McConnell completes first refurbishment project

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Angelique Smythe
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. (AFPN) --  Several Airmen here joined the 22nd Maintenance Squadron's equipment excellence section in a Refurb Rollout ceremony Nov. 21, which celebrated the end of McConnell’s first complete KC-135 Stratotanker refurbishment.

“The result was a 40-year-old aircraft that looked brand new in approximately 30 days,” said 1st Lt. Kai Thompson of the 22nd MXS.

This is the first aircraft completely refurbished here in more than four years.
 
“After Sept. 11, 2001, Air Mobility Command stopped aircraft refurbishments to ensure our nation had enough tankers to support the (war on terrorism),” Lieutenant Thompson said. “As a result of many trips to the desert and various other places around the world, the aircraft began to suffer from wear and tear and harsh climates.”

Col. Cathy Clothier, 22nd Air Refueling Wing commander, brought the refurbishing program back to McConnell.

The purpose of refurbishing an aircraft is to keep the aircraft in a generally good condition by repainting it and replacing old parts with new ones.

“We plan to keep these aircraft for at least another 20 years, so we want to keep them looking and functioning well for that entire time,” said Staff Sgt. Chris Fenton of the 22nd MXS. “That’s why we do refurbishment.”

A team of more than 10 Airmen from various maintenance specialties here began preparing for this project in May by visiting Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., to follow a McConnell aircraft through Fairchild’s refurbishment facility.

“The team took copious notes and observed several benchmark ideas to set up a refurbishment program at McConnell,” Lieutenant Thompson said.

The team returned here and began work on the first overhaul project Oct. 17.

“The 22nd ARW funded more than $250,000 in new equipment to develop the program into an efficient process and used existing manpower within their maintenance organizations,” Lieutenant Thompson said.

The entire aircraft interior was redone from the back of the boom pod to the front of the cockpit. Old parts were torn out, new parts were installed, the aircraft was sanded down, and everything was repainted.

When refurbishing an aircraft, control panels, switch panels, gauge panels, lights, fans, seat cushions, troop seats, crew bunks, insulation pads, oxygen bottles, carpeting and floor boards are some of the items replaced.

“We replace close to 300 aircraft parts off of every jet,” Sergeant Fenton said. “All are repainted, or we get new ones. It is currently a 30-day process; however, we plan to cut it down to 18-days beginning in March.”

New processes will shorten project times, including a new paint booth.

“We’ll be able to take all of our aircraft parts, and instead of routing them to the corrosion shop for paint, we can pull them out and paint them ourselves, which saves a lot of time,” Sergeant Fenton said. “We will also have our own media blasters and sand blasters to prep all the parts.

“Our ultimate goal is to have a complete set of aircraft parts already pre-done -- prepped and painted -- so as soon as the jet comes, we’ll take the old ones off and put new ones on, which is expected to save us weeks,” he said.

Also, the team plans on having all of its storage cabinets on a new mezzanine, which is described as a big stand that will be permanently bolted to the floor.

“We’ve figured out that the mezzanine will probably save a million trips a year from going up and down the stairs ... that’s a lot of potential accidents,” Sergeant Fenton said.

Once all of these plans are implemented and the flow time shrinks to 18 days, this will make “more aircraft available for use around the world,” Lieutenant Thompson said.

“The refurbishment program instills pride in ownership with the aircraft’s dedicated crew chiefs and the pilots who fly them, and represents the outstanding efforts of McConnell Air Force base when the aircrafts perform missions away from home station,” Lieutenant Thompson said.