Phase dock more than tune-up

Published July 23, 2012
By Tech. Sgt. Amanda Savannah
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Aircraft on the flightline are maintained around the clock to ensure the safety of the pilots and success of the mission.

However, after a number of flying hours, they are scheduled for a thorough inspection.

"It's kind of like taking your car in for a tune-up, you've got to do it to keep it on the road," said Senior Airman Donald Jackson, 380th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron phase inspection team member and Parker, Idaho, native. "You've got to do this to keep the jets in the air."

The phase dock inspection team here has either nine or 11 days, depending on how many hours the aircraft has flown, to complete each inspection. The team, deployed from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, works in split shifts to keep the inspection going 24 hours a day.

During a typical inspection, "we take off about 130 panels and change out numerous parts," said Staff Sgt. Lorian Davis, phase inspection dock chief.

Davis, a Ponchatoula, La., native, said the work is broken up into phases. During the first two phases, the panels and hydraulic components are removed. The team also reviews work cards and the critical items list, which includes past findings the team is required to pay special attention to.

The next phase is fix phase, "which is where we start fixing everything we found," Davis said. The final phases include a quality assurance inspection, fixing any QA findings, and a post-phase engine run.

Though a general phase timeline is the same for each inspection, the maintenance required each time is not.

"Every day could be different," said Staff Sgt. Roderick Kemp, tactical aircraft maintainer and a Sandersville, Ga., native. "We have the phase inspection package which consists of the same things, but you will always find different things upon your inspection."

Because the phase inspection is so in-depth, it allows the maintainers to learn more about the aircraft itself. Davis said it gives them more time to learn the aircrafts' systems and troubleshoot issues.

"One of the guys I used to work with told me one of the most profound differences between the flightline and phase; 'You come to phase to learn the jet, you go to the flightline to learn to work'," he said. "They really hump it out there and we really dig in to a lot of stuff here."

Master Sgt. Chancy Tienhaara, 380th EMXS maintenance flight chief, said the phase inspection team works hard to get the aircraft back into the mission on time.

"(The inspection team maintainers) have a lot of work," said Tienhaara, an Eagle River, Wis., native. "Every time an aircraft rolls in here, there are new things they find wrong. Every day they work is a good day."

Davis echoed Tienhaara's sentiments.

"These guys are amazing," he said. "I couldn't be happier with them."