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Pieces of freedom

Photo By Tech. Sgt. John Linzmeier | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joshua Cox, 18th Component Maintenance Squadron...... read more read more

KADENA AIR BASE, OKINAWA, JAPAN

05.11.2017

Story by Senior Airman John Linzmeier

18th Wing

When Joshua Cox was a kid, his passion was piecing together and breaking down elaborate constructions with his massive collection of building blocks.

Now, as a Senior Airman in the 18th Component Maintenance Squadron hydraulics backshop, he makes his livelihood doing the same thing -- only with aircraft components.

“It’s a pretty cool job if you love finding out how things work,” he said. “Anyone who has ever had a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together--that's the kind of person that really thrives in our career field.”

The hydraulic backshop’s main workspace has a distinct mechanical smell to it; a mixture of oil, metal and sweat. Aircraft parts needing repairs are constantly flowing into the building and fully-serviceable parts come out.

Incoming items vary, such as brake assemblies, actuators, landing gears, spoiler actuators that move wing flaps, tubing and more. Each system is indispensable in order to generate unmatched airpower.

“When you’re aircrew, you tend to develop a growing appreciation for all the hard work that’s put into the jet’s hydraulic systems, because the amount of things that it ties into are huge,” said Tech. Sgt. Joshua Butts, 909th Air Refueling Squadron evaluator boom operator. “The flight controls, landing gear, boom and brakes all depend on it. To put it simply, the jet doesn’t fly without hydraulics.”

According to Cox, the nature of the job is broken down into two portions. Trouble shooting always comes first and it can take anywhere from a few moments to a few hours.

The second step is highly technical and often requires the teamwork of several technicians to break down complicated systems into dozens of pieces and reassembling all of it back together.

Once a part has finished being inspected and repaired, it’s ran through a hydraulic test stand which simulates the same conditions the part goes through while in flight, before it’s sent back to the flightline. Most of the shop’s clientele consists of Airmen from the many on-base maintenance units, however it also supports other units overseas as well.

The meticulous process of repairing hydraulic systems goes further than the work bench. Cox said the accountability and handling of tools is conducted with just as much care as the aircraft systems themselves.

If a small item such as a wrench is out of place, it can be an indicator that something else had been mishandled. This is why hydraulics technicians are trained to apply a high level of attention to detail in everything they do.

“You have to know how every little piece of the system works together,” said Cox. “That way, when something goes wrong, you can often tell exactly what’s going on in the system and get started on fixing it.”

Aircraft across the Air Force depend on the constant upkeep and expertise from hydraulics Airmen in order to function. No matter how small the job is, each work order and every tasking is aimed at generating aircraft and ultimately protecting the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region.

“The way I look at it,” said Cox. “Every aircraft component is another piece of freedom. We put a lot of focus and hard work into our job, so everything comes together and we’re able to make a big difference.”