8 Million Dollar Man

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Jeff Walston
  • 307th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
Barksdale AFB, La. --  Aircraft mechanics in the 307th Bomb Wing and 917th Fighter Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., are dealing with ageing military fleets and are finding ways of cutting repair costs and downtimes for their aircraft; the B-52H bomber and the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

According to Tech. Sgt. Ryan Thompson, finding ways of trimming costs are always on the minds of innovated Airmen. Some of the ideas and techniques involved in cutting costs for the U.S. Air Force range from simple, to downright ingenious.

Thompson, who is the fabrication flight chief for the 707th Maintenance Squadron, saw the time and effort it took to repair an aileron hinge fitting on an A-10 and decided there had to be a better way.

"I looked at the repair method we were using and realized we could do it more efficiently right here (Barksdale)," Thompson said. "So, I submitted my proposed repair method up the chain (on an Air Force Form 22)." Under Thompson's proposal, the repair method would involve manufacturing a fixture at the squadron level that would allow a technician to repair the fitting on the aircraft without depot level assistance, which would significantly reduce the cost of the repair.

"Years ago we couldn't even think about doing this with the equipment that we had," said Tech. Sgt. Mark Chumley, who is a metals technologist assigned to the 917th Maintenance Group. "With the addition of today's Computer Numeric Control machines, we now have the capability to produce complex tools for aircraft repair. Our CNC machines are capable of four axis machining (3D machining), which allows us to manufacture very specialized tools."

Ailerons are hinged flight control surfaces on fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons, which are attached to the trailing edge of the wing, control the aircraft in roll. "Before the procedure was approved, the only way to get the aircraft back into the air was to have a field level repair team come and replace the wing tip," said Thompson. The new fixture is designed to be operated by hand, making it worldwide deployable, requiring no special tools, and reducing aircraft downtime by upwards of 120 hours.

"Taking into account, the ageing factor of the air frame, this repair has become more prevalent in the last 2 years," Thompson said. The current cost to repair this fitting is $910,685.53 including labor at the duty location of the airframe."

"Our base has had two of these fittings go bad in the last six months with a total repair cost of about $1.8 million, he said.

According to Master Sgt. Kelly Watkins, the aircraft metals technology supervisor for the 307th Maintenance Squadron, since the original 22 was submitted; maintenance crews at the 917th Maintenance Squadron have repaired six Barksdale planes and two from other bases, saving an estimated eight million dollars.

Thompson has even flown to the depot at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to demonstrate the fixture for the engineering staff and depot field repair teams, and to the 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to repair one of their planes.

The aileron repair fixture was designed by Thompson and he was assisted in building the fixture by two aircraft metals technology craftsmen, Tech. Sgt. David Griffore, assigned to the 307th Maintenance Squadron, and Tech. Sgt. Mark Chumley, of the 917 MXS.

"Over the past two years the entire metals technology shop has had a great deal of involvement in depot repairs and testing," said Thompson. They also have other cost saving measures in the work and say they are working their way to being the premier machine shop in the 10th Air Force.