Airmen ready to snag an Eagle

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. William Farrow
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  The Airmen of the 386th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron power production flight ensure there is plenty of electricity to power facilities here. However, another crucial aspect of their job is maintaining and operating the mechanical system that stops problem aircraft on the runway. During in-flight emergency landings, they provide the lifeline needed for a pilot to walk away from a scary situation.

The mobile aircraft arresting system is a rotary friction energy absorber consisting of two identical 17,700-pound units installed on each side of the runway.

The system stops an aircraft by engaging the aircraft’s arresting hook with a cable stretched across the runway. The system is designed around a flat, 8 1/2 inch nylon tape attached to a 1 1/4 inch, 185-foot long steel cable. The nylon tapes and rotary friction brakes absorb the energy of the aircraft.

“To explain the system in nontechnical language, just think of a one-way slingshot. However, when you pull back on the elastic strap of this slingshot, the strap doesn’t return until it’s reeled in by a gasoline engine,” said Tech. Sgt. Brian Holes, power production flight chief.

Sergeant Holes said since this base is a site for some fighter aircraft to divert to, the base has a requirement to have the system installed on its runway,

Any fighter aircraft with emergency problems such as hydraulic failure or electrical problems will use the system, he said. If a pilot thinks he or she needs it, they will deploy the system.

They system is maintained by civil engineers because it is considered real property, Sergeant Holes said.

“We are the mechanics of CE; we work on the power production units and as electricians and mechanics, so we are the people seen most fit to maintain and operate (it),” he said.

With each unit costing more than $480,000, it is a relatively inexpensive system compared to other military equipment; however, that does not prevent the Airmen from treating the system as if it were made of gold.

“The system can save a pilot’s life, so we are always inspecting and servicing the unit to make sure it’s in top mechanical condition,” Sergeant Holes said. “But with anything mechanical, things do break; we just hope the maintenance we perform keeps it from breaking when it’s doing its job catching a jet. When the system works, there is a great sense of relief.”

Upon notification that the system is needed, the flight’s Airmen immediately go to the site and begin getting the system ready to catch the jet.

“The first 10 minutes of set-up (are) pretty hectic, but the adrenaline really flows when the jet comes in to grab the cable, and when the hook grabs the cable and the aircraft comes to a slow stop, there is a big sigh of relief,” Sergeant Holes said.

After changing a hydraulic pump recently, the system needed an aircraft to provide the necessary certification. They were in luck; a visiting F-15 obliged the power-pro flight, dropped its arresting hook and taxied down the runway at 120 mph. It engaged the cable and allowed the system to do its job.

“(The system) worked great,” said Staff Sgt. Dewanye Moody, a power-production flight technician who helped change the pump. He said it worked like it was supposed to, but he hopes they will not need it.

After spending an enlistment in the Navy as a medic, Sergeant Moody said he has a great appreciation for the system similar to the system that catches jets on aircraft carriers.

“When I was in the Navy, I was often a passenger on aircraft that depended on an arresting system to stop, so I can especially understand how a pilot experiencing problems with his aircraft feels when our system works and brings him to a slow stop,” he said.