Maintenance trains on crash, damaged, disabled aircraft recovery

BILOXI, UNITED STATES

03.26.2019

Story by Master Sgt. Jessica Kendziorek 

403rd Wing

Mayday! Mayday! These are words no pilot wants to say or anyone on the ground wants to hear, but unfortunately sometimes things can go wrong. This is where training for the Crash, Damaged or Disabled Aircraft Recovery Team, comes into play.

“In the event of an aircraft being involved in a crash, breaking down, or even having a flat tire that needs to be changed in order to get an aircraft off the runway or taxiway, the CDDAR team is ready,” said Master Sgt. Mark Chachati, 403rd Maintenance Squadron repair and reclamation supervisor and the 403rd Wing’s new CDDAR program manager. “This program is in place and training occurs annually to make sure that we can recover disabled aircraft for any reason.”

During the March Unit Training Assembly, members from all sections within the 403rd Maintenance Group participated in CDDAR training, whose unofficial motto is ‘hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.’

These CDDAR members worked quickly, safely, and efficiently removing the equipment from the storage container and separating the items required to lift an aircraft. The group worked together, moving large beams and attaching them together to create a stabilized support platform, where they stacked 15 large air bags on top of each other beneath the wing of the C-130J aircraft, which ultimately can expand high enough to lift the aircraft.

Even though Staff Sgt. Victoria Kinman, 403rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, has not completed the school house training for being a member of CDDAR, she has worked alongside her counterparts doing the training, with Sunday’s lesson being her fourth exercise.

“I get hands-on experience, which is going to be a big help when I actually get to the training in May of this year, because I get to go into the training with at least a basic knowledge of what we will be doing,” said Kinman. “I won’t be going into it blind, which I think is going to help me with the class. And I also had the chance to work the air gauges during this exercise, which I didn’t get to do during previous training exercises.”

Hoses numbering 1-15 were stretched out between the airbags to the CDDAR control console manifold, which holds the 15 lines and attached in order to the bags. The control console manifold stand is connected to an MC7/air compressor, and once the lines are secured, the air bags are filled starting with the contact bags or the top two bags, 14 and 15. Once these bags are filled, they fill the bags from bottom to top until the bags lift or stabilize the aircraft to allow for repair actions; however, during this training exercise the bags were stopped short of touching the C-130J’s wings.

“We don’t want to inadvertently cause structural damage to a functional Air Force asset,” said Senior Master Sgt. Steven Dahl, 803rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron specialist flight chief. “So during a routine training exercise, the air bags are not going to lift the aircraft, they will be inflated just far enough to show the proficiency of the team.”

With more than 40 members on the CDDAR team, the group split up to work on both sides of the aircraft, creating two stacks of air bag lifts for each side. The members also inventoried the CDDAR storage containers ensuring that all of the equipment is accounted for and operational.

According to Chachati, it is important to make sure the equipment is ready because you never know what you need to use for any given situation.

Dahl said that he remembered one incident that occurred when an aircraft landed and the brakes locked up causing the aircraft to rupture all four main landing gear tires and damage the rims.

He said, “We had to go out onto the flight line to change all of the tires on the aircraft, all while other aircraft were circling the runway waiting to land and we were able to do this using only the aircraft jacks.”

“By completing this training every year, we ensure that our team is ready and proficient when we have these kinds of incidents, and that they are handled quickly and efficiently, but most importantly, safely,” said Chachati.

• Date Taken: 03.26.2019
• Date Posted: 03.27.2019 15:24
• Story ID: 315914
• Location: BILOXI, US