Recently, the 189th Airlift Wing Aerialport Flight in collaboration with the 189th Maintenance Squadron’s sheet metal shop created a piece of equipment to assist with successful airdrops. The piece of metal presses against the actuator and cable to tighten everything down to keep things still, providing extra leverage until the parachute is ready to deploy. This could potentially save the Air Force billions by ensuring all heavies containing Air Force inventory reaches the ground successfully.
“All of aerialport came together to come up with this idea,” said Senior Master Sgt. David Smith, the 189th Aerialport Flight superintendent. “It was a great collaborative effort by all of us. Then our leadership suggested we get with Staff Sgt. Ryan Weng from sheet metal to have the part designed and created specifically for us.”
The piece has not been put into play yet, but aerialport and the 154th Training Squadron loadmaster section are working to ensure they have all their checks and balances before they put it to use. One option they are considering is utilizing the wing’s test detachment to assist with the first attempt. According to Smith the detachment would be the ideal starting point for communication and putting the special piece to the test.
“Thinking outside the box is what we do,” Smith said. “Innovative ideas can save big Air Force tons of money by doing things like this. I’m always trying to push my guys to think this way and share things that make their job easier, Air National Guard better, and our Airmen work smarter. Nobody has a dumb idea. If someone thinks of something, we’ll try it! If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Trial and error… That’s innovation.”
| Date Taken: | 02.01.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.01.2021 12:07 |
| Story ID: | 388075 |
| Location: | LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, AR, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Aerialport creates quick solution to ensure successful air drops, by MSgt Jessica Roles, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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