Maintainers race clock at Kyrgyzstan

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr.
  • Airman Magazine
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) --  Senior Airman Derek Smith and Airman 1st Class Alex O’Donnell are perched high atop a C-130 Hercules trying to solve a mechanical problem. The No. 3 engine had a prop replaced a week before, and flight deck indicator lights now point out a malfunction.

It is a mild 78 degrees at 8:50 a.m. when their supervisor stops by and turns up the heat.

“A flight crew will be by at 10 to preflight the jet. Think you can have it done by then?” Tech. Sgt. Eric Bradley yells up at them from his truck. The fact that it is a Saturday has no bearing on these maintainers.

“Yea, no problem,” they say.

He knew they were going to say that. He said his Airmen are not afraid to tackle a dilemma -- even if it happens half a world away from their home base at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.

“We’ve got our A-team out here,” Sergeant Bradley said. “I’d take these guys anywhere, any place, anytime.”

After their supervisor drives away, a troublesome screw gives Airman O’Donnell difficulty. Airman Smith quits working on the prop to give his buddy a hand. As Airman O’Donnell uses his weight to push a metal engine panel down with his foot, Airman Smith tightens the loose screw.

By the time they fit the panel into place, it is 9:10 a.m.

Time’s ticking.

“This is what we do every day,” said Airman Smith as he redirects his attention to the engine prop. He said he enjoys what he does, despite the frequent deployments, which sometimes interfere with personal relationships.

“When you’re single, and you deploy for a long time, all bets are off. Sometimes you return home more single than when you left,” said Airman Smith who is single.

During the year-and-a-half that Airman O’Donnell has been in the Air Force, he said he has not had time to spark a romance.

“No girlfriend. No time,” he said, putting the finishing touches on the C-130 prop. But he does not seem to mind. A month after the terrorist attack on America, Airman O’Donnell visited the pile of rubble that was once the World Trade Center.

“I returned to my hotel that night, turned on the (television) and listened to [then] New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. That’s when I pretty much decided to join the Air Force to defend my nation,” he said.

Airman O’Donnell is not only learning a new trade; he has to get used to the unit’s gypsy lifestyle. Although his supervisor has been in the business for 14 years, even Sergeant Bradley said he has difficulty coping with the grueling deployment pace.

“From September 2003 to now, I’ve been deployed 269 days,” Sergeant Bradley said. “Being away from my family is the hardest part of this job. You think you’d eventually get used to it, but you don’t. You just find new ways to cope with it.”

By now, it is 9:20 a.m. He does not want to do it, but Sergeant Bradley has to take his crew away from their current job so they can recover another C-130, which is expected to land in a few minutes with problems.

“These guys not only deploy a lot, but they put in some long hours,” the supervisor said. “After 12 hours, most people get tired, but not O’Donnell. When he hears of an engine problem, he’s chomping at the bit to get to it.”

When the troubled C-130 lands a few minutes later, Airman O’Donnell jumps out of the van as if it were on fire.

By the time the other C-130 lands and Airmen O’Donnell and Smith connect it to auxiliary power, it is 9:35 a.m. before they get back to finish their original job.

They clamor into the flight deck, put on headphones and crank up the No. 3 engine to see if they fixed the problem. They are looking for the indicator light to blink on, then off.

By now, Sergeant Bradley hears over the radio that the flight crew is on its way out. With the engine running, he cannot be heard so he walks close to the aircraft and points his thumb up, then down, then shrugs his shoulders, using signals to ask the two if the system checks out.

They return with thumbs-up, and finish with five minutes to spare.

Now, they have got to get started on that other C-130, the one they recovered a half hour ago.

Another deadline is set.

The clock starts, again.