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Show HILLTOP TIMES TIMES October 30, 2008 Team Hill contributes to T-38 aileron lever fix BY BILL ORNDORFF 309th Maintenance Wing T o meet the challenge of building more than 1,000 aileron actuator levers for T-38 Talon aircraft, the New Manufacturing and Repair Division, 532nd Commodities Maintenance Squadron, had to start from scratch. The levers, which control moveable flaps on the T-38's wings, are being machined by the shop from a solid block of aluminum. The five-step process takes about a week from the initial milling to the final delivery to units in the field. "In cases where there are shortages of airplane parts, customers come to us and we build these parts," said Tom Henrie, shop foreman. "Not only do we build emergency parts, we build a fill-in quantity to keep them going until the contractor is up and running again." Hill AFB's 309th Maintenance Wing got the initial workload in July, as did manufacturing shops at Tinker AFB, Okla., Robing AFB, Ga, Edwards AFB, Calif., and the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, Calif., to meet the Air Force request for 3,400 levers — two for each aircraft. The workload resulted from an April T-38 crash at Columbus AFB, Miss., which killed two pilots and destroyed the airplane. An investigation board determined the cause of the mishap was a mechanical failure of the right aileron, which failed in the full down position before takeoff. 'The lever broke as the airplane taxied, and this caused the flight controls to be ineffective on takeoff," explained Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz, commander of Air Education and Training Command, in a commentary distributed through AETC News Service. 'This is the first time this part is known to have failed." Gen. Bill Looney, Lorenz's predecessor as AETC commander, grounded all the Air Force's T-38s and ordered an inspection of every lever in the fleet. If a lever was cracked or had something as simple as a nick, gouge or scratch, it was replaced. And AETC didn't stop there. "We learned that the lever suffers high stress when flight controls are moved on the ground with no power, so we stopped this practice," Lorenz said. 'We have also teamed up with Air Force Materiel Command to take two important steps. First, we studied the levers in depth to react to the original problem. More importantly, we are being proactive by disassembling multiple aircraft to look for additional parts that may develop similar problems. "Because there is a very small chance that these (original) levers may fail at some unspecified time in the future, AFMC is manufacturing new, stronger levers for all T-38s," he said. As of Oct. 1, the Air Force had installed the levers into 61 aircraft. "They're replacing the parts as fast as we can make them," said Phil Whitehead, 532nd CMMXS workload planner. "It's real surprising — I thought it would take a lot longer, but it's working out well. Very seldom do we have all three ALCs working together on a single project; usually one ALC can handle it. But because of the urgency, weVe got the Navy involved as well as the Air Force to get these parts made. It's just another source they can come back to if they need more parts. Any one of us can step in and make the parts for them." The aircraft's original levers were made from a forged series of aluminum alloy — heated metal pounded into shape. "The levers we're making are machined from a solid block," foreman Henrie said. "The material was chosen by the System Program Office and the Weapon System Engineer at Tinker. The new mate- rial is considered slightly better than the original material. It's still aluminum, but it's in a solid block." Forging a part out of cut material can be challenging, as the 532nd found out. Kent Law, a programmer for the 532nd, designed a three-dimensional computer model of the levers based on the part's blueprint dimensions. "My program is certified so that the machine will cut the part accurately," he said. The model was used to create the tool path and cutting programs on the shop's milling machines. Before the milling began, however, a prototype was created and sent to the 309th Maintenance Support Group's Science and Engineering Laboratory to verify that all the features and dimensions would match the requested product. In addition, the first item cut on the shop's machines was also sent to the lab for verification. Once approved, the design that controls the axis of the cuts was fed into the computers that control the milling machines, allowing five machinists to mill the parts at the same time. The initial milling, which cuts away about 60 percent of the 8-inch long, 2-inch wide, 1-inch thick piece of aluminum, takes 50 minutes. "The original program to mill the part was running about three hours in order to get the basic geometry and all the definition into the part correct," said Layne Tilby, project engineering support. "After that, the program was adjusted to reduce cut time to one hour." The levers go through two other processes where broach holes and wire slots are precisely drilled, both by machine and by hand, and another process where the part is "shot peened" or air blasted with cast steel to give it a textured finish. Before final painting, the levers are checked on a Coordinate Measuring Machine. A'newly milled T-38 aileron lever is compared to the original block of aluminum. "The Coordinate Measuring Machine is kept in a climate-controlled room to keep it very stable," Tilby said. 