A-TEAM shoots for 'A' rating

  • Published
  • By Kevin Chandler
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Members of the 97th Maintenance Directorate, or A-TEAM, are accustomed to giving great attention to the smallest details. If they ignore those fine points, catastrophes can easily occur. This attention to detail has been put to greater use recently as the maintainers prepare for the 2009 Air Mobility Command Airlift Rodeo.

Larry Melton, the KC-135 rodeo team chief, has his crew working diligently to prepare his aircraft for the flying competitions and the inspections teams endure during rodeo. Mr. Melton is relying on his team's expertise as well as his experience from participating in two previous rodeo competitions to excel during this year's event.

The C-17 rodeo team is also hard at work under the supervision of Theado Robertson. He said the team is currently refurbishing an aircraft to meet manufacturer's specifications. This means a 17-year old aircraft will be restored to its "fresh off the assembly line" condition. Overhauling an aircraft to this degree requires a lot of effort.

"We recently re-packed a leaking nose strut, which is a fairly major job," Mr. Robertson said. "It takes an entire shift to get it done. We also went through significant troubleshooting to repair bad sensing loops."

The KC-135 maintainers are also busy completing detailed preparations for their 46 year old aircraft, such as painting, replacing old nuts and bolts, installing new carpet and maintaining a fully serviceable aircraft. "The little things add up, so we are paying a lot of attention to detail," said Mr. Melton. "This is a good team and they are working hard to make sure the aircraft is technically compliant and FOD-free."

Both team chiefs evaluated several reports to choose the most suitable aircraft for rodeo. While they select the aircraft, crew members volunteer to be a part of the rodeo team. Each maintenance team consists of a work leader, three crew chiefs and technicians from avionics, hydraulics, jet engines and an electrician.

In addition to aircraft maintenance and restoration, the teams are also training on all processes associated with their jobs, such as marshalling aircraft, preflight inspections, home station checks, fuel servicing and launch and recovery actions coupled with daily observations.

Members of the rodeo teams are particularly busy due to the age of the aircraft they will be using during the competitions. Altus will be using C-17s that are 15 to 20 years old while many other bases will use aircraft that are two years old or less. Mr. Robertson does not see this as an obstacle, but rather as an opportunity to show the judges the capabilities of Altus maintainers.

"We have legacy aircraft," he explained. "Other bases will be taking 2006 or 2007 aircraft, but we don't have that option. Bringing back a 1992 model that has been out in the fleet shows more effort than flying one straight off the assembly line."

The Altus team could also enjoy other advantages.

"Active duty teams have people rotating in and out constantly," Mr. Melton said, "while we have low turnover and plenty of experience.

"Rodeo rules do limit the amount of veterans on a team to 50 percent, but we will have no problem filling that because we have so much experience here," he continued.

Experience will be necessary to do well at rodeo. According to Mr. Melton, the Altus aircrew and maintainers will be evaluated from the moment the aircraft touches down at McChord Air Force Base, Wash. until the event is complete. "Our long hours really start when we get to rodeo," said Mr. Melton.

While the team will be busy keeping the aircraft in pristine condition, Mr. Melton says he has never encountered a major mechanical crisis in his two previous competitions.

"One year there was a seal that was inadvertently cut and had to be replaced," he explained. "One of our competitors actually had a replacement seal and gave it to us. That is one of the characteristics of rodeo, everyone is in competition with each other but everyone helps each other out as well."