AGE team keeps equipment mission ready

  • Published
  • By Lori Burling Alves
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, civilian staff writer
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  They're known as the "jack of all trades" in the maintenance career field as they can fix anything if it involves aircraft ground support equipment. They're war-ready at a moments notice and mobile. 

These mechanics are members of the Maintenance Squadron's Aerospace Ground Equipment flight, a 24-person team vital to the 39th Air Base Wing's surety mission, Incirlik Air Base's transient aircraft, the cargo hub, and rotational squadron deployments.
"Their quick expertise helps accomplish the mission of this wing," said Master Sgt. Paul Wallace, 39th MXS first sergeant. 

Master Sgt. Dave Mercer, 39 MXS AGE Superintendent said, "We provide all types of ground support for aircraft and aircraft support equipment here at Incirlik. We maintain a little bit of everything, whether it's fixing a heating unit or providing lighting for security. The AGE team has a wide range of duties -- one of the most critical is maintaining the war reserve equipment." 

The AGE team maintains 272 active pieces of aircraft equipment and 48 pieces of war reserve equipment that must be ready for utilization at any given time. All the equipment must meet very stringent Air Force certification standards. 

"They maintain all these resources so the war reserve equipment can be pulled out for immediate use in responding to whatever incident may have occurred," said Sergeant Wallace. 

Maintaining this equipment includes a wide variety of duties such as cleaning, inspecting and repairing the pieces. It can take up to 40 hours to inspect one piece of equipment, and each piece must be checked every six months. If a repair or a replacement part is needed, it can take two-to-three weeks to complete the inspection. 

"This is no small job, said Sergeant Mercer. "Imagine taking all the panels off your car and hand-checking every piece of wire, every hose and every nut and bolt, and then putting it all back together again. That's what we do with each individual piece of equipment." 

To help bolster their knowledge and aid in inspections, the work center holds weekly briefings given by members of the flight themselves, whether it's a flight chief or an airman first class. The AGE team sees it as a quick review or chance to gain new knowledge about their career field and mission. This practice garnered accolades during the 2006 Surety Inspection. 

"These briefings ensure that we're all up to speed on our polices and regulations," said Sergeant Mercer. "We're very knowledgeable in a lot of areas. We don't have any specialists in AGE. For instance, aircraft usually have engine specialists and hydraulics specialists; we specialize in just about everything. Our AGE team here has a record of outstanding performance, and we're just trying to maintain that standard." 

Internal and outside inspections, such as the surety inspection next week, are vital to a squadron's mission, especially for the AGE team, said Maj. Kenneth Speidel, 39th Maintenance Squadron commander. "Inspections are important because they validate the squadron's readiness to accomplish the mission. Inspectors, with their outside perspective, are invaluable in providing feedback for areas of improvement and for reinforcing good practices within the squadron," he said. 

Prepping for the surety inspection has definitely been invaluable to AGE. During the eight months that Sergeant Mercer has been at Incirlik, the AGE team has identified four manufacturer defects that had not been previously found. 

"I'm really proud of this flight's thoroughness." said Sergeant Mercer. "We've already submitted one change that's been approved by the Air Force. We're identifying problems and coming up with fixes that the Air Force agrees with." 

One recent defect the team discovered concerned a weapons loader, commonly known as a jammer. One of the brackets did not meet standards, and further scrutiny by the team found that 60 percent of their jammers had the same defect. This finding even helped other units throughout the Air Force, who in response to Incirlik's AGE Flight's finding, discovered similar defects as well. 

The 39th MXS has two "quick fix" teams that work on generators and equipment that can be used on the flight line during base-wide operational exercises and for everyday
operations. 

"The AGE team is essential to sustaining a wide variety of missions," said Major Speidel. "Our AGE maintainers help sustain airlift and air refueling missions, and ensure we're ready to support NATO and other contingency missions. AGE also helps our community by providing equipment support for such things as the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony and Fall Fest. Our AGE maintainers are often unsung heroes doing behind the scenes work to keep all these activities going."