'The probe touches the part and sends the measurements to the computer and that very accurately checks the part. We inspect all the critical features on every single part — that's our way of detecting from the five different processes, if anything went wrong anywhere." The levers are then anodized or coated, painted and given one more visual inspection before they're sent to the customer. "If we find any variance or problems, this allows us to go back and pull that lot of parts back and make sure everything is good before it hits the field," Tilby said. "That's the reason for the final inspection — it's not to revalidate what the employees did, but to just catch any errors or variances between the parts/' The emergency workload involved about 20 Hill employees — engineers, planners and schedulers from the 532nd, and machinists from the 532nd and the 309th Electronics Maintenance Group. "We don't often have a workload in the thousands in this shop — usually we make just one or two parts," Law said "This tells the shop it can do what it is set up to do on production. Tb be able to get this kind of workload to support the Air Force just makes their work worthwhile." Larry Goodman, a fitness specialist/ • persenal trainer, works out with others at the Hill Air Force Base track during the Cooper Institute course, a week-long training event held here Oct. 20-24. 'The intention of this comer is to share important information relating to standards, discipline, and the development of American Airmen. I hope you find this useful." • "Hill Air Force Base has disturbing numbers pertaining to alcohol-related incidents, drug abuse and a multitude of disciplinary infractions. I'm not sure why Airmen believe this is acceptable, but let me assure you the standards have not changed and expectations will always remain high. American Airmen represent something much bigger than themselves, which is why we must be held accountable when falling below the bar. In fact, 43 Airmen were subject to either a court martial or Article 15 in the past six months due to their behavior and/or irresponsible choices. The message is clear... actions that bring discredit upon our great Air Force and/or violate the . Core Values are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. ; (: If you're in a crowd that is a disaster waiting to happen, get out of It and help others do the same. If you're teetering on a choice knowing that one has significant risk of wrongdoing, ask yourself what your significant other wouid want... I'm sure that will help in doing the right thing. And last, keep in mind you are privileged to stand on the shoulders of giants that came before you... standtall! : V:^ BILL ORNDORFF/U.S. Air Force AIRMAN 1ST CLASS ROBBY HEDRICK U.S. Air Force Cooper Institute gives something extra BY AIRMAN 1ST CLASS ROBBY HEDRICK" 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs T he Cooper Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization, came to Hill Air Force Base to teach a Military Exercise Leader course to 50 physical training leaders, Health and Wellness Center employees, and others in charge of conditioning Airmen, Oct. 21-24. The MEL course provides information designed to develop leadership and technical skills to those who lead group exercise programs within safe and effective parameters. The instruction offers group leaders a wider range of freedom in their exercises by giving them the ability to stage exercise both indoors and out, with and . without equipment, and in squadron and deployed environments. This course varies from the traditional PTL course by increasing the total amount of time participants are exposed to material and to a larger array of qualified instructors with various degrees and experience such as medical doctors, exercise physiologists and masters of science teaching the course with the latest scientific and research information available. "It's like a one-twp punch. One be- ing the military PTL course and two being Coopers," said Roger Reynolds, director of contact relations at Cooper Institute. 'The military provides the physical base and Cooper brings in the academics." In addition to training the fitness leaders, Cooper hopes to change the culture and influence the lifestyle of the Air Force. "We are trying to change the culture through leadership by giving the Air Force and Air Force community a better lifestyle and way of life," Reynolds said "It's not just about a yearly fitness assessment but a lifestyle." The Cooper Institute agreed that the Air Force already has a good system in place with great people. The institute brings evidence-based material to already trained instructors which enables them to produce a better product. The course was designed around the needs of the Air Force and those needs were brought to a research group in Langley, Va. Through research, Cooper determined the academics were there but the leadership aspect was lacking. 'We bring Cooper's credibility with the military experience and fuse them together to provide the best product by bringing a more academic approach and improving the teaching skills of those leading physical training sessions (to) provide the best blend of both worlds," Reynolds said. The acquisition of stronger leadership skills for those who lead physical training sessions promote stronger adherence to fitness regimens. If there is stronger adherence it is more likely that the fitness behavior will carry over to other aspects of people's lives. "Measure of success is adherence," Reynolds said. "The greatest influence to success is leadership." Although the Air Force uses the sports approach to fitness, that model only applies to a small portion of the military. The implementation of the Cooper program is meant to target the remaining group through better trained and educated leaders who inspire fitness outside mandatory PT sessions. This way individuals can sustain fitness levels whether they are deployed or at home. "Those motivated individuals can take physical activity beyond the gym and into their homes to influence their friends and families," Reynolds said. "We want to the extend the mantra from *Fit to Fight' to *Fit to Fight and Fit to live.'" |