Travis maintainers send KC-10 on multiple black-letter flights

Published April 12, 2013
By Nick DeCicco
60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- When Airmen with years of experience tell newer members they've never seen something before, the younger set takes notice.

So when the senior members of Travis' 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron recently sent a KC-10 Extender into the air three times without a single known maintenance concern, chiefs and senior master sergeants got their attention with an uncommon phrase: black-letter initial.

The term comes from the forms processed prior to take off. Most missions depart with a few discrepancies marked in red, said Senior Master Sgt. Lawrence Craven, 660th AMXS lead production superintendent. When there are no problems, only a black-ink initial appears, hence the term.

First Lt. Cameron Henrion, 660th AMXS aircraft maintenance unit officer in charge, said the occurrence is so infrequent, he was unaware how monumental it was.

"My first reaction was, 'What? That's not real,' "he said. "I didn't know it was a big deal. It's the same as throwing a perfect game in baseball."

Henrion said it's the first time Travis has had a black-letter initial since 2006.

To put the event into perspective, most planes liftoff with an average of 21.6 delayed discrepancies, Henrion said. Delayed discrepancies are issues that are not resolved within five-days from the initial report. If a problem is severe or the flight is too risky, a plane is grounded for safety concerns.

Master Sgt. Shawn Miller, 660th AMXS production superintendent, said black-letter initials are uncommon because many aircraft depart with issues that are not cleared to fix at Travis' level. These repairs take place at the Air Force depot maintenance level.

For this Travis KC-10, the black-letter initial occurred somewhat because of an ideal confluence of events. The flight returned from depot-level maintenance the week of April 1. There were no outstanding maintenance concerns when it took off for multiple flights this month.

Continuity is another factor. With the 660th AMXS' high operations tempo between deployments and temporary duty assignments, an Airman who knows a particular airplane's issues may leave the base and take all of the knowledge about the problem with him, so communication is a vital part of success as well as achieving a black-letter initial.

Henrion also underscored the pride and care Travis Airmen put into their aircraft as an additional factor.

"It's a testament to the effort these Airmen put in on a daily basis," Henrion said. "These (Airmen) are awesome."

Craven echoed that sentiment.

"These jets fly nonstop," he said. "I've never been to a base with this high of an ops tempo that was making things happen like this."