According to the U.S. Air Force Air Education and Training Command, maintenance-related mishaps have cost taxpayers more than $50 million since 2018. A big reason for the service’s maintenance woes could be antiquated management procedures.
Ho-hum, have they thought of the electronic signature of all those fast wi-fi signals between the mechanics and the computer?
There are now drones sniffing for concentrated sources wi-fi signals… Maybe they need to cover everything in a lead tent…
If the drone operator needs to rely on Wi-Fi signals to find an operating airfield, that drone operator is not much of a threat.
And if EMCON is a worry, there are simple techniques to control the spectrum. If thats not enough a simple hard resync with the cloud at multiple, conveniently placed terminals is all that’s needed.
I would be very curious to see the data and how it was analyzed to reach the conclusion that aircraft management via “paper forms and binders” is the big reason for dangerous inefficiency and therefore a big reason for $50 million in mishaps. In my personal experience it doesn’t add up. Then there’s the whole conversation that could be had about why onboard logbooks in a binder cannot be replaced due to operational needs and concerns for airworthiness. And of course I would be remis if I didn’t mention the oxymoronic mention of a 100-pound device that is man-portable.
Yeah, a 100# device - that is gonna work real well. Not!
I’m certain that things have significantly changed since I worked instruments/avionics on B-52H and KC-135A aircraft back in the 70’s. But at first look this solution would appear to be massive overkill. And yes, power, electronic flight systems, hydraulics, airframe and coatings are much more complex on some of today’s aircraft.
I rarely got to work on one of our aircraft in a hangar and only occasionally that hangar was even heated (Grand Forks AFB). The vast majority of work that I and my fellow airmen did was outside in the elements. Usually trouble shooting and repair was done from memory. More complex jobs did require dragging out some books/binders/TOs. Then there were the days where one of the jets was preparing to go out on a mission and something is inop. Us techs would either be working the jet on the ramp with the engines running, or inside the cockpit while it was taxiing, or doing the repair at the end of the runway, or whatever. Job ONE was to get the jet repaired so that it could make it’s takeoff time. No place to be dragging around a 100# box
After 22 years in the Air Force, 20 years in commercial aviation, and 15 years in the FAA I can say with authority that the AF is never closer than 20 years out of date in their training and procedures.
They need to seriously quit listening to the recent college graduates and get some outside information and help in setting up their training and documentation procedures. Quit listening to lieutenants and colonels busy climbing the ladder with only the minimum time spent in every job to fill in the check-box on their resume.
Operate like they must make a profit and things just might get a little better.
Until then. . .
100 pounds? When some personnel tents weigh over a thousand pounds, 100 pounds is down in the noise.
What the what?! Someone mentioned wifi which turned into an EMCON argument. If that’s really a problem, what about good old fashioned wired Ethernet? You can even do fiber if you’re really that concerned. There are even dongles for iPads and Microsoft Lens products.
And if the problem is maintenance technicians need to access applications that are SO bloated that they need (apparently) 100+ CPUs and terabytes of memory, perhaps we should look at fixing that?
This is insane.
Apple and orange comparison. As a further clarification, I worked the flight line for an AF organization that was called Strategic Air Command back in those days. We had minutes, not hours or days, to get an aircraft repaired so that it could meet it’s launch window. A toolbox, a spare and brains were what dealt with that daily challenge. A 100# box would have no role in that environment.
Not an AF guy, but did serve. I applaud the AF for moving forward with updating maintenance resources. Maybe that 100-lb box can store mechanic-initiated maintenance records as well as the digital versions of the manuals and specs by which the aircraft is maintained. My only hope is that if the box has read/write capability, it is replicated in real time on the ground in case the aircraft is shot down.
As further clarification, I worked the flight deck for a F-14 squadron. We had seconds, not minutes, to get the aircrew debriefed, gripes troubleshot, and parts called for before the respot.
I don’t see how a 100# box, sitting in a thousand pound tent next to your flight line, connecting you real time with maintenance control puts you out.
