An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Sergeant receives $10,000 for great idea

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Larry W. Carpenter Jr.
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Everyone feels like they have a good idea every now and then, but Tech. Sgt. Cade Peterson, 92nd Maintenance Operations Squadron senior weapon system coordinator, had an idea that really paid off.

Through the Innovative Development through Employee Awareness program, known as IDEA, Sergeant Peterson was able to take his knowledge and experience as a KC-10 and KC-135 crew chief and make changes to certain technical orders procedures which resulted in a $10,000 dollar reward.

"As far as I know, Sergeant Peterson is only the second person from Fairchild to receive the $10,000 dollar reward," said Master Sgt. Bill Bowers, base IDEA program manager.

Basically, there was a component on the KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft that was a continual cause of CODE 3, or air aborts, which prevented the aircraft from completing its mission after take off.

"It cost a lot of money when the plane had to abort because both the refueler and the receiver aren't able to complete the mission," said Sergeant Peterson. He saw that a new procedure could more efficiently service the main landing gear centering cylinder, which would save time and money.

"I was working and there happened to be another failure of the MLG centering cylinder," said Sergeant Peterson. "At that point, I took a look at the technical data and some of it didn't make sense; it was just a poor design."

According to some figures gathered by an engineering company responsible for validating Sergeant Peterson's suggested changes, the high failure rate of the centering cylinder has an estimated cost to the Air Force in mission aborts and increased material sustainment of $2.6 million annually.

The package alone submitted through the IDEA program took Sergeant Peterson two weeks to put together, including more than 45 hours of off-duty time. The entire process of getting the changes accepted took more than 18 months. During that time, engineers analyzed and implemented the recommended changes.

"At one point, I hosted a conference between the engineers, the lead KC-135 T.O. guy and myself," Peterson said. "When all was said and done, they approved all my changes as suggested. It's refreshing to know that you put so much time into something and it's really going to make a difference."

Sergeant Peterson's suggestions included changes to servicing procedures and to the main landing-gear centering cylinder design itself.

"One of my suggestions was to simply eliminate unnecessary steps in the procedures for servicing the centering cylinder, which reduced the time from one hour to roughly five minutes," he said.

The IDEA program provides an avenue for Airman to submit suggestions on ways the Air Force can do business more efficiently. In this fiscal year so far, 19 IDEA submissions have been approved, resulting in a savings of $96,980. More than $13,000 has been awarded to Fairchild Airmen.