916th Maintainers shine during Dec. UTA

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Alan Abernethy
  • 916th Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  The 916th Air Refueling Wing stayed very busy during last month's drill weekend -- with four KC-135R Stratotankers flying to refuel E-8C Joint STARS aircraft from the 116th Air Control Wing, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, Dec. 6.

"I really need to brag on our maintainers," said Col. Gregory Gilmour, 916th ARW commander. "The KC-135 is an old aircraft and it takes a lot of work to launch four of them at once."

The 916th Maintenance Group is the largest group in the wing and maintainers from a variety of disciplines worked to support the four-ship generation and launch.

"All totaled, it takes a minimum of about 25-30 maintainers to launch four lines," said Col. Clay Bunting, 916th Maintenance Group commander. Fuels specialists and aircrew life equipment personnel also contributed to the launch preparation efforts, he added.

"It typically requires a minimum of four maintainers and crew chiefs, six to eight hours to configure, refuel or defuel, and pre-flight each aircraft for launch," said Bunting.

Additionally, "Red Ball" specialist teams were in place and prepared to correct any problems that arose just prior to launch, said 1st Lt. Nick Cottage, 916th Maintenance Squadron operations officer. These teams include personnel from a wide-range of shops; including, electro-environmental, hydraulics, propulsion, communications and navigation, and guidance and control systems.

"A lot happens behind the scenes," said Cottage, as he described the role of these specialist teams. "Unless something goes wrong, no one really knows that they are there."

Bunting also emphasized that cooperation among the maintenance and operations personnel is crucial. Flight and maintenance schedulers must work together to ensure that the aircraft are available and properly configured for each specific mission.

"Weather, air temperature, fuel load requirements, and weight and balance requirements," are all mission variables that can dictate the amount manpower and time required to prepare any launch, said Bunting.

For a scheduled aircraft launch to become a reality a wide range of players must cooperate and work together, he added.