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Show . April 7, 1 989 Hilltop Times WW Robins AFB squadron repairs, fixes aircraft WRIGHT PATTERSON AFB, Ohio (AFLCNS) A once embedded in mud at the Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan, is starting life anew thanks to members of the 2955th Combat Logistics Support Squadron, Robins AFB, Ga. Members of the unit went to Japan to remove the aircraft from the mud and repair the damages.. While performing these tasks the unit marked two "firsts" for a CLSS and saved approximately $1 million. The "firsts" involved the methods used to recover an aircraft that had crashed in January 1987. The aircraft, assigned to Norton AFB, Calif., slid off the end of the runway at Iwakuni, tearing off the. landC-1- 41 ing gear and causing extensive damage to the underside of the fuselage. A fire also damaged the air- craft's right wing. The aircraft was in the mud for ap- proximately six months, according to John Holder, project officer. In March 1987, a CLSS team was sent over to evaluate the damage to the aircraft and determine whether it was salvageable. TV- bomis ' : ' . , ' '' - . m . ' ' T i" "f ;, 41 90-da- ; - t iiinnirrriilttiTf n r,i - i,i,fl.inir,na ii4rti- m.nm n in ,,,,-- , , i- A - ....,.... Iron . .. .. ... U.S. Air Force Photo In the mud lies silent in Japanese mud after it malfunctioned on landing. Robins CLSS members replaced the aircraft and put it on its wheels. A C-14- 1 tion the wing jacks. The jacking of combat superintendent logistics process was done in stages to raise the Force aircraft high enough to get a truck unAir Logissupport squadron at tics Command headquarters. "The der it. Workers dug 70 inches into the mission of CLSS units is to take ground to get the space needed to back d aircraft and get them the truck under the aircraft. A n truck was used to hold the flying again. "The experience in Iwakuni provid- fuselage. Two other trucks were posied a real-lif- e on either side experience that couldn't tioned under be gained in a depot," he said. During to support the wings with airbags and a wartime situation, CLSS units could prevent the aircraft from tipping, acbe deployed any where in the world to cording to the chief . Close monitoring and synchronizaperform repairs on tion was needed as the aircraft was aircraft. To meet the; challenge, the 2955th, moved from the muddy area to an air: brought in assorted jacks, an air com- craft parking area. The carefully exmove took pressor, a jacking manifold and a ecuted three make. to hours "This marked the universal sling. The workers then had to construct a base of crossties and first time such a move was done," plate steel to hold the jacks used to Chief Drury said. Another "first" undertaken by the level the aircraft. To level the aircraft, the nose jacks repair team was transplanting a wing had to be carefully positioned and from another damaged aircraft onto in Iwakuni. workers dug 24 inches down to posi the craft," said CMSgt. Dennis Drury, . battle-damage- K-load- battle-damage- d three-quarter-mi- le C-1- 41 ALC cassuinfiies Base ceremony marks transfer WARNER ROBINS AFB, Ga. (AFLCNS) The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Ga. assumed management and contracting responsibility Feb. 1 for an $800 million program to imaircraft's prove the reliability of the and attack radars. The radars are and APQ-16known as the APQ-17- 1 respectively.' A ceremony Feb. 2 at Robins marked the transfer of program responsibility to Warner Robins ALC from Air Force Systems Commmand. F-l- ll terrain-followin- -- 60-to- Following the initial evalutation, five CLSS teams, including an engineer, worked year round to get the aircraft operational, Mr. Holder said. "The repair teams had to do all the work on the plane outdoors," he said. "Since the aircraft was on a Marine Corps base and they had hangars for aircraft. There was only fighter-typ- e no hangar big enough to house our plane." ' He added that working in the changing weather made the job more of a challenge. "Our people went to Iwakuni to get the aircraft out of the mud and to prevent ; additional damage to the air- - A wing was taken off a damaged at Travis AFB, Calif., and flown aboard a C--5 to Iwakuni to help get the aircraft back into the skies. All together, 20,000 pounds of equipment was sent to repair the damaged aircraft. After getting the aircraft out of the mud and beginning repairs, crews tours to remove and spent y replace the damaged ribs, frame and skin on the aircraft, according to Chief Drury. C-1- g 9, "We originally estimated this project to cost approximately $5 million," Mr. Holder said. "We didn't spend the whole amount. In fact, we did the job for about $1 million less than we expected. "Our evaluators compared how much money it would take to repair the aircraft against how much it would cost to replace it. This is what determines whether it's fixed or