Monday, May 14, 2001

Hard work is key to maintaining safety

American planes have been flying no-fly missions over northern Iraq since 1991 without losing a plane or crew. Luck might play a part. But maintainers would tell you that preventing mechanical failures is all about hard work.

ś Other than when they’re in the air, maintainers continually inspect or work on Air Force planes. Aircraft get detailed maintenance every 200 hours they operate. After about 1,200 hours of flying, maintainers perform “phase inspection” on a plane, where they will tear it apart, said Tech Sgt. Doug Edwards, a crew chief with the 90th Fighter Squadron. Inspections include X-raying vital, stressed parts such as ailerons, Edwards said.

ś If a plane flies a mission, it’s only because everyone involved has inspected it, examined its history of repairs and maintenance and is satisfied that everything works properly.

Maintainers have the authority to ground a jet for any reason. Pilots have the right to refuse planes from maintainers if they believe the aircraft hasn’t been satisfactorily repaired.

Every crew chief has butterflies during the mission that don’t go away until the plane is back in its hangar, said Staff Sgt. Nelson Ortega, with the 90th Fighter Squadron.

“If there’s a crew chief out there who says he’s not nervous, he should probably get out of that job,” Ortega said.

ś Maintainers’ skill levels are rated 3, 5, 7 or 9. Typically, a 7-level maintainer has the highest level of broad experience, training and theoretical knowledge.

“But there are 9-level people who can say, ‘I am the god of all things maintenance,’” said Maj. Kevin Kilpatrick, commander of the 77th Fighter Squadron maintainers.

ś Independent quality assurance people inspect all records, looking for any anomalies or irregularities, Kilpatrick said.

“It’s a love-hate relationship. You hate them to write you up. But you know that it’s good to have them as an honest broker,” he said.

ś Most longtime maintainers have flown in the jets they service. Staff Sgt. Terry Taylor calls his two rides in F-16s “the highlight of my 10 years” in the Air Force.

— By Terry Boyd

INCIRLIK AB, Turkey — When he was a student at Pine Forest Senior High School in Fayetteville, N.C., Nelson Ortega’s Junior Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps class took a field trip to Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C.

Everyone got to sit in the cockpit of an F-15E that had been “all safed up,” with its classified instruments covered.

Impressed enough to enlist in the Air Force and become a mechanic. And the first plane he worked on? The flagship of the 334th, plane 890491.

“I looked at the [tail] numbers, and I said, ‘Oh, my God!’ It spooked me.”

He believes it was confirmation of his destiny or calling or whatever you care to call it. Because Nelson Ortega became Staff Sgt. Nelson Ortega, a 28-year-old crew chief with the 90th Fighter Squadron based at Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska. Now, Ortega is working in Operation Northern Watch.

If the gods of flight chose him to come to south-central Turkey, that’s a good thing. His brotherhood isn’t a calling for people who aren’t deeply involved in their work. People integral to keeping 81,000-pound planes flying at 2,000 mph simply can’t make mistakes.

What makes a good fighter pilot? Cool under pressure. Calculating. Nerves of steel.

What makes a good mechanic? Cool under pressure. Precise. Nerves of steel. And long, skinny arms for reaching into the technology-packed guts of planes, Ortega said.

“People come to me because I’m so skinny. I can get in anywhere,” he said.

Standing by a giant F-15E Strike Eagle, crammed with electronics, hydraulics and who knows what else, his boss, Tech Sgt. Doug Edwards, said the F-15 is a doozy to work on.

“Some of the things in here make me wonder if they built the plane and forgot this piece, and just stuck it in here,” he said.

A mechanic’s work can be dirty, dangerous and demanding. It’s also pretty much glory free. Ever since the days of the Red Baron and Sopwith Camels, fly boys have grabbed the fame. “Top Gun” has become a euphemism for all dominant Alpha Males.

They don’t make movies about mechanics. Maybe they should, because maintainers live the dream, too. What other career-field gives 20-somethings their own multimillion dollar airplane to take care of?

Staff Sgt. Terry Taylor is a 28-year-old, F-16C crew chief with the 77th Fighter Squadron, based at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C. He likes to tell all his friends back home “that I have a $40 million airplane.”

“It’s [the crew chief’s] jet. He just lets me use it,” said Marselus, who flies an F-15E Strike Eagle in the 90th Fighter Squadron.

Pilots paint their names on their planes when they get enough time on station, Marselus said.

“When I put my name on a plane, I have that crew chief over for dinner. I want him to see my wife and my five kids. I want him to look into the eyes of the people who are depending on him to get their father and husband back.”

In turn, veteran crew chief Taylor said he admonishes pilots not to stress the airplane.

“That’s what I tell ’em,” Taylor said. “‘Take care of it. Bring my plane back Code-1,’” — maintainer talk for perfect condition.

So far, that’s been the case for all planes on the mission. ONW has a perfect record — matched only by Operation Southern Watch, its sister no-fly mission over southern Iraq.

Maintainers interviewed agreed that upholding that unblemished record doesn’t put any additional pressure on them. Everything is documented. No maintainer wants a mistake traced back to him, said Maj. Kevin Kilpatrick, who commands the 77th Fighter Squadron maintainers.

So, the system has built-in redundancies, checking and rechecking. For example, there’s a total inventory of tools and manuals “even down to the rags,” Kilpatrick said. “Just like a surgeon.”

“If I lose a screwdriver, a whole lot of planes come back,” said Sr. Airman Joe “Red” Sedlacek, a 21-year-old 77th maintainer.

Sedlacek recalled an incident where another mechanic lost a tiny bit from a socket screwdriver.

Maintainers don’t varnish over the reality that some of their planes are aging, and no system is perfect. After all, at ONW, a 1990 model F-15E is considered practically new, said 90th crew chief Edwards, who oversees detailed periodic teardowns. The good thing is that the planes are fairly dependable, Edwards said. Other ONW planes are more demanding. The Vietnam-era EA-6B Prowler is old and cantankerous, said Navy Commander E.T. Allen, who commands four 133 Electronic Attack Squadron Prowlers. Yet, because of crew diligence, ONW Prowlers have been 94 percent mission capable.

“That’s huge,” Allen said. “That’s a tribute to crews, because they’re definitely not an easy aircraft to work on.”

Maintainers also work with dazzling speed under pressure. Taylor’s crew took only 30 minutes to replace a broken oil line, according to the Air Combat Command.

Last week, just as a Prowler was ready to taxi to the runway, all hell broke loose. Allen watched calmly as mechanics swarmed around the huge plane, opening panels while the four-person crew waited in the cockpit 12 feet off the ground. After 10 minutes, the plane took off after maintainers replaced a faulty constant speed drive ejector valve, crucial to keeping the engine cool while it idles on the ground.

Maintainers have all sorts of systems and service manuals that codify how they do their jobs. But in the end, it comes down to individual diligence and dedication. There is one ultimate standard of air-worthiness before you sign off and send off pilots, Sedlacek said.

“The question you ask yourself is, ‘Would you put your mother in this jet?’ And I love my mother.”

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ONW maintainers have what it takes to keep the mission's record solid

Hard work is key to maintaining safety