Heavy lifting

Photo By Staff Sgt. Shane S. Karp | U.S. Air Force airmen from the New Jersey Air National Guard 177th Fighter Wing Crash Disabled Damaged Aircraft Recovery team maneuver an F-16 Fighting Falcon hooked up to a crane, Sept. 19, 2015 at Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, N.J. The CDDAR team completed crane lift training, a tri-annual certification used in the event an immobile aircraft needs to be removed from a runway quickly and safely. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Shane S. Karp / released)  

WILDWOOD, NJ, UNITED STATES

09.19.2015

Story by Senior Airman Shane S. Karp 

177th Fighter Wing - NJ Air National Guard

WILDWOOD, N.J. - More than 20 members of the 177th Fighter Wing Crash Disabled Damaged Aircraft Recovery team participated in training, Sept. 19, 2015, involving crane lifting an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, New Jersey.

The training is necessary for completing a tri-annual certification, and the real-world use is in the event an F-16 is immobile and needs to be lifted by a crane and moved off the runway area, said Tech. Sgt. Robert Taylor, a CDDAR team member.

“Our main goal is to remove the aircraft as quickly and safely as possible, without causing any secondary damage,” Taylor said.

“We haven’t had to use this maneuver in a real-world scenario, and hopefully never do, but this team is very capable of handling it,” said Master Sgt. Chris Foye, a 177th FW CDDAR team member.

The 177th FW CDDAR team is a secondary duty for these airmen, and includes specialists from almost every Air Force Specialty Code within the maintenance squadron.

“In the event a plane went down, we need airmen that are familiar from each component,” Taylor said. “Not everybody’s specialized in everything, but everyone is specialized in something.”

• Date Taken: 09.19.2015
• Date Posted: 09.23.2015 07:42
• Story ID: 176940
• Location: WILDWOOD, NJ, US