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WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE: When Air Force reservists from the 442nd Fighter Wing arrived home from a four-month deployment to Afghanistan in September, they were given time-off to recuperate and adjust to life back home.
The Air Force calls this time-off period “reconstitution.”
The same is true for the wing's A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. Before they can be put back in a regular rotation of flying, the planes must be reconstituted after spending time in the combat zone.
“The deployment does put wear and tear on an airplane,” said Tech. Sgt. Randy Magnuson, an A-10 crew chief whose job is to make sure A-10, number 201, receives the required maintenance it needs and is ready to fly in combat.
His name is painted on the nose of the aircraft, which, in his mind, is like putting his signature on number 201 every day.
The first thing crew chiefs do when their aircraft return from a combat deployment is inspect every facet of the jet and clean out four-months worth of dirt and grime, something Sergeant Magnuson calls “desert residue.”
He pointed to the floor underneath the pilot's ejection seat, where beige, powdery dust had accumulated in the corners and recesses of the aircraft frame.
This is common to planes coming back from Afghanistan where the wind blows constantly, filling cracks and crevices with the dust carried through the air.
“It's a matter of unit pride,” Sergeant Magnuson said. “We keep our planes neat and clean and in show-room condition.”
Besides pride, there are two other reasons to focus on the “health” of the wing's A-10s.
“(They're) a limited resource,” Sergeant Magnuson said. The company that built the A-10 is no longer in existence so replacement planes aren't exactly rolling off the assembly line.
“They're relatively old,” he said. “So you have to work hard to extend the service lives.”
The other factor is the human being sitting in the seat, flying the airplane.
“No matter what we do, we're always cognizant that there's a human life, a pilot, who's going to take this thing up in the air,” he said.
The job of keeping track of the health and well-being of the wing's 26 A-10s falls to Senior Master Sgt. Nori Turner and Tech. Sgt. Tami Goodhart, who run the 442nd Maintenance Group's plans and scheduling office.
“There are 76 parts installed on every aircraft that have a different frequency of when they have to be replaced, as well as 57 special, time sensitive inspections,” Sergeant Turner said.
If you do the math, that's 1,976 parts and 1,482 separate inspections the plans and scheduling office must keep track of, even while the airplanes are deployed to a combat zone.
The job of reconstituting the wing's A-10s began even before the planes left in May, Sergeant Turner said.
“We monitored, on a daily basis, what was going on maintenance-wise in Afghanistan,” she said.
The NCOs use a computer program called the Integrated Maintenance Data System to track repairs, inspections and flying hours for each of the wing's airplanes no matter where they might be.
“By keeping track of the aircraft in Afghanistan we maintain the integrity of our maintenance plan,” Sergeant Goodhart said.
She and Sergeant Turner maintain a detailed plan to predict maintenance activities three months into the future and forecast some maintenance activities that occur every 13 years.
“We specialize in preventative maintenance,” Sergeant Goodhart said. “The more we prevent, the less we have to fix.
“We prevent a tire from going bald so something bad doesn't happen during landing,” she said. “We prevent an ejection seat actuator from going bad so if (the pilot) has to use it, it will work.”
The six A-10s deployed to Afghanistan flew more than 3,912 hours, the equivalent of one airplane flying non-stop for five-and-a-half months.
“We flew more hours in four months than the entire 442nd fleet flies in one year,” Sergeant Goodhart said.
When the planes arrived back at Whiteman, crew chiefs and other maintenance specialists pored over the planes for a week before they were allowed back into circulation for home-station training missions, according to Sergeant Turner.
Sergeant Magnuson spent three days inspecting A-10 number 201.
“We want to get back here and find those spots where the desert has eaten away the O-rings and replace them,” he said.
The rings, in the shape of an O, seal connectors to hydraulic lines so the fluid inside doesn't leak.
Every 400 hours of flight time, an A-10 is torn apart for a “phase inspection” where the aircraft is closely inspected for defects, worn parts and fluid leaks. Normally it takes a 442nd A-10 18 months to fly that amount of time.
During the 120-day deployment to Afghanistan, two of the wing's planes required two phase inspections.
Sergeant Magnuson's plane, number 201, is currently undergoing another phase inspection.
After 201's new grey paint job, which makes it look like it just rolled off the factory floor, Citizen Airmen of the 442nd Maintenance Group are examining every square inch of the plane to keep the 26-year-old jet ready for the next time it may have to deploy.