scrapped," he said. "To replace the at towould Force cost Air the day's prices $29 million. However, there's no way to replace it with anew because been of out production the aircraft has since 1967." The maintenance on the aircraft will put it back into service for another 15 to 20 years, according to the chief. "The aircraft arrived at Warner Robins ALC March 27," he said. "Warner Robins is the system proThe airgram manager for the craft will undergo cleanup and maintenance at Robins for approximately 120 days, "We couldn't have done the job without people supporting us, not Only from Warner Robins ALC but people at Yokota AFB, Japan, Travis and Iwakuni," Mr. Holder said. - "All the people involved with this effort gave their best," he continued. "It was a team effort." Once the aircraft gets a clean bill of health, it will go back "home" to NorC-1- 41 C-14- 1 " C-14- ton to start its 1. life anew. iresrpoinisDbDlliil'y F-1- 1H Several major milestones are ahead in the program, including qualification, operation, test and airevaluation of the systems on the FEF-111Acraft; budgeting and contracting for intermediate interim contract support through and depot-leve- l calendar year 1991; development and production of test program sets; and intermediate and depot-leve- l contracting for and installation of aircraft. and the units on the The center will support the system program manager, currently assigned to Sacramento ALC's Directorate of Materiel Management at McClellan E line-replaceme- nt EF-111- A AFB, Calif., which will field 286 of the APQ-17- 1 avionics systems and 256 of the APQ-16- 9 systems. automated The APQ-17- 1 system provides flight control flight instructions to the computer at levels as low as 200 feet. The APQ-16- 9 aids flight crews during refueling and ord'. nance delivery. When the reliability program is completed, the mean time between failure is expected to increase The inifrom 20 hours to 98 hours for the APQ-16tial goal for the mean time between failure for both radar systems was 50 hours. low-lev- F-lll- air-to-a- 's ir ; 9. Reta ining experienced pi ots poses pro b ems I I by MSgt. Denton- Lankford AFNS staff writer WASHINGTON . . (AFNS) Armed House the before Testifying on Services Subcommittee Military Personnel and Compensation, Lt. Gen. Thomas Hickey, deputy chief of staff for personnel, said the Air Force is having problems not in attracting avijation candidates, but in "retaining pi-- ; lots in whom we have invested millions of training dollars and years of experience. "Presently, pilots are leaving faster than we can train replacements," he told lawmakers during his March 1989 testimony. General Hickey characterized aviator retention as "the most serious problem facing the Air Force." He told lawmakers, "In the" : period preceding the bonus, the Air Force lost three experienced pilots each day and we needed to retain aviators for two of these 12-mon- th mid-care- er force sustainment." He cautioned House members, "If the Air Force continues to lose pilots at the present rate, there is no question that combat effectiveness will be endangered." General Hickey explained that'dur- - i ing the first three months of fiscal 1989, the pilot cumulative continuation rate fell 3 percentage points to 40 percent, 23 percentage points below the level needed to sustain a combat ready force. General Hickey said sustained airline hiring of at least 5,000 pilots per year to replace retirements and feed expansion has created a long-ter. . m el demand on limited aviator resources. Training School pilot selection board, "In the past two years, more than there were more than 762 applicants 60 percent of airline hires have been for 175 pilot training seats. former military pilots a trend that is General Hickey cautioned lawmakwell into the to continue ers that the Air Force does not have projected next decade," he said. sufficient active-forc- e cockpits or flyof hours losses unless to a the number replace Although ing initiatives have already been taken "we degrade our present combat unit that will help, he stressed, "Decisive experience levels to a dangerously low action is needed now to improve reten- -. point." ... He said he does not feel shifting the tion and keep it healthy Over the long ' . term. burden to the Guard and Reserve . "Even with continued authority to would help either because that would offer the current pilot bonus, Our in- . also mean increased demand in Guard ventory will be more than 1,000 below . and Reserve hiring from a smaller requirements by 1994," he added. seasoning source in the active-dut- y "The problem is not. attracting . force. ."We, therefore need to maintain qualified applicants to fill training the current mix of active and Air and flycockpits, but retaining pilots after Reserve Component-cockpiting time," General Hickey said. they are trained," he explained. Officer 1989 the During January nori-rnoneta- ry . s |