During the visit, Romanian Chief Master Sgt. Clementin Ispravnicelu, said besides the programs already developed at the officers' level, the Romanian air force was eager to share and to start good projects and programs at the NCO level too.

"We are eager to improve our process for preparing our NCOs for the future," Chief Ispravnicelu said. "If we don't start now, it will be too late for the years to come."

(Editor's Note: An AETC news story dated May 20, 2009 contributed to this article.)