Flight Physicals for C-130S Are Herculean Task

A C-130 Hercules just left the maintenance hangar with a fresh coat of paint. Marlo Foreman isn't thinking about lunch or the work he has to do before going home for the day. His thoughts are on the aircrew members who will fly this plane. Corrosion control specialists like Foreman are among the first to see an aircraft when it arrives at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., for maintenance and the last to see it before it returns to its home unit.

"When a plane leaves, I'm always very happy because I know we did our lob for the warfighters so they can do their jobs for our country," said Foreman, a painter in the 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Support Squadron's corrosion control flight. "It's our job to get these planes back to the warfighters as quickly as possible because they need their planes to survive. I feel the quicker we do that, the better off the Air Force will be."

Other mechanics have a different perspective. Some C-130 maintenance specialists aren't thinking about the airplane they've just completed or even where the plane is headed once it leaves their hangar after its six-year periodic depot maintenance. They've already turned their attention to the next airplane in line.

"Believe it or not, by the time the aircraft flies out, we're already so heavily involved with the airplanes we have now that we don't have time to really think about the last one," said Gary Rutledge, 560th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's C-130 production flight chief.

Whatever their perspective on the job, mechanics in the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center at Robins AFB help keep Air Force aircraft in flying condition. The WR-ALC is the major maintenance depot for all avionics systems and for C-5 Galaxy, C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules, F-15 Eagle, U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and Air Force helicopters.

Maintainers in the 402nd Maintenance Wing manage depot-level maintenance with a team approach that encompasses every aspect of the airplane. It's a job that involves much more than inspecting and making repairs. Think of it as a flight physical for airplanes.

The physical begins from the outside when the aircraft arrives in the corrosion control flight hangar. Painters, like Foreman, remove the exterior coatings from the aircraft. Last year this process changed and, since August, they've stripped paint with plastic beads instead of sand. Blasting with beads is proving to be more efficient and safer than the old method. Plastic media blasting still uses air and water pressure to get down to the bare surface of the aircraft.

The corrosion control team also has a new instrument to get them to those hard to reach places. The new air multi-axis platform, more commonly called an AMP, was used on an F-16 Fighting Falcon from the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, but corrosion control specialists used the platform recently to strip and re-paint a C-130.

The AMP provides a stable base for elevations up to 52 feet, enabling Foreman to reach the tip of the tail and upper parts of the wings. The platform was designed for easy access to aircraft for dry media blasting, inspections, washing, repairs, masking and replacing parts. The platform eliminates the need for a crane and is equipped with a joystick and four nozzles, which can strip paint at a rate of 10 to 20 square feet per minute. Foreman and another painter usually work two AMPs at once, with a total of eight nozzles that can do the work of 16 to 20 people.

"In the aerial platform, everything is operated from the control panel and the joystick," said William Walker, a 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron corrosion control supervisor. "He's operating four nozzles at a time from the platform, so it's like having 10 people working in the AMP."

Aircraft coating removal is the most labor-intensive effort in aircraft maintenance depots. Large aircraft are stripped every five or six years. It takes an estimated 2,000 days and 22,000 man-hours annually to strip the tops and sides of some of the aircraft. Specialists with Air Force ManTech and air logistics centers adapted technology developed by Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate researchers for depot maintenance on large aircraft.

While the plastic media blasting process has proven to be an effective method of removing paint, it can sometimes make signal-altering changes in the shape of the radomes that must be corrected before the airplane can be sent back in the field. The radome is a weatherproof enclosure that protects the airplane's radar antenna. Maintainers in shops, like the 566th Electronics Maintenance Squadron Antenna and Radome Testing Range, test and tune radome antennas, correcting as many of the alterations as possible.

"We are really like your eye doctor," said Charlie O'Malley, a 566th EMXS Antenna and Radome Range supervisor. "The radome is like eyeglasses and what we do with electrical tape is like a prescription for your glasses.

"We are tuning the fiberglass material so that it does not devalue the radome signal. We test the radomes to make sure they're back to the original shape they had when they came from the factory. So when the pilot looks through the radome, we want to make it invisible, so he can pick up the airplane with no duplicates, fake images or shadows," he said.

Andres Orta, an antenna and radome testing range mechanic, might test and tune about 30 radomes a month with the help of specialized fiberglass tape and a Precision Radome Integrated System of Measurement anechoic chamber. PRISM testing provides a shielded environment for radio and microwave signals and lets the electronics mechanics know how much tape to use. One or two layers of tape work best for the radome.

"The tape we use has the same dielectric properties as the material used to construct the radome," Orta said. "Once we figure out what tape to use, we take it off the tester, put the tape in the radome and then hang it in the anechoic chamber and let it go through all of the tests."

The job of placing the tape can be difficult because of the shape of the enclosure, especially when it's time to tape the inside of the radome. However, the range's electronics mechanics thought of a creative way to handle the problem. All it took was placing a magnetic BB in the right spot.

