Software team finds new mission with C-5

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Sequoiya L. Franks
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. ­(AFPN) --  Now that the C-141 Starlifter has officially retired after 43 years of providing strategic global airlift, those who cared for it are left behind to find a new purpose. The 402nd Maintenance Group software support team is filling the void with a new workload -- the C-5 Galaxy.

“It’s an engineer’s dream to be working here at a time like this,” said Sam Kenley, 578th Strategic Airlift Operational Flight Program software support flight chief. “We have the ability to provide the same level of support we gave to the C-141 for the C-5 and have already developed new systems to take the C-5 to the next level in avionics.”

For the C-141, the software support team tested software updates and problems and fixed them in a simulation lab called the avionics maintenance station, or AMS. Once the AMS was established, all operational flight programs were required to pass aircraft-level integration testing in the lab before actual aircraft testing was required or even scheduled.

This testing approach resulted in a significant decrease in the need for aircraft availability, aircrews and aircraft test personnel during development and fielding efforts.

“Once it was evident the C-141 was being phased out, our program office was faced with finding a use for the operational equipment, and that’s why we tasked the software maintenance team to redefine its mission and configure its operations for the C-5,” said Susan Edge, program engineer in the 330th Strategic Airlift Sustainment Group. “The goal is to transition to providing fully capable software maintenance and test systems for the C-5 as we did with the C-141.”

The software maintenance team has doubled to more than 30 electronics engineers, computer scientists and electronic technicians. They provide organic software maintenance support to the 330th SASG for the C-5, including malfunction detection and avionics modernization.

“Right now the only way to test C-5 software and hardware changes is to conduct an actual flight test,” Mr. Kenley said. “Since both aircraft have similar avionics, it will be easy to completely transition to the C-5 workload because we are already used to doing that type of work.”

The C-141 had already undergone extensive avionics upgrades in the 1990s which had newer cockpits than the C-5. In order to bring the C-5 up to speed, the team will receive the cockpit of the C-5 that crashed near Dover Air Force Base, Del., in April. The team of engineers has already developed, from scratch, an analysis and recording system in the lab.

“We are extremely proud of the outstanding support we provided to the C-141C fleet,” said Chris Causey, software engineer with the team. “The experience gained supporting the C-141 has paid additional dividends as the strategic airlift software maintenance workload has expanded to support the C-5 and C-17 (Globemaster III).”

He worked more than 10 years ago with establishing the C-141 software modernization on the program side and moved to the maintenance software team to finish the project.

“Some believed the changes would cause an upset, but we’re excited about what’s going on and ready to fully support the C-5 mission,” Mr. Causey said.

The last of the C-141 fleet, the “Hanoi Taxi,” was retired May 6 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft was the first to arrive in Hanoi in February 1973 to repatriate American prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese.

(Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)