Crew chiefs care for, feed Warthogs daily

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Andrew Gates
  • 455th Expeditionary Operations Group Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, affectionately known as Warthogs, fly over Afghanistan around the clock. While in the air, the pilot is responsible for taking care of the aircraft; but once it parks, the responsibility belongs to its crew chief.

The crew chiefs “prepare the aircraft for takeoff, recover it once it lands and make sure it’s ready to take off again when it’s needed,” said Staff Sgt. Justian Martelle, a 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief. That can include repairing, reloading and any one of a hundred other tasks to prepare the jet for the next launch.

Sergeant Martelle is a dedicated crew chief, which means he is assigned responsibility for a specific aircraft at his home station. Since his plane remained at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, he takes care of any required tasks during his shift. The 25 crew chiefs deployed here each launch and recover six aircraft during their 12-hour shift.

“Being a crew chief is a frame of mind,” said 1st Lt. Joseph Toup, a 455th EAMXS maintenance operations officer. “It takes more than an expert to get an aircraft ready for flight; it takes knowing how to do it better than anyone else on the flightline ... that’s where crew chiefs make the difference.”

“There really isn’t a dramatic difference between launching here and launching aircraft at home,” Sergeant Martelle said. “Here, the pace is a little bit (faster), and we know we’re launching aircraft for real missions, not training sorties. We are constantly busy -- when we’re working, we don’t have a lot of time to do anything but focus on the job.”

A typical day for the crew chiefs means arriving at work about 2:30 a.m. to start the shift, he said. After the morning briefing, the crew chief finds out which aircraft he or she will work on that day. A crew chief on the opposite shift will pass on appropriate information on the aircraft.

When an aircraft lands, the crew chief ensures it has fuel, ammunition and is ready for the next launch.

“If something needs to be fixed, you take care of it,” Sergeant Martelle said. “If you can’t fix it, you get someone who can help you.”

The challenge of preparing and maintaining the aircraft makes the job worthwhile.

“Maintaining the jet is the best part of the job,” he said. “I would much rather do maintenance than launch. Launching isn’t a difficult job -- a trained monkey could do it. You flail your arms in the air, and the pilot does the work.”

Crew chiefs have to be generalists, knowing enough about several career fields to make repairs on the jet, Lieutenant Toup said.

“Of all the career fields, you want to take crew chiefs on a deployment, if you had your choice and could only take one -- they’re diversely trained and multitalented. They make the mission happen,” he said.

Making the mission happen means crew chiefs stay with the aircraft right up until the pilot is ready to take off, Sergeant Martelle said.

“Our end-of-runway check prepares the jet for takeoff -- it’s our last chance to make sure nothing is wrong when the plane launches,” he said.

When the plane launches, Sergeant Martelle said he feels pride in knowing that it will provide protection to servicemembers on the ground.

“It’s good, knowing that these aircraft are giving those Marines and Army folks out there some overhead protection. I know I would like having an A-10 overhead if I were out there,” he said.