I would have loved that type of connectivity say, on an iPad mini sized device to communicate with fellow maintainers, the flight deck Chief, Maintenance Control and the parts runners. Heck, the Ready Room could take the maintenance debrief from the aircrew in route back to the ship and beamed that to a device on my wrist.
First off, thank you for your service. One advantage we had was that our flight line was not moving up and down.
But taking less than a minute do perform all of what you described - nope.
I think our fastest repair job was delivering sloblow fuses. We would be out on the flight line in what were called launch trucks to support a group of aircraft preparing to go out on training missions. We would get a call over the radio to see the crew of tail number XXXX. Usually we had to drive the full length of the flight line, go up to the flight deck and ask the pilot or copilot what was going on. Oh, they just wanted a spare set of fuses for the attitude gyro. We always carried several packages of spare fuses (3). Poor timing especially if one was working another aircraft. Then it was always fun replacing an item on the flight deck while the 52 was taxiing for takeoff. They would test the crosswind crab system and do brake checks - no warning. Tools and fasteners would roll/slide where ever.
Flight crews were not very objective in describing issues. We had people debrief the flight crews after every flight in an attempt to pin down what the crew actually saw when the system failed.
Our newest B-52H was 24 years old. They would be put to bed fixed and ready to go the next day. At power up and then engines start, it was rare that something didn’t break. It always seemed that it was the lead aircraft that broke with other airplanes backed up behind it on the taxi way.
Several times a year, Command would give us an ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection). We were uncocked from ready alert, bombers were unloaded, flight crews and maintenance were scored for mission accomplishment, aircraft were repaired, reloaded with nuclear weapons and then we were cocked back up on alert status.
One time our alert aircraft were flushed. 1976 Korean DMZ incident. We all thought WWIII had started. The alert aircraft (8 to 10) sat on the end of the runway and adjoining taxi way for about 45 minutes before being recalled. Not one call for maintenance on the radio during that time. Flight crews were taking what they had if they had to leave. As the aircraft were taxiing back to the alert pad, we started getting radio calls from ops as to who was broke and what was broke. As soon as an aircraft stopped moving we were on board. The MPs with their M16s were running around trying to figure out how to secure the area. Took all the maintenance crews over 24 hours to fix all of the aircraft. To this day, I’m still amazed at how some of the crews got a couple engines started with a several failed engine instruments. Of course they have 8 engines, but a loaded B-52H is pretty heavy.
Yep, 50 years later, there is more technology available to make the job easier. But that technology will never replace a trained and experienced tech that has boots and toolbox at the aircraft.
Of course.
During cyclic ops, a bird would land and quickly parked in the 6 pack (an area just fwd of the island). During that time, we were talking to the RIO via hand signals-UP/DOWN, Radar? INS? Radio?
Jet parked, we were at the ladder de-briefing the aircrew while deck crew refueled. They quickly described the gripes, any BIT they ran or flycatchers (addresses w/status bits-1/0s). We quickly consulted our BIT book, our green brain book (those little green notepads) that had every gripe we worked and each debrief for each aircraft.
By this time, the tow-bar was attached for respot on the fantail. Based on the de-brief/BIT book/brain book, we’d make our best educated guess, find the flight deck Chief (who had the only radio) and call down to Maintenance Control for parts. MC would call the shop, the shop would send a runner-either from our hidden spares or to cannibalize a part, and run it up to the deck.
By this time, the jet was respotted, and we began opening panels. Part runner there, we swapped WRAs and aircrew is walking. If power was already hooked up and the aircrew was running a little late, we might have time to run the system up, but rarely.
Hopefully, the incoming RIO read the books (aircraft maint. records) and knew what the last flight gripped. Manned up, startup and you waited for all the system checks and maybe, the RIO had time to double check the previous gripe that you just “fixed” and gave you a thumbs up. Then it’s taxi to the CAT and off the pointy end.
Notice, the gripe hasn’t been signed off and I made no mention of a CDI (collateral duty inspector) or QA to check your work- that’s a long story for some other time that involves Captains Mast, mutiny, and the last time I address a Chief by “Chief”.
Now, imagine if we had coms via a handheld or wearable devise linked to that 100# box that would be planted somewhere atop the island. Game changer.
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