KC-10 maintainers conquer night shift ops in Southwest Asia

Published May 20, 2010
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Maintenance Airmen from the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Extender aircraft maintenance unit work 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the KC-10 Extender for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing at a non-disclosed base here. Among them are Airmen working the night shift covering 12 hours where an "artificial sun" lights their world.

It may be preparing a KC-10 for a night launch for a combat air refueling mission over places like Afghanistan or Iraq, or changing an engine that has suffered a malfunction. Their work, according to wing history facts, shows that night shift KC-10 maintenance Airmen are helping the success of the deployed air refueling mission.

According to the 380th AEW history office, In the first three months of 2010, Airmen supporting the KC-10 deployed air refueling mission in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, including the maintenance Airmen of the 380th EAMXS, helped the KC-10 fly more than 1,000 sorties offl-loading more than 108 million pounds of fuel to more than 6,600 aircraft in support of combat operations.

Airman 1st Class Brian Welch is a KC-10 crew chief with the 380th EAMXS. He said what they have to do, particularly on night shift, is make sure all the planes are ready for their missions.

"It's up to us, the maintainers, to get these jets off the ground and on to their missions in working order every time," said Airman Welch, who is deployed from the 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and whose hometown is Yorktown, Va. "We know the plane would not be able to fly without us."

The official Air Force job description for a crew chief like Airman Welch states that maintainers like him advise on problems maintaining, servicing and inspecting aircraft and they use technical data to diagnose and solve maintenance problems on aircraft systems. Crew chiefs also troubleshoot and maintain aircraft structures, systems, components and support equipment. They also supervise and perform aircraft and component inspections and interpret inspection findings and determine adequacy of corrective actions.

There is also aerospace propulsion Airmen who keep KC-10 engines finely tuned. On each KC-10 Extender, there are three General Electric CF6-50C2 turbofan engines that can provide up to 52,500 pounds of thrust each. For each of those engines to be in peak operating capacity for combat air refueling missions, it takes people like Senior Airman Justin Lassiter to maintain them.

Airman Lassiter, a KC-10 aerospace propulsion journeyman deployed from the 605th AMXS, 305th Air Mobility Wing, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., said he knows the impact of his work in keeping the KC-10 going no matter what hour of the day he is working.

"The aircraft I work on refuels other aircraft directly supporting troops on the ground in places like Afghanistan," said the senior airman, whose hometown is Wilson, N.C. "If the aircraft engines I work on and maintain don't work properly, the aircraft won't be able to fly and do its mission. Our team of maintainers makes sure that is never a problem and we strive every day to make sure our planes meet their mission capabilities."

There are also integrated avionics systems Airmen like night-shifter Airman 1st Class Airman 1st Class Garret Coleman, who is also deployed from the 605th AMXS at Joint Base MDL and whose hometown is Springfield, Mo.

With avionics systems on the KC-10 Extender, Airman Coleman has to be familiar with many types of systems and have the skills to maintain and repair them. According to his official Air Force job description, he is required to "analyze malfunctions and inspect, remove, maintain and install integrated avionics systems."

"We keep the systems on these tankers operational and ready for combat missions," Airman Coleman said.

Those official duties and responsibilities for Airman Coleman include not just operating and maintaining avionics systems, it also means analyzing equipment operating characteristics to isolate malfunctions in avionics systems. Among the systems he maintains before and after every KC-10 combat mission includes radar, integrated test systems built-in-test and multiplexed data systems as well as recording, fire control, video display, flight instrumental, mission computer, electro-optical viewing and inertial navigation systems. He also maintains primary and secondary flight controls, automatic flight control, engine instrumentation, fuel management systems, central air data systems, electronic warfare systems, sensors and communication and navigation systems.

The entire KC-10 maintenance team, both on day and night shift, continue to conquer the challenges they face during operations for the 380th AEW and the KC-10 mission. The integrated avionics systems, communications and navigation, hydraulics, aerospace propulsion, fuels, electrical and environmental systems and aero repair Airmen and crew chiefs say they will keep the plane ready to maintain war operations.

"I love being out here on deployment because I know I am helping save lives," Airman Welch said. "It's important to me and all the maintainers that we launch each KC-10 mission on time because every second counts in supporting the combat troops in those forward areas."

The 380th EAMXS is a sub-unit of the 380th AEW. The wing is home to the KC-10 Extender, U-2 Dragon Lady, E-3 Sentry and RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft. The wing is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia. The 380th AEW supports operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.