340th maintainers keep pace with optempo

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Celena Wilson
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  At one of the busiest refueling hubs in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Airmen from the 340th Aircraft Maintenance Unit are in constant motion. 

They support fighters, bombers, cargo and attack aircraft fighting in the war on terrorism. The fact the unit is blended from five bases -- Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.; McConnell AFB, Kan.; Robins AFB, Ga.; Fairchild AFB, Wash.; and MacDill AFB, Fla. -- doesn't slow down its operations.

"I see (my work) as a direct impact," said Staff Sgt. Jason Reynolds, a 340th AMU communications and navigation specialist deployed from Grand Forks. "If I don't do my job, the fighters and bombers don't get any gas, and the guys on the ground (in Iraq and Afghanistan) don't get the support they need."

Airmen at the 340th AMU maintain almost twice as many KC-135 Stratotankers that fly more than three times as much as any tanker wing stateside. They do this with only 140 maintainers keeping the planes together, fixed and ready to get the job done 24/7.

"Operations are constant. Our squadron refuels Navy, NATO and all the Air Force aircraft flying in the AOR," said Capt. James Wall, 340th AMU officer in charge deployed from Grand Forks. "With so many aircraft covering the AOR, the demand is high for refuelers, so our maintainers have a great deal of responsibility to keep all of our birds in the air."

A fleet of aircraft for which a typical aircraft maintenance unit is responsible is flown at about 50 to 60 percent utilization on the high end, each day. This allows time for the remaining aircraft to be serviced for problems not hindering the safety of flight or scheduled maintenance. The high operations tempo and the great demand for KC-135s require the 340th AMU to maximize that utilization rate.

"Last month the unit was at a 94.6-percent utilization rate," the captain said. "And we're doing this with 50-year-old airframes. We are able to put those numbers up due to the quick-turn maintenance and the positive attitude all of these guys carry. They all know they play an integral part in the mission of fighting in the war on terrorism."

In July, the squadron pumped 26.6 million pounds of fuel in 579 launches. These numbers equate to almost every aircraft in the unit flying every day in July. This would not have been possible if these aircraft were not properly maintained.

At their home stations, crew chiefs usually launch and recover all aircraft with the maintenance specialists ready to respond to any "red ball" maintenance issues -- problems with a jet two hours prior to launch. 

According to Captain Wall, "red ball" issues are usually related to problems with the avionics, electrics, jets or hydraulics, so it only makes sense to have those troops physically launch the aircraft. Crew chiefs are now free of this task; they are taxed with recovery and inspections of the jet, making it ready for its next flight. 

With such a high operations tempo, the unit had to find other ways of ensuring the timeliness and safety of maintaining the highly requested aircraft. 

"But because the tempo runs at such a fast pace here, we again break the mold from normal Air Force (procedures)," he said. "

During launch procedures, specialists wear two hats -- crew chief and their specialty -- jets, hydraulics, electronics, communications and navigation or guidance control. 

"It's the team concept that gets the job done," said Chief Master Sgt. Bruce Walker, the 340th AMU chief deployed from Grand Forks AFB. "And we're able to do that with such diversity. We have all of these aircraft, pilots and maintainers coming from so many different bases. No one really knows each other before they get here, but they come together, motivated to get the job done and complete it in such fashion that an outsider looking in would think we've been together in the same unit for years."

"It takes more teamwork and advice than most jobs to get this work done," said Senior Airman Travis Wilson, a 340th AMU crew chief deployed from Robins AFB. "Preparing the aircraft for flight can sometimes take hours on end. A lot of sweat and dedication is put into making sure these aircraft fly."