379th Air Expeditionary Wing

Story by Airman 1st Class David Dobrydney

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Before he was deployed to Southwest Asia as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Director of Staff, Col. Timothy Nelson received an assignment, and opportunity, few Airmen are provided.

In 1992, he was chosen to be a member of the acceptance committee for the then new C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

A first lieutenant at the time, Nelson was a logistics officer at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., which was selected as the first base to receive the C-17. The committee was responsible for ensuring the new aircraft met Air Force needs and specifications as well as negotiating with the contractor to rectify any deficiencies. Specifically, Nelson worked on the manning document which would determine the number of personnel necessary for the maintenance of the aircraft.

"We hadn't bought an aircraft like that in 20 years," Nelson said, "so it was a challenge to develop that manning document. With all the new technology, logic would dictate that you wouldn't need as many maintenance personnel because so much of this weapon system was computerized."

The committee was also charged with validating the technical data for the C-17.

"When we fix an aircraft, we have that big binder of information, but where does that information come from?" Nelson said. "It's the people at the beginning who develop all that data. The manufacturer gives it to us, but we had to verify that it actually worked that way. Every function, whether it was taking the landing gear up or replacing the engine, we ensured that information was valid."

At the time, then Lieutenant Nelson had been an active duty member at Charleston as the committee began its preliminary work. However, he transitioned to a full time position in the Air Force Reserve in January 1993 and continued to work alongside his active duty counterparts to set up the aircraft maintenance units.

"At Charleston, a lot of the full time mechanics are Air Reserve Technicians," Nelson said. "That's why we were intimately involved with the organization because once the active-duty maintenance organizations were set up, it rolled right over into setting up the reserve units." The first C-17 was delivered in the summer of 1993. A unique part of the acceptance process was that some features of the C-17 were still being designed even as aircraft were coming off the production line.

"That was great for the Air Force because as we accepted the aircraft and found flaws, we were able to negotiate to have them changed so the next plane that rolled out would have the upgrade," Nelson said.

This continual improvement meant that the first 20 C-17 aircraft had different features. "You could tell when you looked at the interior of a C-17 that the loadmasters and mechanics had a part in its design," Nelson said. "Every piece of equipment and every tool had a place inside."

"It was exciting to actually sit across the table from the engineers who were looking for ways to improve the aircraft while we were accepting it."

After the C-17 was accepted into the Air Force inventory, Nelson moved on to other pastures, working on 12 different airframes to date. Currently, at his home station of Andrews AFB, Md., he oversees a maintenance unit that works on KC-135 Stratotankers.

Nelson said his time on the C-17 acceptance committee led to a change in the way he viewed subsequent airframes.

"I was fortunate to see a brand new aircraft and be a part of that process so early in my career," he said. "In all the positions I've had since then, I've looked for ways to bring in new technology into the aerospace field."

In Southwest Asia, Nelson has little direct role with the C-17 mission here, but he admits that the operations tempo is extremely demanding.

Since the beginning of 2009, the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, which manages the C-17 fleet here, has flown approximately 6,300 sorties, carrying nearly 101,000 passengers and more than 91,800 tons of cargo.

"The amount of missions we fly here [in Southwest Asia] equates approximately to flying every single C-17 in the Air Force inventory through here at least once a month," Nelson said. "[The 816th] does a heroic job keeping the aircraft maintained and flying to support the airlift mission -- carrying food, clothing, equipment and personnel all throughout the AOR," he said.

"It is a beautiful aircraft and it's exceeding our expectations for reliability and load carrying, just as it was designed to do," he said.

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