Increasing aircraft availability in partnership with the Production Assessment Team

Photo By Capt. Jason Sanchez | U.S. Air Force Col. Brian McCullough, Production Assessment Team lead, and Master Sgt. Marcos Ochoa, PAT Aircraft Armament Systems lead, recognize Senior Airman Aaron Rubio Bejar, 144th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Aircraft Armament Systems technician, as a top performer during an out brief to senior leadership at the Fresno Air National Guard Base, Calif. Aug. 18, 2023. The PAT assesses Wings across the ANG and assists them by identifying opportunities for increased effectiveness to increase aircraft availability. (Air National Guard photo by Capt. Jason Sanchez)  

FRESNO, CA, UNITED STATES

09.13.2023

Story by Capt. Jason Sanchez 

144th Fighter Wing

The F-15 Eagle, which is flown by the 144th Fighter Wing, is one of the most lethal and successful airframes in U.S. Air Force history with an unprecedented air-to air combat kill-to-loss ratio of 104-0.
At the 144th Fighter Wing, Airmen continue this legacy of combat effectiveness and lethality through a delicate balance of scheduling regular training for pilots and conducting regular maintenance on the aircraft. All aircraft, including F-15C Eagles, require regular maintenance that is both scheduled and unscheduled.
The Air National Guard’s Production Assessment Team visited the 144th Fighter Wing at the Fresno Air National Guard Base, California, from Aug. 14-18, 2023, to assess maintenance processes and procedures in order to identify ways to increase aircraft availability and reduce aircraft non-mission capable rates.
The 144th FW is the seventeenth Wing that the PAT has visited so far. Col. Brian McCullough, special assistant to the National Guard Bureau A-4 director, led the Production Assessment Team for their visit.
“The Production Assessment Team’s main role is to visit units and look for opportunities that the unit can do to increase its aircraft availability,” McCullough said. “We look at plans, scheduling and documentation; production; analysis; quality assurance; supply (and other metrics).”
Leadership from the 144th Fighter Wing requested the visit by the PAT after seeing the success that they have had at multiple units. The approach of the PAT is one of the main factors that makes them appealing to units.
“We requested the PAT visit last fall, and this was their earliest availability to visit our unit,” said Col. Marcia Cole, 144th Maintenance Group commander. “The PAT is different from a unit inspection because this team provides a holistic look at a unit’s manpower and processes, and it provides recommendations to help increase aircraft availability. As well, the PAT maintains a partnership with the unit after the visit to assess and assist as necessary to ensure success.”
Following their visit, they continue to check in and work with the wing over the next year. The PAT initiative was spearheaded in February 2022 by Major General Donald Carpenter who, at the time, served as the NGB director of Logistics, Engineering, and Force Protection for the ANG with the goal of increasing aircraft availability and mission capability rates across the 81 flying wings of the ANG.
“Our commitment to the combatant commanders, the Secretary of the Air Force, the Secretary of Defense, and the president, if called upon, is to produce mission capable aircraft,” said McCullough.
Maximizing aircraft availability throughout the ANG is a key to meeting the objectives of the National Defense Strategy and the National Military Strategy, which is why the PAT was established
As the PAT assesses units, they examine all limiting factors across the total force, including supply issues, depot maintenance, and aircraft serviceability limits. The key area that they examine at wings is when aircraft are placed on a Non-Mission Capable for Maintenance, or NMCM, status.
“Those are all the things that we can control ourselves as maintainers,” said McCullough. “NMCM time for the entire Air National Guard is a big chunk of that time, so through a continuous process improvement lens, we look for ways to shrink that time.”
Based on an initial virtual look and correspondence with wing leadership, the PAT lead identifies and hand picks field experts to join the team for the visit. During their visit to the 144th FW, the PAT included 11 hand-picked subject matter experts from ANG units and NGB, including three members who joined the team in a training capacity.
Lt. Col. Greg Hawkins, a maintenance officer with the 133rd Maintenance Group, joined the PAT for the first time as a team lead under McCullough’s supervision for the 144th FW’s visit. His unit had previously been assessed by a PAT.
“It’s definitely a different view, mindset, feeling-- being behind the curtain than being in front of it. When we went through the PAT-- at first it was nerve wracking. Even though it is not an inspection, someone is coming to your house,” said Hawkins. “But after, they validate what you were pretty much already thinking, or they uncover some blind spots.”
Master Sgt. Brian Gray, a maintenance data analyst at the 142nd Maintenance Group, also joined the PAT for the first time.
“A huge part of my job is taking massive amounts of data, generated by the aircraft, by the maintainers, everything that goes into supporting these weapons systems, and to translate it into usable data for leadership to make data-driven decisions,” said Gray. “I am proud to be here, as part of this group because I have seen what a positive impact they can have on a unit.”
The recommendations that the PAT gives at the end of each visit are very specific to each unit.
“Just those little tweaks can get one or two aircraft ready to fly, and that definitely helps with sending a message about our capabilities,” said Hawkins.
Following each visit, the PAT repeatedly sees units experience increases in their Aircraft Availability and Mission Capability rates, and those results usually result in a domino effect.
“Once they see the success, the idea or the intent is that it becomes infectious,” said McCullough. “And it makes them want to get better and improve to raise AA and MC rates and decrease NMCM time.”
“I believe once we implement the recommendations of the PAT, it will provide tremendous improvements in our ability to accomplish the mission of the 144th Fighter Wing,” said Cole. “I would like to thank Col. McCullough and his team for providing their time and expertise to our team. We look forward to working with them going forward as we implement their recommendations.”

• Date Taken: 09.13.2023
• Date Posted: 09.19.2023 13:38
• Story ID: 453369
• Location: FRESNO, CA, US