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Aircrew flight equipment members inspect, ensure flyer survivability

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tong Duong
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  The life support and survival equipment shops merged to give aircrews a single point of contact for all of their Aircrew Flight Equipment needs. 

An Air Force-wide move, but a first in the U.S. Air Forces Central area of responsibility, the merge reflects the base's move from expeditionary to enduring. 

"The flight mirrors what is going on in this community back at home stations and is progressing toward an enduring, normalized presence," said Maj. Michael Olvera, 379th EOSS operations officer. 

At one time, life support worked in flying squadrons, directly for the pilots and survival equipment was part of maintenance's fabrication flight, said Senior Master Sgt. Newlin Carter, 379th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron aircrew flight equipment superintendent. 

The new structure is more steamlined. 

Instead of bringing the same equipment to two locations, the majority of equipment can be fixed in the old life support section, decreasing equipment down time. 

"It just makes sense to put two groups of people working with the same equipment together and let them work on it at the same time," Sergeant Carter, a survival equipment technician of 24 years, said. "It not only helps save time and money but also gives the flight a greater pool of manpower." 

Previously, life support members would have to bring the pilot's gear, life preservers and rafts, parachutes and other life sustaining equipment that required inspection and repack or modification, to the survival shop. Once the required work had been completed, life support would pick it up and perform a receiving inspection, Sergeant Carter said. 

AFE Airmen had to acquire additional information to help them with the merge because not all procedures and equipments were the same across the two organization. 

"There were some challenges in training. We had individuals who have never inspected night vision goggles, fixed the microphones on a pilot's mask, or worked with life preservers and parachutes," he said. 

Throughout the merge, there wasn't any "down time." They ensured the mission was done and no time was lost during the process, Sergeant Carter said. 

"We became our own flight just two weeks ago. In the next six months, we are looking to move all our flights under the 379th EOSS. Within the next year to 18 months we should have our own shop servicing all the pilots," he said. 

Intense heat and the large number of missions flown here made equipment inspections critical, Sergeant Carter said. The more the items are used, the more opportunities there are for damage or failure. 

"By directive, we have to inspect the items periodically," he said. "We do an annual or semi-annual inspection for the flotation equipment and certain parachute systems. We also inspect 85 percent of the gears used by pilots on a daily basis." 

AFE Airmen also do preflight and post-flight inspections on equipment. 

"It's critical to have good equipment in the AOR. With the amount of time in the air and in theater, anything can happen--you just don't know." Sergeant Carter said. "It's good to have the pilots' minds at ease while they are doing their mission."