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380AEW Article

Crew chiefs, specialists keep aging AWACS in the air

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kali L. Gradishar
  • U.S. AFCENT Combat Camera Team
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Every day E-3 Sentry aircraft take off and land on the flightline at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. And every day, crew chiefs and maintenance specialists are there to send off and greet the aircraft ensuring all the while that each is safe and ready for flight.

The E-3 Sentry, an airborne warning and control system or AWACS aircraft, performs an essential mission in the area of responsibility as it distinguishes between friendly and enemy activity, provides airborne command and control and conducts all-altitude, all-weather surveillance. AWACS missions often last more than 10 hours, a remarkable feat for a jet that has been in commission for more than 30 years. Though, that means some busy days for the crew chiefs and maintenance specialists who service the aircraft.

"It's pretty rewarding to be working on a plane that's a little bit older. We take special care of it and we get pretty detailed with inspections to make sure this thing continues to fly," said Staff Sgt. Chase Shands, 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief deployed from the 552th Air Control Wing at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. "A lot of things break, as it's an old airplane, but we fix it and send it back in the air again every day. We continue to do the best inspections that we can and do our job to the best of our abilities.

"We stay pretty busy most of the time, and we always turn one and get one in the air - if not two most of the time," he said.

During an aircraft launch, crew chiefs work with an aircrew member through a pre-flight inspection to ensure the jet is ready for flight. Once all crewmembers are inside and the aircraft doors are closed, a crew chief stands by with a fire bottle for engine start procedures while another crew chief marshals the aircraft out of its parking spot. Each crew chief watches as the jet leaves, then lines up on one end of the empty parking spot to conduct a check for foreign object debris, or FOD.

While pre-flight inspections are essential, during an aircraft recovery is when the crew chiefs really get to work.

"When the jet comes down and it's been flying for 13 hours or so, we go through the whole thing inside and out -- from (checking that) screws and rivets are in place to checking the tires, tire tread and brakes making sure they're serviceable and within limits," said Sergeant Shands, who oversees eight other AWACS crew chiefs, as well as all inspections and maintenance on the aircraft. "We also go through and do any kind of servicing with fuel or oxygen."

"We'll watch for anything from a light bulb being burnt out to a screw hanging or missing. Even on top of the wings, we have to do inspections (to) check for rivets to cracks," said the crew chief. "It takes a pretty detailed eye to catch those things sometimes, so I make sure (the crew chiefs) don't get complacent - that they're looking deep and for the little things."

To prepare for such responsibility crew chiefs attend training for basic aircraft maintenance before arriving at Tinker AFB to receive training on AWACS-specific maintenance. Even after months of training, though, there's much to remember and always more to learn.

"I would say the biggest difficulty in being a crew chief, AWACS maintenance or aircraft maintenance in general, is we have lots of things to know and lots of things to look for," said Sergeant Shands. "We have to have eyes on the big picture at all times, (but I also) try to make sure that my guys... don't miss the little things.

"Not only do we work on a large aircraft, there are a lot of systems that could go bad," which include avionics, navigation, communications, sensors, identification tools, radar and computer systems. Crew chiefs work alongside systems specialists to the keep the aircraft functioning properly, Sergeant Shands explained. "We do have quite a bit of work, and it is pretty tasking to keep these jets in top shape so they can perform their missions to the best of their ability every day."

Crew chiefs, along with specialists who concentrate on specific systems on the aircraft, work together to ensure the aircraft will function properly for take-off, in flight, and while landing. Crew chiefs and specialists share a great responsibility for guaranteeing the safety of nearly 30 aircrew members who rely on the aircraft to perform well in the air.

"If it weren't for the crew chiefs, the jets wouldn't make it in the air. The pilots could show up and fly the thing, but they couldn't rely on it without us," said Sergeant Shands. "Approximately 30 lives are in our hands when we send them up into the air. It's a big responsibility; but it's fun and challenging, and I guess at the end of the day the ultimate reward is seeing it take off."