"ISO has a specific flow of how the maintenance is
accomplished to make sure everything gets completed on
time," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Johnson, 7th EMS. "Day
one is our de-panel day and most of the time if the jet
is playing nice, we can de-panel 90 percent of the
aircraft in just one day." From there,
thousands of items are inspected for any discrepancies
the aircraft may have and are repaired or replaced. The
quality assurance shop then performs a follow-up
inspection to ensure any repairs made to the aircraft
were done correctly.
Once again, the tedious process of re-paneling the
aircraft takes place, manually reinstalling each
individual screw by hand. "We then apply
hydro-power and preform an operational check out of the
components that have been disconnected or replaced,"
Johnson said. "QA performs one last follow-up inspection
and run the engines to complete the rest of our
operational check outs."
The 7th EMS maintenance flight is allotted 15 to 18 duty
days to complete this entire process, a objective that
isn't friendly to the personal lives of these Airmen. "For
us, the duty day doesn't end until the job is completed.
If we get behind for some reason or we find something
that requires labor intensive disassembly we will work
right through the weekend to ensure everything is done
correctly," Mueller said. "Our main objective is to keep
the aircrew safe, keep the aircraft in the air and
ensure freedom for everyone," he added. "One mistake on
our part and we jeopardize that objective."
Furthermore, unlike many Airmen who move from station to
station every few years, Dyess maintainers rarely leave
the B-1 platform, some spending their entire Air Force
careers mastering every inch of the super-sonic bomber. "This
is a blue-collar, down-in-the-weeds type mission we have
here," Mueller said. "The job we do isn't glamorous nor
is it in the spotlight, but I could not be prouder of
the men and women of the 7th EMS maintenance flight and
their contribution to the freedom of the United States."
|