39th Civil Engineers ensure safety on the flightline Published April 28, 2014 By Staff Sgt. Eboni Reams 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs -- Members of the 39th Civil Engineer Squadron and the 39th Operations Squadron came together to paint sections of the flightline to relocate Controlled Movement Areas for safer vehicle and aircraft use April 22, here. The CMAs are access points requiring permission from Air Traffic Control for access. The CMA sections where the new markings were placed are high traffic areas and will help reduce vehicle incursions and confusion. "For calendar year 2013, there were 12 major airfield driving violations," said Tech. Sgt. James Messer, 39th CES heavy repair section chief. "Of those 12 violations, six were caused by the misleading markings we just replaced." The vehicle operators were depending on inconsistent markings for direction, and were entering a taxi way on accident. The 39th CES solved this problem by relocating the markings and removing unneeded ones. "These new markings will greatly impact the safety of vehicles and lower, if not eliminate vehicle incursions and accidents," said Senior Master Sgt. Mark Thomas, 39th CES operations flight chief. During the current inspection, the changes to the runway markings will help the wing exceed safety standards, and help the inspectors as well, explained Messer. "In addition to the wing being safe, we want the inspectors to be focused on the inspection and wing personnel to execute their duties without worrying about violating airfield restrictions," Messer said. Even though this was a short notice tasking, the civil engineers were expedient and beat the estimated date of completion. "With a completion projection of three days, we were able to work as a team and knock this immensely important project out in only one day, which reduced the impact on U.S. and Turkish air forces flying missions, "said Messer. The 39th CES handles many projects around base and continue to showcase the seamless communication between the different units within the squadron. With the speedy completion of this assignment to help out the inspection team and more importantly keep the wing safe, these civil engineers are exemplifying our mission to stay 'Fit, Focused, and Ready'.