Maintenance unit moves fuel on time

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Mitch Gettle
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) --  Delivering fuel to the warfighters in Afghanistan takes on a personal meaning for the 376th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's KC-135 Aircraft Maintenance Unit Airmen.

"We know how important fuel is to the fight," said Tech. Sgt. John Lipkea, KC-135 AMU specialist expeditor. "You can't fly combat sorties without the gas that we provide."

The 59 Airmen in the KC-135 AMU are deployed from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.; Grand Forks AFB, N.D.; and the Washington Air National Guard. They pride themselves in exceeding Air Mobility Command's standard of 95 percent for the Logistics Departure Reliability rate, which is tracked if a maintenance problem causes a delay in take-off. The LDR rate is the number of departures minus those delayed for maintenance reasons, divided by total departures.

The unit's LDR rate over the past two months is 98.5 percent, which means 98 times out of 100 the missions are on time.

"We don't just track late departure rates for fun," said Capt. Tom Kubit, KC-135 AMU officer in charge. "If an aircraft is late taking off here then there's a good chance it is late down there where it matters. And if it's late, we don't like it."

The maintainers rely on many different functions to sustain their success.

"We have crew chiefs, aircraft specialists, and back-shop technicians working around the clock to get the job done," Captain Kubit said. "Our support section has done a fantastic job. They have taken the best practices from home station and CENTAF and put them to work here."

The support section is responsible for inventory control of all tools, equipment and hazardous materials used by the maintainers on the flightline. That can be a daunting task when one tool box could contain 175 individual items that need to be accounted for when signed out and signed in.

"Before, only the case was tracked electronically, and all the items inside were tracked manually," said Tech. Sgt. Scott Meyer, KC-135 AMU Support Section NCOIC. "We use bar codes and scanners to assist in our inventory, so when I scan a kit, it automatically lists the contents of the kit. This cuts the time in half during shift changes when equipment is checked in and out almost simultaneously."

The more time saved in the support section relates to more time available out at the aircraft for the crew chiefs and specialists, Captain Kubit said.

The crew chiefs are responsible for launch, recovery, configuration, and general servicing of the aircraft including brake and tire changing, refueling, cleaning the aircraft, and even flying in the aircraft if it goes off station overnight for on-the-road maintenance.

"We're the ones who put the fuel in the aircraft," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Trosine, KC-135 AMU crew chief and hydraulics specialist. "We get the aircraft ready for launch and work with the flight crews to make sure there are no problems prior to take-off."

While the crew chiefs perform general maintenance on the aircraft, it is left to the specialist expeditors to maintain or repair the aircraft's avionics, electrical, hydraulic or engine systems.

"Most of the work we do is scheduled maintenance based on an hourly rate of use for the different components of the aircraft," Sergeant Lipkea said. "This keeps the aircraft turning, especially in this deployed environment. Our motto is 'safely, by the book, and on time.'"

Keeping the KC-135 Stratotanker in the air and on time by providing the warfighters the fuel that helps keep them safe in harm's way, is what drives the maintainer's work ethic.

"What we do is really important," said Senior Airman Joe Boullt, KC-135 AMU crew chief. "I am really proud of what I do, especially when I get to talk to the Army guys coming out of Afghanistan and they say, 'thanks for getting that fuel to the A-10 that gave us support.'"

The maintainers here are just one of the many reasons the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing successfully carries out its mission to support the warfighter by moving fuel, people and cargo into Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.