"When we have the radome mounted, we can't put the patch on the inside," Orta said. "We place a BB inside the radome to mark the corners so we know where to transfer the tape from the outside to the inside."

Previously, the radomes were sent to an anechoic chamber in another building, but a 75-foot-by-40-foot chamber was built inside the range about a year ago and has helped the electronics mechanics increase production to about one radome a day. Before they had their own anechoic chamber, bad weather could halt production because they weren't able to take a radome outside for testing.

The chamber is 30 feet high with dozens of small prisms that allow the staff to see every dimension and any ridges that might affect radar transmission, O'Malley said.

"In the old days, we'd have to put a whole layer of tape around a zone of the radome," O'Malley said. "Now with our new technology, we can just put patches of tape instead of taping the whole radome, so that it kind of looks like a jigsaw puzzle. This helps the radome get a better transmission, and it's safer for the airplane and the pilot."

Part of a complete aircraft physical might be thought of as preventative care. Those installing the preventative measures also are looking to prevent problems in their shop.

The specialists who install the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures Modifications system came up with ideas to make their workplace safe. Many of them are simple things, like a tent to protect themselves from cold, rain and wind while they worked and a removable platform and steps. Not only did those ideas make the work safer, it made it faster. In 2006, installing the LAICRM on a C-17 took more than 7,700 work hours and 45 days. Three years later, that number was cut almost in half, to less than 4,000 hours in 24 days, said Greg Horton, 562nd AMXS aircraft overhaul supervisor.

The real reward, for those giving the aircraft its preventative medicine, is in knowing lives are guarded by those countermeasures.

Aircraft electrician Guy Couey gains satisfaction from knowing that the work he does could save lives. "We're adding something to the aircraft that's going to make the aircrew safer, especially in a time like this when we have troops deployed in dangerous locations around the world. It's nice to be a part of something that's going to bring them home safely."

While Couey installs laser countermeasures systems, Keith Brand spends a good part of his day in the 573rd Commodities Manufacturing Squadron's sheet metal manufacturing shop on the 250-ton stretch press working with aircraft-grade aluminum that will become the leading edge of a C-130 wing.

"When I was hired at the shop, they were just putting in the overhead screen for this machine and I was impressed just by the size of it," said Brand. "I told myself I was going to be running that machine one day."

And just like people and airplanes, the press has to move the way it's supposed too, or something could strain or break.

"I like to describe the stretch press as a song and dance," said Brand. "If it moves wrong, it will tear up the part, so everything has to move just right. When it does, you'll have a good part."

Like a lot of health care facility workers, who try to treat as many patients as possible, people in the 402nd AMXSS, along with the entire Warner Robins ALC team, are in the middle of a transition in the way they maintain and repair aircraft. The transition to high-velocity maintenance, which aims to reduce aircraft downtime, began with a C-130 last summer. The Air Mobility Command C-130 was the first to go through the process.

The new maintenance method is expected to increase aircraft availability for in-theater use by 14 percent, said Maj. Gen. Polly A. Peyer, Warner Robins ALC commander, in a recent center publication. Instead of C-130s receiving depot-level maintenance every five or six years, and being out of action for up to eight months, the aircraft would be maintained every 18 months, one section at a time. Aircraft are on a six-year maintenance cycle now and are typically out of action for about 205 days. Under HVM, aircraft are grounded for only 52 days.

But the people who work in heavy aircraft maintenance don't have much time to think about the changes in maintenance philosophy. They are too busy keeping up with the workload. In the 560th AMXS C-130 Flight Periodic Depot Maintenance area, mechanics in critical skills are working 10 hours a day, six days a week to finish about 20 C-130s a year.

Though the mechanics perform complete physicals on several aircraft each year, they still marvel at the C-130's capabilities.

"The whole C-130 is unique," said sheet metal supervisor Mike Smith. "It's such a workhorse that every part of the C-130 is used to the max. There are a lot of flying hours and a lot of defects and corrosion when it gets to us."

Much like doctors and nurses enjoy hearing former patients say thank you, the people who work on the C-130s feel somewhat rejuvenated when they hear positive feedback from the pilots flying them. Good news via e-mail or an official award travels fast among the 200 specialists who work heavy maintenance.

"When we produce an airplane early, with no problems, and then we get the good feedback from the home station, we feel a sense of pride because you know you're supplying it back to the force," said Jason Davidson another depot mechanic.

Every specialist in every department does his or her part to make sure the aircraft passes its "flight physical" before sending it back to work. They all know the impact aircraft maintenance has on lives and the Air Force mission.

"It's amazing how all of the cogs fit together, and we end up putting out an aircraft that's safe and reliable," said Capt. Justin Fortinberry, from the 402nd AMXSS said. "Aircraft maintenance isn't like an assembly line, although we try to get as close to that schedule as possible. Every one of these aircraft is different. It takes every one of the professionals we have out here to identify the individual issues.,'

And as the next patient is towed into the hangar, every one of the mechanics at the center is ready to perform the next flight physical.