Photo By Staff Sgt. Kalia Jenkins | U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 146th Maintenance Group part of the 146th...... read more read more
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VOLK FIELD, CAMP DOUGLAS, WISC. April 17, 2024 – On a chilly, windy, overcast morning that promised rain in the very northern state of Wisconsin, 28 U.S. Airmen assigned to the 146th Maintenance Group of the Air National Guard, who live and work in Southern California toil away moving straps and fork lifting other equipment around a stripped down C-130H Hercules airplane with the letters CDDAR emblazoned on its side. These servicemen and women are working April 15-19, 2024, training for a specific U.S. Air Force mission called Crash Damaged and Disabled Aircraft Recovery (CDDAR).
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Danielle Dupont, a journeyman Environmental Electrician with the 146th Maintenance Group (146MX) and a certified CDDAR member, defines the mission of CDDAR as "Getting an aircraft, level and stabilized and removing it from whatever horrible scenario it was in."
Over the years, the 146MX has been tasked to aid in the recovery of three aircraft that have been disabled in different ways and locations. The first incident involved a Hawker Hunter, the second an MQ-4C Triton, and the third was a KC-130 Hercules. Of the three, U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Giovanni Macro, Aircraft Maintenance Superintendent, was involved in the last two recovery missions. "The recovery of the MQ-4C Triton had 10 people from the 146th CDDAR team, and the entire aircraft was removed at once. The most recent incident with a KC-130 Hercules had a dozen people from the 146th and was more complex, requiring many specialists to take the aircraft apart before removing the pieces. Both aircraft were significantly damaged and taken out of service," said Macro.
For the most recent mission, the 146th CDDAR team needed to call up augmentees to assist. Since then, they have prioritized training additional Airmen in this less frequently used but critical skillset. There are 12 Airmen currently at this training event who are augmentees, meaning they need to be certified in CDDAR but are interested in learning the basics to support the mission should the need arise. The course gives an overview of the fundamentals regarding crashed aircraft recovery.
"You train augmentees to have a better team. You want to have your team as well-rounded as possible," Macro explained. The more people you have who know the aircraft, the better you are at recovering an aircraft."
Macro, says that having the CDDAR members and augmentees at this training is for the cohesion of how we work well as a team. So you want to bring your CDDAR team plus augmentees and your team chiefs. So you know if a real-world scenario happens, you have a really good team behind you. And we have a really good team here.
During this training week, the augmentees are guided through the steps of de-bogging— getting an aircraft out of a hole or mud by lifting it with airbags or a crane and pulling the disabled aircraft, most often tail first, safely across a field. The newcomers are given hands-on instruction from experienced and certified group members in the preparation, setup, execution, and disassembling of the tools, machines, and other equipment used in this process.
"We have a very good team that are really willing to learn. Everybody got involved. Everybody participated. Everybody was really willing to do whatever they needed to do to learn on this task," said Macro.
The first priority when training is always safety. "We always try to start with safety, you know, wear your hard hat, don't crawl under the aircraft, etc. Then we go over the scenario and what the end product should be," said Dupont.
Another critical training component is learning the equipment that could be used in a real-world scenario. Many types of equipment are specific to CDDAR, such as dunnage, tirfors , and tension sensors. Dunnage is the support beams used to fill in holes or span unstable or uneven ground. Tirfors are the winch system used with a set of cables. The tension sensors are mounted to the cables near the tirfors and the current pressure is relayed to the other winching points so they can maintain a symmetry of pressure on the aircraft. The aircraft is secured to the ground via cement barriers by the cables with the airforce and tension sensors attached. The cable placement and pressure keep it balanced from multiple sides - four in this case - preventing the plane or helicopter from tipping side-to-side while it is lifted up.
Airmen who would like to become certified can request to attend the longer, more detailed course at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. The certification class is more intense. "We go through each of these steps in a lot more depth, learning the full capacity of CDDAR," said Dupont.
Dupont says she chose to get certified because she saw others "come from a real-world scenario. And I was like, hey, how do I get in on that? Wait a second, that looked real cool."
Many Airmen at the 146th Airlift Wing can train to be a certified member of CCDAR. It is most often maintainers who volunteer to attend the course, since it is operated by a maintenance unit and involves a lot of jargon as well as airplane-specific know-how. However, those who can contribute their specialized skills and are willing to put in the work may attend the two-week class. Even without this certification course, most Airmen can help in some way.
Since this is his last time working with the CDDAR team in training, Macro concluded, "This was a really good trip. We worked really well together. Everybody worked hard, they played hard, and we played as a team. And that's what you want to see when you come out. Everybody had a good attitude. I enjoyed this trip a lot for my last one."
| Date Taken: | 04.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2024 17:54 |
| Story ID: | 469004 |
| Location: | CAMP DOUGLAS, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 113 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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