By U.S. Air Force Capt. Mark D. Gibson
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- The airfield here recently received a face-lift of sorts with the addition of a new mobile aircraft arresting system.
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Civil Engineers have been busy since they landed here. From facility upgrades to pouring concrete these Civil Engineers have done a tremendous amount of work in just a few short weeks.
"I am immensely proud of these Engineers. We have 65 Airmen from across the Air Force that came together as a team to make this installation a reality.
Every AFSC in my squadron had a hand in this from surveying and preparing the site to constructing wooden shelters to protect the new equipment," stated Maj. Matthew Conlan, Commander of the 455th Civil Engineer Squadron.
The 455 AEW's primary mission is to project effective airpower in support of combat operations in the theater of operation combating the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
Another mission at Bagram is to support airfield operations. One of its tenant units is the "Mighty Marine Moon Dogs," which is a Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (VMAQ-3) deployed here from Cherry Point, N.C.
In order to conduct safe flying operations in bad weather conditions or emergencies VMAQ-3 has a couple of specific requirements that are not normally found at Air Force airfields, such as an operational MAAS.
Tech Sgt. Jens P. Walle, Chief of Barrier Maintenance, Electrical, and Power Production Shop put it in layman's terms.
"A MAAS is basically a hydraulically activated set of two modified B-52 brakes designed to stop fighter aircraft equipped with a tail-hook during In-Flight Emergencies and periods of inclement weather such as rain or strong cross-winds."
"There is a lot of room on this runway for pilots to land safely, but just in case our Marine pilots are well qualified to take arrested landings," according to Capt. Robert "PeeWee" Herrmann, assigned here with the VMAQ-3.
"The MAAS is simply a precautionary measure that is available should it be needed to stop a 40-50, 000 pound jet quickly or in the event of emergency."
According to Sergeant Walle, 'the way that it works is an aircraft drops its tail-hook to ready-down position; the aircraft tail-hook engages a 1 1/4 inch steel cable suspended 2 inches above the runway with the help of a series of black rubber donuts."
The 175 foot steel cable is attached to the modified B-52 brakes via 8 1/4 inch wide by 1/4 inch thick by 1,500 foot nylon tapes rolled up on individual 66 inch reels, much like fishing line on a bait-cast reel.
As the tapes pay out to the "hooked" aircraft, hydraulics apply pressure to the brakes to slow down and stop the aircraft in a matter of 1000-1200 feet, he explained. One MAAS set comes with a price tag of about $615,000, which does not include shipping.
"This is an amazing system that was sent here in pieces and took about 2 1/2 grueling days to assemble. First we had to drive more than 150 52 inch aluminum stakes into the ground that was surface mine-proofed to 4 1/2 to 6 inches," said Sergeant Walle.
Major Conlan said that his folks had to use Operational Risk Management in a 'reduced-risk" minefield to describe what they did out there on the runway.
"Based on Soviet mine-laying doctrine and what had been found in the area since then, we decided that surface-proofing the area by the 18th Engineer Brigade gave us enough safety margin to proceed with the work.
"We were reasonably sure there were no old mines, but not quite 100 percent. But we decided the safety benefit the barrier will provide the Marines was greater than the risk of finding any mines," said Major Conlan.
"This is like the Indianapolis 500 for barrier maintenance when it comes to job satisfaction," said Sergeant Walle.
The Barrier Maintenance, Electrical and Power Production shop completed the install without depot help.
The average experience level was five years in service, with one and a half years experience with barriers, and they pulled it off as a team with members from Charleston AFB, Lajes Field, and RAF Alconbury, barrier maintenance, electricians, and power production crew members alike.
The team consists of Airmen First Class Marc Dalope, Scott Thomson, John Rodriguez, Senior Airmen Dustin Smith, Royce Thomas, Joshua Woike, Staff Sgts. Anthony Smith, Gregory James, and Albert Dejesus-Arvelo. "These guys were the backbone of the entire operation!" said Sergeant Walle.
This project began with the Pavement & Equipment shop prepping the area, and stretching nylon tapes.
The airfield Fire Department operated by Kellogg Brown and Root performs invaluable aircraft egress, and barrier rewind operations, however, the overall maintenance and certification responsibilities lie with the Barrier Maintenance, Electrical and Power Production shop.
The bottom line is that the MAAS is necessary and saves pilot's lives and their aircraft.
The poor condition of Bagram's runway is at the top of the priority list here.
Optimal conditions call for aircraft engaging the barrier as close as possible to the centerline of the runway, and with the recent displaced threshold, this optimum centerline has been decreased over 3500 feet by runway construction.
"The Prowlers are a rather heavy aircraft, and require longer take-off and landing strips. When they have problems they rely heavily on this midfield barrier to keep them out of harm's way," said Sergeant Walle.
In order to conduct runway repairs with the displaced threshold the midfield MAAS was a direct result of the runway repairs, and will probably stay in place until the new runway is finished.
"The addition of the active MAAS on our runway is very unique to the Air Force," said Sergeant Walle. "And we're up to the challenge as the US Air Force's busiest aircraft arresting barrier team in the world, at least for this month; over ten engagements, in under two weeks."
Capts. Paul "HoJo" Johnson and Filip "Wonder" Heist, USMC, were the first two pilots to test the new system to ensure it would work properly.
"Catching the wire at an airfield has its difficulties, but it is a lot easier than the carrier, because it isn't moving away from you," remarked Captain Johnson.
The arrested landing or trap is made into Bagram Airfield at about 140 knots (150 miles per hour). Assisting with the arrestment is a Landing Signals Officer (LSO), who provides verbal inputs from the ground to the pilot to guide him into catching the wire.
VMAQ-3 has two pilots, Capts. Brent Looby and James Jones, who are school-house trained LSOs to help aircrew land safely during arrestments.
"We are extremely appreciative of all the support we have received from 455th Expeditionary Operations Group. As the only tail hook aircraft operating from Bagram Airfield, the EOG making the MAAS a priority has ensured we can safely accomplish our mission in support of OEF ground forces.
The arresting gear is mission essential and has provided us a valuable measure of safety particularly important during the ongoing runway repair," said Lt. Col. Timothy Cutright, VMAQ-3 Commanding Officer.
According to Lt. Col. Rich Anderson, deputy operations group commander, 455th EOG, 'the test went extremely well; we were able to not only test the arresting gear but the response time to reset the system as well.
This was a great chance for the CE folks to see their equipment in action and see that it works as advertised."
| Date Taken: | 06.21.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 06.21.2005 11:00 |
| Story ID: | 2214 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 117 |
| Downloads: | 48 |
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