Page 9 - Nellis, Creech and NTTR Bullseye 11-20-15

BULLSEYE News 9November 20, 2015

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EGLIN, from page 8 ____________ frustrating because it’s time-consuming, graduate technical school specifically U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Andrea Posey
but in the end it’s rewarding because it for the F-35. Peil foresees this program
for 18 years, 15 of which were in the sets us up for the future.” enhancing her career. Tech. Sgt. Vicente Martinez, 33rd Aircraft
maintenance career field, has experi- Maintenance Squadron training monitor,
enced the technological advances from Martinez, a crew chief for 10 years, is “I think being a part of (this program) stands with the F-35A Lightning II at Eglin
the legacy aircraft to the fifth generation also one of the maintainers selected to will impact my career in a positive way,” Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 8. As a veteran crew
firsthand. transition from a legacy aircraft, the F-16 Peil said. “The things we’re doing now chief of 10 years, Martinez transferred from
Fighting Falcon, to the F-35. will lead to great things in the future. F-16 Fighting Falcons to the F-35.
“The technical prowess of the main- We work day in and day out and in a
tainer has advanced alongside the “The transition was easy because of few years we will see the impact of all
technological advances of the aircraft the previous experience I had,” Martinez of our work.”
(itself),” Edwards said. “Our crew chiefs, said. “Most of the concepts are the same.”
avionics and weapons personnel work The F-35 program has reached many
hand in hand to solve complex issues One difference Martinez noted is the milestones since its creation in 2006 and
that often cross over from one system way day-to-day maintenance is carried is scheduled to move to initial opera-
to another due to data integration and out. In legacy aircraft, maintainers use tional capability in fall 2016.
sensor fusion.” visual gauges or other equipment to do
inspections and operational checks. On Other future plans for this program
The abilities of the F-35 uncover new the F-35, an internal computer within are to expand its fighter fleet within the
territory for crew chiefs at the 33rd FW, the jet performs the majority of these U.S. and Italy to around 200 aircraft in
empowering them to create guidelines duties. one year. Within the next five years, the
and regulations for future maintainers Air Force plans to have nearly 650 air-
to follow. The computer completes a vehicle craft in the United States, Italy, France,
system built-in test that tells maintain- Canada, Turkey, Australia, the United
“Technology guidance was not com- ers if there are malfunctions within the Kingdom and Norway.
plete when the program started, so we aircraft that require attention.
had to fix problems as we met them,” “I think the F-35 program has devel-
said Tech. Sgt. Vicente Martinez, a 33rd “(The computer) can tell (us) every- oped a lot since the beginning,” Martinez
AMS training monitor. “In some cases, thing about the jet and help (us) control said. “We have been training, growing,
we write guidelines for the F-35 (or) we aspects of (it),” Peil said. “It gives (us) developing, hitting milestones and mak-
run into incorrect guidance and have control (we’ve) never had on jets before.” ing history. The program will continue
to stop and fix (it). That process can be to develop in the same manner well into
Unlike Martinez, Peil has no experi- the future.”
ence with legacy aircraft as she is part of
the new generation of crew chiefs that

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