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Wheels on the jet go round and round

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Evelyn Chavez
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  As a bird's feet are necessary for take-off and landing so are the wheels for the aircraft at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The 455th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron wheel and tire shop provides wheel and tire maintenance to ensure jets stay in the air to accomplish their mission.

"The aircraft cannot fly without tires," said Staff Sgt. John Dang, 455th EMXS crew chief, deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. and a native of Overland Park, Kan. "We ensure the wheels and tires are assembled correctly in order to provide them to the crew chiefs on the flight line."

The nine-person wheel and tire shop is responsible for A-10 Thunderbolt II and F-16 Fighting Falcon tire maintenance. The team usually works on an average of 48 wheels per month but the number depends on the aircraft and tire type, wind and runway conditions. They receive tire requests from flight line crew chiefs who determine if the wear tolerance of an aircraft's tire is out of regulation.

"When the aircraft lands, the crew chiefs will perform an inspection and notify us if the jet needs a new tire," said Master Sgt. Steven Nikkila, 455th EMXS, maintenance flight chief deployed from Mountain Home, Idaho and a native of Indianapolis, Ind.

According to Nikkila the shop swaps the bad tires for good ones that are available in stock. Upon receipt of the bad tire, the team begins the break down process.

"We break them down to the bearing, clean the components and wash the wheels," added Nikkila. "If we find any cracks, we then will take them to the Non Destructive Inspection shop for a thorough check."

The team takes two full days to rebuild a tire; one day to break the tire down and another for a 24-hour leak check.

"We turn and burn tires as soon as they come into our shop... this allows the crew chiefs to always have serviceable tires," said Nikkila. "There has never been an issue to where we couldn't have a tire on the flight line," said Nikkila. "Our guys provide immediate support for the mission."

The section is vital to the mission, added Nikkila. Without wheel and tire the aircraft wouldn't be able to accomplish their mission.

"We push out the tires to the jets efficiently here," said Dang. "The process here works great because we break down whatever comes in immediately... we always have tires to swap out."

While the wheel and tire process is largely the same here as home station, there is a greater sense of urgency to have the tires ready for the daily missions.

"The troops on the ground requesting air support need the jets to be fully operational and without our support they [jets] would not be able to fly, we need to be prepared at any moment's notice," Nikkila said.

The wheel and tire shop keeps the jets rolling.

"We are important to the mission, we provide quality, serviceable tires that allow the jets to do their job," said Dang. "I am making a difference by being here and accomplishing my job."