Team effort at Robins AFB gets C-5 back in action

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, GA, UNITED STATES

03.02.2011

Courtesy Story

Air Mobility Command

By Capt. Glenn Wright

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. - The 559th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, with a big assist from the 78th Civil Engineer Group, worked hard to rapidly get a C-5 Galaxy back in action recently after it arrived here for significant unscheduled maintenance.

As is the case with other C-5 work, numerous other organizations on base also came together to help return aircraft 86-0025 to the warfighter.

"Our workers did a phenomenal job with a short-notice, short turn-around tasking," said David Nakayama, 559th AMXS director. "The performance wasn't by accident. It was the result of teamwork."

Aircraft 86-0025 is one of only four M-model C-5s in the Air Force inventory. An M-model is a "modernized" C-5 aircraft which includes approximately 70 different upgrades, including improved engines. The Air Force plans to upgrade all of its B-models to M-models over the next five years. Due to their improved performance, the few Ms currently in the fleet are in high demand. Aircraft 86-0025 required repairs of multiple wing cracks near the aileron hinge fittings on both wings.

The aircraft arrived at Robins Air Force Base on Dec. 17, less than two weeks after Air Mobility Command's request for help. The plan was to aggressively work on the aircraft through the holidays and have the repairs completed as soon as possible. However, there was only one aircraft maintenance dock where the aircraft could be worked on and, as luck would have it, a hard freeze had damaged one section of its overhead sprinkler system, severely impacting what work could be performed. However, the 78th Civil Engineer Group worked around the clock to repair the sprinkler system, finishing the day before the New Year's weekend.

"With no other C-5 maintenance docks available, civil engineering team members played a major supporting role in 86-0025's repairs," Nakayama said.

Other units from around base also worked to get the aircraft back to the warfighter: structural engineers from the C-5 Galaxy System Program Office in the Aerospace Sustainment Directorate finalized repair procedures; workload planners from the 402nd Commodities Maintenance Group planned how to manufacture 76 different parts from raw stock; supply technicians from the Defense Logistics Agency ordered and tracked the raw material until delivery; and CMXG craftsmen fabricated each part to exacting standards.

While all of this was going on, structural repair craftsmen from the 559th AMXS dismantled the aircraft and removed the sections of the aircraft which had to be replaced.

The System Program Office decided on repairs which would not only fix the safety-of-flight issue which brought the aircraft here for repairs, but came up with procedures to ensure the wings would not have any more issues for years to come.

With final parts delivery from CMXG on Jan. 8, 559th AMXS structural repair craftsmen started replacing the damaged parts and were finished a week later.

The aircraft is now home at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

• Date Taken: 03.02.2011
• Date Posted: 03.02.2011 16:22
• Story ID: 66348
• Location: ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, GA, US