Page 5 - Desert Lightning News So. AZ Edition

4 February 2021 Desert Lightning News Desert Lightning News February 2021 5
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309th Aerospace Maintenance, TRAININg (from Page 4) experience levels in aircraft airframe, power- mately 108,000 thousand man hours into equipment manufacturer contributed to the
Employees, hand-selected based on their
success of the program.
this repair and maintenance program,”
of the hail damage repair workload to the
said Col. Jennifer Barnard, 309th AMARG
plant, electrics, avionics, and structural
“Without the efforts of AMARG, we’d
Regeneration Group returns 309th AMARG. repair, received six weeks of T-1A familiariza- commander. “This was the heaviest main- still be repairing aircraft,” said Brandon.
“The benefit from a business perspective
tion training at Laughlin AFB.
tenance these aircraft have undergone and
“A quarter of the fleet was taken down by
was we would have two repair facilities get-
these professionals worked tirelessly to
a hail storm which significantly impacted
“At its peak, the T-1A repair and mainte-
final T-1A to training operations ting the work done quicker,” said Clay. nance production line employed a total of 36 return a quality product to the Air Force’s the ability to train students. Now that we
There were additional benefits to divert-
sheet metal, APG and avionics technicians,”
training command.”
have that fleet back on the front line, their
ing 10 T-1 aircraft to 309th AMARG for hail
Early in the program, there were supply
damage repair. said John Meske, the 576th Aerospace chain challenges for the System Program aircraft availability has increased by 15 to
Maintenance and Regeneration Squadron’s
20 percent.”
“Having AMARG really opened the door Medium Aircraft flight chief. Office, but nothing Brittney Barton, the “It’s the quality of the product,” said Clay.
by for us to interact, to get into the process, work
309th AeRoSPACe MAiNTeNANCe through the issues, and visit the facility to An audit in 2017 by the AFSC Flight Stan- AFLCMC T-1 logistics manager couldn’t “It’s one thing to have it back, but when the
and ReGeNeRATioN GRoUP give us a different angle,” Clay said. “We could dards Management Office resulted in the resolve. aircraft stay in the air and stay available
group’s qualification for the Military Repair
longer because AMARG has done their job so
“We applied lessons learned from the
spend time with AMARG managers as well as Station Program and associated Federal other repair line to front-load AMARG well, it only translates into good things. They
A fleet of hail-damaged T-1A Jayhawk trainers the mechanics. Certainly we began with a big- Aviation Administration regulatory require- with as many parts as we could anticipate can fly more hours, pilots graduate quicker,
are now back in the air, thanks to a unique repair ger level of trust, we knew AMARG could do ments, certifying 309th AMARG as AFSC’s in order for this effort to be successful,” etc. At the end of the day, (Air Mobility
and maintenance mission performed by the 309th the work and this boosted us from the get-go.” first-ever FAA equivalent Military Repair said Barton. “We figured out what our sup- Command and Air Combat Command) have
Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at The T-1A had never had any major repair Station, which provided an avenue to create ply contractor needed from us to get parts pilots ready to go when they need them.”
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Photos by Terry Pittman work performed by Air Force personnel. Her- revenue and perform commercial-type work. ordered and delivered relatively quickly.” The T-1 SPO team looks forward to con-
The group took on repair for 10 of the aircraft, after T-1A, 93-0623, before an early morning man Brandon, AFLCMC’s program manager Repairing the hail-damaged aircraft was Barton’s efforts paid off. The parts sup- tinuing a relationship with AMARG.
39 of them sustained severe hail damage when a storm functional check flight Dec. 2, 2020, af- materiel leader, was the first member from labor intensive. Planning documents called plier was eventually able to turn parts “Having visited the facility, the underlying
swept through Laughlin AFB, Texas, one of several ter undergoing hail damage repair and the T-1 SPO team to visit 309th AMARG. for stripping the aircraft interior, removing the next day depending on part size and message is the AMARG workforce is very
bases where the Jayhawk serves as the Air Force’s maintenance at the 309th Aerospace “Starting up something new is scary be- engines, disassembling the nose and aft cargo mechanics were able to achieve more than competent in their abilities. They are the
advanced trainer for airlift and tanker pilots. The Maintenance and Regeneration Group at cause of its uniqueness and being outside
final T-1A to complete repairs returned to Laughlin Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The air- the norm,” Brandon said. “But after hearing bay area, shoring, symmetry checks, and re- one functional check flight a week due to masters of doing a hundred different things
AFB Dec. 17. craft is assigned to Laughlin AFB, Texas. what the team had to offer and seeing first- moving five critical pressurized skins. Once parts availability. one time versus masters of doing one thing a
“Something as simple as tracking each
Derived from the Hawker/Beechcraft 400A corporate hand what they do on a variety of platforms, replacement skins were available for instal- tail and the number of functional check hundred times. We have a fleet of 177 aircraft
lation, the work was reversed for reassembly.
aircraft, the T-1A is essentially a civil aircraft modified I knew this was a well-rounded organization AMARG ingenuity spawned the creation of flights it took to successfully pass showed and we know problems are going to pop up.
What a resource to have in our hip pocket.
to fit military training needs. As such, repair facilities
approved to work on the aircraft require Federal Avia- Chad Ellingson, 576th Aerospace Mainte- that could handle the challenge of restoring wooden drilling fixtures to hold engine cowls how much pride this team put into this To see a skill in place, a great team, facilities,
tion Authority certifications beyond the usual. nance and Regeneration Squadron, mar- the T-1s.” and replacement skins in place as sheet metal effort. They cared. That resonated with us everything you need,” Clay said.
According to Shawn Clay, the product support man- shals the last T-1A Jayhawk out of the Using Art of the Possible methodology, workers transferred and matched holes from because the program team also cared. To AMARG’s participation in the repair ef-
ager at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Re- 309th AMARG established a production line old panels to new. connect with them in such a way makes fort for the Air Force’s hail-damaged T-1A
T-1 System Program Office, they had 39 damaged generation Group at Davis-Monthan Dec. several months in advance of the first aircraft Besides replacing skins, mechanics also me very proud of what we’ve done to work Jayhawks is representative of the group’s
trainers and only one commercial repair facility. Air 17, 2020. A fleet of hail-damaged T-1A arrivals. According to Brandon, “The team performed corrosion inspections and replace- through this together,” Barton said. ongoing contribution to the U.S. military,
Force Materiel Command suggested shifting some trainers are now back in the air, thanks had existing mechanics who were sent to T-1 ment repairs to lavatory areas on six of the The T-1 SPO team agrees that teamwork the U.S. government, and the U.S. taxpayer,
to a unique repair and maintenance mis- training, had procured the tooling and equip- 10 aircraft. and communication between the SPO, Sup- yet another example of its title: America’s
See TRAININg, Page 5 sion performed by the group. ment needed and were ready to go.” “The AMARG team invested approxi- ply Chain, 309th AMARG and the original National-level Air Power Reservoir.

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