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Structural maintenance keeps planes in shape

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clinton Atkins
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Southwest Asia --  The whirring of a small hand-held grinder suddenly stops. An Airman dusts off the metal part he is holding and after a quick measurement says, "Perfect. That ought to get her back in the air." 

The 379 Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron Structural Maintenance Shop here ensures more than 65 U.S. Air Force aircraft are kept in pristine condition by repairing or building broken aircraft parts. 

"We maintain the structural integrity of all USAF aircraft assigned to the base," said Tech. Sgt. Brian Hardwick, 379 EMXS structural maintenance craftsman. "We do the painting and general sheet metal fabrication. If the airframe or off-equipment part is broken and needs to be patched or reformed, we fix it. If it's something beyond repair and can't be easily acquired from supply, we have the ability to make many parts from scratch. 

"Our goal every time is to restore the aircraft's structural strength, while maintaining the original contour, aerodynamics and general appearance," said the Santa Cruz, Calif., native. 

The 35-member shop performs maintenance on the external sheet metal, internal framework, composites, fiberglass, and plastic, as well as tubing and cable assemblies on the aircraft. 

"These planes take a good number of beatings," said Sergeant Hardwick, deployed from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, United Kingdom. "With as much as they fly, wear and tear is inevitable. It's very common to see stress fatigue and cracks." 

Since Aug. 25, Structural Maintenance has crafted 160 aircraft parts out of raw material and fixed 450 discrepancies. 

"It's one thing after another and usually we have two or three things on the back burner," Sergeant Hardwick said. "Six different airframes and their respective flying squadrons are vying for our time. 

"The KC-135 is our biggest customer simply because of their numbers, but even though there are only a few B-1s here, they keep us pretty busy too." he said. 

With so much work that needs to get done, all work orders are prioritized by the production superintendent. 

"Once we prioritize the jobs, we'll then dispatch teams out to the aircraft," Sergeant Hardwick said. "Flight line jobs can be extensive, but are typically smaller. They can be anything from a fuselage repair to a stuck screw or an evaluation. 

"If a small defect cannot be corrected prior to a mission, we can make a determination on whether or not the aircraft is safe to fly the way it is," he said. "For extensive damage or problems not outlined by technical data, we work hand in hand with structural engineers for a solution." 

The shop recently completed a 36-hour job on a KC-135 to repair damage caused by a tire explosion. 

"The tire explosion caused damage to the left side flap, gear door and some of the lower wing panel," said Tech. Sgt. Jay Gorsline, 379 EMXS Structural Maintenance night shift supervisor. "We had to remake some skin panels and a brace. We also had to put a patch on the flap and do some extensive work to the gear door. The parts that couldn't come off of the plane had to be fixed on the flight line." 

More than half of the shop's work is done on the tarmac. 

"We do a lot of work on the aircraft themselves," said Sergeant Gorsline, a Lovelock, Nev., native deployed from RAF Fairford, United Kingdom. "We normally have two trucks on the flight line every day, but when we get really busy we'll put our third truck out there. You have a seven and five-level in each truck while the remaining people at the shop work on the parts that come in." 

With only 31 personnel to support more than 65 aircraft, the situation requires the younger Airmen in the shop to perform at a higher level. 

"We place a heavy load on our younger Airmen and they step up to the plate in any challenge we throw at them," Sergeant Hardwick said. 

Every day the Airmen are put to a test of strength and wits; failure is not an option. 

"Technical orders for fabrication provide rules and guidance for a generalized repair rather than a specific series of steps," he said "The challenge is making a repair idea in your head fit the rules outlined in the book. You have to figure out how to turn raw materials into a legal repair. We must figure out how something needs to be cut, how rivet patterns are going to be laid out and how it's going to fit with other components on the aircraft. Everything has to meet the specifications of the original part. 

"It's the most difficult and satisfying part of my job," Sergeant Hardwick said. "I feel a great sense of accomplishment whenever I make a part from scratch because I know that part is going to put an aircraft back in the air and back in the fight."