Photo By Senior Airman Jeffrey Withrow | Staff Sergeant Shane Wilcox, 434th Maintenance Squadron structural repair technician,...... read more read more
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- When a part breaks on a 60-year-old aircraft, replacing it isn’t always as simple as buying one at your local parts store.
Though production of the KC-135 Stratotanker ended in 1965, Grissom still has to keep its aging fleet in top shape and accomplishing this mission requires an on-site fabrication team to recreate parts no longer available.
“The older an aircraft gets, the more the parts start to wear out, and these planes are all 50 or 60 years old,” said Master Sgt. Corey Fields, 434th Maintenance Squadron aircraft structural repair supervisor. “It’s not like you can just order new parts for them, so we build a lot of it ourselves.”
The reasons for breakdowns are varied, but there are a few frequent offenders, said Staff Sgt. Shane Wilcox, 434th MXS aircraft structural technician.
“A lot of damage is just caused by stress,” said Wilcox. “You’ve got aircraft constantly going from high altitudes to low altitudes, and that just wears the metal down over time.”
Among other common issues, birds are a constant menace, he said.
“Hitting birds can cause a lot of issues,” said Wilcox. “It’s not extremely common, but it happens more than you’d think.
“We typically see damage from a bird strike about once a month,” he added.
There are many instances where existing parts can be mended, but some damage is so severe that an entirely new piece must be created from scratch.
“We’ve got repair criteria that tells us how to go forward in any given job,” said Wilcox. “For example, we have a chart for various lengths of cracks in different areas.
“For some areas, it might be up to three-fourths of an inch long and we’ll patch that together,” he added. “If it’s any bigger than that, we’ll make a new one.”
Almost all of the parts created in the fabrication shop are made with aluminum, even when the original part wasn’t, said Master Sgt. Brent Mosier, 434th MXS aircraft structural technician.
“Some parts come in that are made of magnesium,” said Mosier. “When that happens, we’ll replace it with aluminum.”
The magnesium parts were once common in aircraft, but are no longer used due to faster corrosion, said Mosier. Aluminum is more resistant to the elements, and the parts last longer.
In many cases, creating a part on-site can be preferable to purchasing a part even when the option is available, he said.
“If we have the tools and materials available to make a part, that usually ends up being easier than buying it and having it sent here,” said Mosier.
Even though the jobs can often be done by a single technician, the structural repair shop tries to work as a team whenever possible, said Wilcox.
“For a lot of parts, one person can make it alone, but we take those opportunities to get our less experienced people some hands-on training,” he said. “We try to make it a team effort.”
The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Men and women from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.
Stay connected with the 434th ARW on Facebook and Twitter.
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 01.29.2018 14:19 |
| Story ID: | 263719 |
| Location: | GRISSOM AIR FORCE BASE, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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