Phase dock keeps ‘em flyin’

Photo By Stephen Hudson | Master Sgt. Chris Mood, an electrician with the 451st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, runs tests on the electronic systems on a South Carolina Air National Guard F-16 while the jet is in the phase dock undergoing required maintenance June 26, 2012. A phase inspection, done in the phase dock, is completed every 400 hours of flying time and is a detailed inspection of the aircraft. Members of the 169th Fighter Wing at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., are deployed to KAF in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Swamp Fox F-16’s, pilots, and support personnel began their Air Expeditionary Force deployment early April to take over flying missions for the air tasking order and provide close air support for troops on the ground in Afghanistan.  

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN

06.28.2012

Story by Tech. Sgt. Stephen Hudson 

169th Fighter Wing

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - After 400 flight hours, the F-16s of the 157th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron are due for a complete overhaul – and the airmen working in the phase dock here are the ones keeping the jets in the fight.

When an F-16 is towed off the line and into the hangar, the choreographed dance of maintenance personnel moving in and around the aircraft is well scripted. The men and women of the 451st Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron break the jet down from top to bottom and meticulously go over it.

“It looks chaotic, but everyone has their own piece of the pie,” said Master Sgt. Shannon Mines with the 451st Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron.

If the sequence of events surrounding a phase inspection is an orchestra, then Mines is the conductor. As the dock supervisor Mines, who is on his 10th deployment for the Air Force, is responsible for the activities that go on during a phase inspection.
“A lot of maintenance is getting done here,” Mines said.

In a matter of weeks these F-16s are putting on hours that would take months to accumulate back home at McEntire Joint National Guard Base. And while a phase inspection can take up to three weeks at home, here it is done in three-and-a-half-days.

Since a phase inspection is done every 400 hours, the crews working on the jets are tackling scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, meaning a jet that leaves phase is good for another 30 days. Since April, this is the 15th jet to come through the phase docks. In May phase dock set a Kandahar Airfield record with eight jets done.

“It has to be 100 percent,” Mines said of the heavy and intense maintenance. “A pilot doesn’t have to worry if his landing gear is going to work.”

As of June 25, the F-16s from the 157th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron have flown 1,234 sorties totaling 5,191 hours,
“It’s a huge team effort,” said Mines. “Every shop in maintenance has a hand in it, and I am very proud of this group of guys.”

• Date Taken: 06.28.2012
• Date Posted: 06.30.2012 06:43
• Story ID: 90912
• Location: KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF