Mobility Airman profile: Fairchild staff sergeant keeps KC-135s flying in Kyrgyzstan

Published Feb. 16, 2011
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- His Air Force job title is aerospace propulsion craftsman. To others he's a jet engine mechanic. Whatever Staff Sgt. Van Pham's job title is, there is much importance in what he does to support the mission in repairing and maintaining engines on the KC-135 Stratotanker.

Sergeant Pham is one of seven aerospace propulsion Airmen deployed with the 376th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, a news report shows. He is deployed from Air Mobility Command's 92nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 92nd Air Refueling Wing, at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

From Kyrgyzstan, the KC-135 Stratotankers and the Airmen who fly and maintain them support air refueling operations for Operation Enduring Freedom and in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Sergeant Pham explained what his deployed unit supports in a Feb. 10 news article by Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore of 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs.

"We do engine upkeep, preventative maintenance and troubleshoot and fix problems," Sergeant Pham said in the report. "What we do here keeps the groups down there safe so basically, we keep the engines mission capable and keep them in the air."

Sergeant Pham said he has been working with the Stratotanker for a little over a year after cross-flowing from F-15E Strike Eagles, Sergeant Pham said in the story. Also, he said maintaining a tanker is different from fighter aircraft. "Maintenance isn't as difficult with this jet as fighters, but we're here to do a job and here to support a mission -- I've got no complaints here."

As an aerospace propulsion craftsman for the KC-135, Sergeant Pham plans, organizes and directs aerospace propulsion maintenance activities, his official Air Force job description shows. To do this he interprets and implements directives and publications pertaining to maintenance functions, including environmentally safe maintenance practices. He also determines resource requirements, including facilities, equipment and supplies, and he inspects and evaluates maintenance activities.

Aerospace propulsion Airmen like Sergeant Pham also advise, perform troubleshooting and determines repair procedures on aircraft engines, the job description shows. He diagnoses and repairs malfunctions using technical publications and solves maintenance problems by studying drawings, wiring and schematic diagrams, technical instructions and analyzing operating characteristics of aircraft engines.

As a seven skill level in his career field, Sergeant Pham is also trained to remove, install, inspect, repair and modify engines, engine modules and components and propellers and propeller components. He can disassemble and assemble engines and propellers adhering to prescribed procedures and prepare engines and propellers for installation, storage or transportation.

Furthermore, aerospace propulsion Airmen test components using bench mockups and test equipment, the job description states. They also install and remove engines on test stands and operate, evaluate and perform test stand functions on engines and they accomplish operator maintenance on test stands. Additionally, they inspect and maintain engine ground support equipment and operate and perform operator inspections on related support equipment. They also select, use and care for special tools, hand tools and test equipment.

To maintain their skill level and complete their job successfully, aerospace propulsion Airmen like Sergeant Pham also have to maintain a large amount of mandatory job knowledge. Knowledge areas include mechanical, hydro-mechanical, electrical and pneudraulic principles applying to jet and turboprop engines and propellers, oil analysis principles, wear metal criteria and guidelines, concepts and application of maintenance directives and using and interpreting diagrams and technical publications.

Air Mobility Command officials who oversee KC-135 maintenance statics across the command said for each hour of flight in a KC-135, it requires an average of seven to eight man-hours of maintenance. "KC-135 maintainers are the best in the world, but they can't stop the wear and tear of this nearly 50-year-old aircraft," states AMC's "Talking Points" for February 2011.

The Transit Center at Manas was activated in December 2001 when coalition forces deployed to Manas International Airport and began supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the 376th AEW fact sheet states. The base continues to promote regional stability in Central Asia.