Photo By Tech. Sgt. Timothy Moore | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Mykelti Chatman, 35th Fighter Generation Squadron aircraft...... read more read more
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Things don't always go as planned during an exercise. When things go awry, it's always good to have someone there to keep a cool head to get the unit through a potentially tough situation.
For the Cope West 23 team at Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force Base, Indonesia, that situation was a broken switch on an oxygen valve regulator, and the person who got them through it was U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Mykelti Chatman.
During launches of F-16s, the maintenance team discovered the broken switch. This specific switch allows pilots to continuously breathe while performing combat maneuvers. Without it, a pilot may not get enough oxygen resulting in possible loss of consciousness during flight.
"Things do get broken, but it doesn't happen often," said Chatman, a 35th Fighter Generation Squadron aircraft electrical and environmental systems craftsman. "When it does, we try our best to resolve the issue as fast as possible."
While the pilot switched to another jet, the maintenance team got to work to figure out a fix for the oxygen regulator switch, with the team rallying around Chatman.
"He coordinated and replaced the oxygen panel very quickly with what we have and allowed the jet to be operations checked and fixed," said Staff Sgt. Clay Fulfer, 35th FGS dedicated crew chief. "He is typically the go-to guy in his shop. He's always willing to help other shops as well."
By using what they had on hand, Chatman and the rest of the team were able to ensure the jet was able to fly in the next set of missions.
According to Chatman, his favorite part about being a part of Cope West 23 is that the small amount of people they have allows them to rely on each other more.
"There's no particular Air Force Specialty Code that just strictly does their own work," Chatman said. "Everybody kind of comes together as a collective to get the jets fixed and ready to go for the next day."
It is through teamwork that Chatman and the rest of the maintenance team enabled the Cope West 23 mission to continue uninhibited, ensuring the pilots could continue their training to better integrate with their Indonesian Air Force counterparts.
"It felt good," Chatman said. "You know you practice, practice and practice, and then you finally get to go on an exercise and get to play and use all of the stuff you've been practicing. It felt good to get that resolved quickly and efficiently and in turn get to watch the jet take off and go do what it needs to do."
| Date Taken: | 06.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.20.2023 22:39 |
| Story ID: | 447579 |
| Location: | ROESMIN NURJADIN AIR FORCE BASE, ID |
| Web Views: | 223 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Kunsan Air Base Airman keeps jets in the mission at Cope West 23, by TSgt Timothy Moore, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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