Maintenance crews keep them flying

  • Published
  • By Robert Fox
  • For the 82ndTraining Wing Public Affairs
With hundreds of sorties per day, Sheppard is one of the busiest flight lines in the world. It takes hundreds of man hours to keep the trainers in the air and working properly.

"Being safe and (having) the adequate number of aircraft to fly the mission each day - that is our mission," said Wayne Lewis, a contractor with Lear Siegler, Inc.

Lear Siegler maintainers have their work cut out for them. The youngest T-37 is a 1968 model and the youngest T-38 is a 1970 model, making many of the aircraft Sheppard uses older than those who train on them.

"As the aircraft have gotten older, the problems have gotten bigger," said Richard Mangelli, a sheet-metal specialist.

He said the stresses add up over time, making the planes more likely to need maintenance.

Mr. Lewis, who has been a contractor on Sheppard since 1968, said as ENJJPT has grown and the number of flights increased, contract maintenance has expanded too.
They now have non-destructive inspections, a paint barn, a fuel barn and other facilities they did not have when he started.

Steve Jeski, the sortie generation branch superintendent, said the major growth between ENJJPT and LSI in the last decade has been in communication, a new customer feedback system that allows for easier communication between 80th Flying Training Wing Squadron Commanders and upper level LSI management.

Even before this new feedback system, there were never really any communication problems between the pilots of the 80th FTW and LSI maintainers, Mr. Jeksi said.

"(The maintainers) know they are supporting many NATO countries and they're unique," he said.

Mr. Lewis said despite the difference in cultures between countries as well as pilots and maintainers, there has always been a "team ENJJPT" sentiment.

"Even though we are contractors, we feel we are part of the team," he said. "And (the pilots) certainly treat us that way."

Crew chiefs have the most interaction, twice per flight, with the pilots. Mr. Lewis said he and several crew chiefs he knows have had pilots who came here as students return to Sheppard for transient maintenance and remember them.

"They have relationships that last forever," he said. "A pilot comes back after he leaves here as a student, he'll come back as a fighter pilot and they will stop and see the crew chiefs they remember."

Crew chiefs are not the only ones to have plenty of contact with student pilots. Robert Owen, a maintenance hangar leadsman, said student pilots will come to his hangar with questions and what if scenarios.

Most of the time they want to check up on something they were told in the classroom, but didn't completely understand, he said. He said they even get some really inquisitive ones every now and again.

"They're our customer, and if they're interested, we'll take time out to show them," Mr. Owen said.

Even the sheet-metal shop has their share of interaction, Mr. Mangelli said. He said they help them with everything from approved trophy type projects made from scrap to helping them get back into the designated room after their first solo flight.

"(Sheppard has) a really diversified culture," Mr. Lewis said. "And, to watch the young kids come in big-eyed in wonderment and walk out of here as fighter pilots, you feel some success in that as a maintainer."