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380AEW Article

Maintenance inspection in deployed location gets jets back in air sooner

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Chance Babin
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  A team of civilians at the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing is conducting a 19-day deep-dive inspection of the U-2 to ensure the jet remains in peak flying order and is not out of the fight too long.

Conducting the inspection at the deployed wing saves valuable time and returns the aircraft to the mission sooner, said Capt. Ritchie Buenviaje, from the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

This inspection is done every 800 flight hours by a phase team from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and encompasses 450 special inspection items that are critical to keeping the aircraft flying. The inspection takes the team of 14 civilians 19 days from start to finish.

"Although jets are meant to fly, flying puts a lot of stress on different parts of the jet that we can't or don't see during day-to-day maintenance," Buenviaje said. "So, we schedule downtime every so often (it changes from airframe to airframe) to essentially take apart the jet and perform deep-dive inspections and fixes."

The U-2 is a proven commodity in the Air Force. Part of keeping all aircraft, like her, ready for the fight, is having inspections done to keep them flying at their best, Buenviaje said.

"Every aircraft, from private to commercial, is required to pass a periodic inspection," said Jim Evans, the associate manager for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics at the 380th AEW. "Performing the inspection at the 380th AEW saves valuable time returning our aircraft to service for mission support."

The U-2 will still go to the U.S. for extensive maintenance once it reaches a designated number of hours flown, but the inspection here is in lieu of smaller-scale inspections, called phase inspections, they would perform in the States, Buenviaje said.

Having these inspections also assures the pilot is flying a plane that has been thoroughly checked out, he added.

The LM Aero team is made up of crew chiefs and hydraulic, fuels, avionics and electrical experts, said Evans. LM Aero began providing these inspections at the 380th AEW in 2004.

"Fourteen team members work around the clock to perform this work," Evans said. "Although the members have changed throughout the years, an LM Aero phase team has been working here constantly since 2004.

"Some are transitioned military members while others come straight from Lockheed Martin; in either case, they work to provide us with a quality, safe product."

The team also supports the flightline crews when they need assistance with heavy maintenance to get aircraft back to mission-capable status in the shortest amount of time.