Mechanics keep 36th RQF in flight

Published July 19, 2007
By Tech. Sgt. Larry W. Carpenter Jr.
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- The call comes in that a survival school student has been injured in the mountains during training and is in need of immediate evacuation. The 36th Rescue Flight jumps into action, they get a team together, load up in a UH1-N Huey and head over to evacuate the student and get him the medical care needed.

The second scenario starts with the same student in need of evacuation but this time all of the helicopters are down and out of service. The trainee is stuck in a bad situation.

The airframe powerplant general mechanics who support the helicopters of the 36th RQF are dead set to never let this situation happen.

"Our sole mission is to provide a safe helicopter for the missions of the 36th RQF and to support the 336th survival school," said Jake Burwell, contracted site manager.

The mechanics play a vital role in making sure that the 36th RQF are able to perform their functions in support of the local search and rescue operations in the community and the survival school here.

Helicopters by design have numerous parts working against each other to keep them airborne, which can prove to be quite a task when it comes to maintaining them.

"It takes a lot of time and effort to keep them flying," said Chaz Burton, APG mechanic. "But, these helicopters usually give back to you if you work on them and treat them right."

It is crucial for the maintainers to keep the birds in flying order due to the fact that there are only four aircraft assigned to the 36th RQF. So with one helicopter out of order, they lose 25 percent of their fleet, which could severely impact the mission.

"Due to small fleet dynamics, we have to be right on top of our troubleshooting and be very efficient to ensure the mission is successful," said Mr. Burwell.

With this in mind, it adds a great deal of pressure to the mechanics but according to Mr. Burton, it's a welcomed pressure.

"I feel like everyone here feeds off the pressure," said Mr. Burton. "It's the best feeling when you have to launch two aircraft and fix a third that is broke, and you get the aircraft launched on time."

Mr. Burton admitted that the satisfaction a mechanic gets by keeping the birds in the sky is the most rewarding part of the job.

"When everybody is doing their part and everything comes together like it's supposed to, you get that job satisfaction," said Mr. Burton, "knowing you got the mission accomplished."

Due to the fact that the mechanics can't flight check the aircraft, they work side by side with the crew from the 36th RQF to ensure the aircraft are ready to go after they have been worked on.

"It's a team effort," said Mr. Burton. "We work directly with the pilots and flight engineer's to ensure the aircraft are safe."

There are only 16 APG mechanics on station that keep the 36 RQF fleet in the air performing their mission.

The mechanics deal with basic post-flight inspections when a helicopter is done flying for the day, deal with functional check flights when any major part has been removed and replaced, perform vibration checks, perform phase inspections every 400 flight hours, and maintain the support equipment--and that's before they get busy.

Yes, it takes a pilot to fly the helicopter and the flight engineer to provide onboard support, as well as providing an extra set of eyes to the pilot, but without the mechanics providing them with a safe aircraft, the mission would never get off the ground.

(This story is the first in a three-part series on the 36th Rescue Flight.)