Photo By Tech. Sgt. Noah Tancer | U.S. Air Force aircraft fuel systems journeymen assigned to the 378th Expeditionary...... read more read more
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Time is one of the highest priorities in any emergency. If a 79th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron F-16CJ Fighting Falcon’s engine ever fails in flight it’ll be flooded with Hydrazine to buy the pilot about 17 more minutes to decide their jet's fate.
Should the pilot choose to save their bird and land, or crash land, at Prince Sultan Air Base, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the 378th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron has in its possession an innovation in emergency hydrazine response found nowhere else in AFCENT’s area of responsibility.
Hydrazine is a highly flammable chemical, whose vapors are suspected to cause cancer if inhaled as well as irritation and burns to the skin on contact.
The 20th Maintenance Group, out of Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, whose Airmen deployed to PSAB as the 378th EMXS in support of the 79th EFS, also from Shaw AFB, brought with them a custom trailer made specifically for safe and expeditious hydrazine response.
The trailer has a variety of specialized compartments for equipment and gear. Along with four uniquely engineered seats that allow responders to safely strap their air packs on before pulling a handle between their legs releasing the mechanism holding the oxygen tanks in place.
According to DeLeon other bases keep their hydrazine equipment mixed in with the rest of their tools which cuts into response time as everything needs to be found, pulled out and put on in a rush while reacting to potentially a crash landing on the runway.
“With our trailer being organized, neatly labeled and everything in its own spot, we can go in and out of our trailer to quickly dress or egress as needed,” said Deleon. “This cuts down our hydrazine response time significantly. If everything was just in the back of our bread van it’d take us about 15 to 20 minutes to get dressed whereas with the trailer and custom chairs it takes us 5 to 10 minutes if that.”
The user-friendly design of the 378th EMXS trailer also increases their Airmen’s safety as it lowers the odds of responders forgetting to put pieces of equipment on or leaving tools behind in a rush.
“We commonly have one guy assisting the crew getting dressed while another one gets the tools and equipment ready for the hydrazine collection,” said DeLeon. “It makes getting our Airmen put together and ready to go into the hazard area that much safer and quicker.”
If for whatever reason an F-16’s hydrazine supply is depleted or used up, the bottle needs to be taken off the jet and thrown inside a special casket before a tow team and/or the fire department can go out and save the jet. After recovery, the jet is then purged of hydrazine and another bottle will be installed.
“This isn’t the first deployment this trailer has been on,” said DeLeon. “We’ve had this trailer for about 3 years and it's come in handy quite a bit. It's seen its time and proven its use but unfortunately, it's one of a kind. That's why we decided to try our best to get more of them built.”
The 378th EMXS will submit the trailer design to USCENTCOM’s Innovation Oasis competition in parallel with the 20th MXG submitting it to Air Force’s Spark Tank competition.
Spark Tank plays a central role in establishing the Air Force’s strategic mindset for delivering future capabilities through the motto “Accelerate Change or Lose.” Innovation Oasis highlights ideas, inventions, and processes to be presented for possible implementation into the command’s “Culture of Innovation.”
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.12.2022 11:39 |
| Story ID: | 429078 |
| Location: | PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, SA |
| Web Views: | 224 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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