"Never Shall i Fail My Comrades"

....it is a great bunch of guys i work with out here. These are some new people in mgmnt i am working with and i guess i have impressed the heck out of them. The flight crews i'm flying with are saying good about me, Maintenance mgmnt is thanking me and saying good stuff.........I'm just doing my job........ but if they think i'm something special who am i to argue?!?!?!?!?

The other day....Friday....was a really good day. We were getting our tails kicked....we were super busy and short handed. One crewchief, "Brad".....a nice guy from Pittsburgh.....he is younger and less experienced than me had inspected an airplane. When he was finished he had to go help on another plane. I was doing an engine run at the time to troubleshoot a problem on another airplane, and when i was finished i topped off the fuel on the plane that Brad had inspected. It was probably about 0200 in the morning then. When i was finished i was in the flight deck documenting the Aicraft forms for the refuel.........and i glanced over at a flight deck window and it looked cracked. So i went to check it out and sure enough.... it was cracked. Not good.....it is a huge job to change the window cuz it is a pressure panel and there are at least a zillion tiny screws and nuts all that have to be sealed and torqued.

Not to mention the fact that you have to reach behind flight deck instruments to access some of the nuts......and you cannot drop any.....or you have to find them when you do for obvious reasons. And there isn't alot of room to get your hand in so you will drop some.

Anyway young Brad should have caught the window on his inspection......but it was not real obvious and i dont blame him for not seeing it at nighttime. But none the less it was a grounding write up. One that, would have been very ugly had the flight crew been ready to fly ......and found it then. Especially with the inspectors on board. We would look very very very bad and we would have failed our evaluation. Poor Brad would be decertified.......and look very bad....for a pretty honest mistake.... but it was one he will never forget. He is a good guy, ...a good up and coming mechanic........and has learned to look closer at the windows. No need to make an issue of it.

So when i found it ....i told him and i told him that i would say he found bubbles in the window and he had asked me if it was good or bad....and then i had just went and finally got a chance to look at it and noticed it was cracked. That way it wouldn't look like he missed the writeup on his inspection. But i didn't be little him, he is the type that will be harder on himself than i ever could be. It is not my style to belittle anyone anyway. So we busted azz to get the window changed and we were able to be ready for the next flight. Our inspectors were impressed with how quick we got it changed, when they came in the next day. So it is ironic ....what could have made us look really really really bad, made us look good. (all cuz of me being in the right place at the right time.)

So on the way home that night, Brad said to me " thanks for finding that"........, "i would have looked really bad and gotten decertified if you hadn't"........

That was super cool 'cuz alot of guys might be thankful in that situation, but would never say so, because they would not like that a female found it. Especially cuz after that refuel we were done for the night....and some people would've gotten sent home early....and everyone thought that they were within minutes of going home early on a friday night/ saturday morning (technically i guess)

...me finding a big job like that after we busted tail all night guarenteed that we were staying the full shift. But it is the way it goes.........and it was nice that noone bitched, and that all that was said was "good find.....,and thankyou"

It is unfortunate that not every one in the airforce has the same values of teamwork as myself. I often see people running to the boss to to say how so and so screwed up.

It is unfortunate that our mgmt promotes it. In my opinion, we could learn alot from the army. In ranger school you are assigned a buddy, and if he fails ...you fail. I wish the next time someone went running to a boss saying how so and so screwed up...that they would say...."and you just sat that and watched?.....you didn't help to correct it....i'm writing you up for failing to work as a team."

We have alot of talent and alot of good people....it is scary how good our mxs team would be if mgmt promoted the idea of being a maintenance team.

Roll out... Gettin' em Home

........Doing an engine run on my break 'cuz i'm one of the only ones qualified to do that out here.... yeah me!!! Especially on those 140 degree days when you are bustin' tail for over 12 hrs....

Anyway....then all the planes decide to come back all at once and everything hits the fan! So i finish the engine run and one plane came back broke for brakes leaking hydraulics....and the one behind it came back "alpha 1" or with out "writeups" ups.

This is a good thing ...because the plane that came back broke was a quick turn and it had soldiers that needed a ride. We also didn't have a spare to give today because it's a "first come first serve deal".........and another flight crew done came got served already.

So had a airplane that just came back and i "quickturned it", to give her to the crew who had the soldiers wanting to go on R&R. (Marginal nose tires....but but no time for that now......she's just needing to get the guys to baghdad....so i'll let it go and get 'em when the plane gets back.)


After the maintenance was complete....had a little waiting around (like all things military....of course) for the rest of the passengers before i "launched" the plane. The guys (pax) from the other (broke ) plane were army guys.......after i gassed up the plane i let them on their new ride. I BS 'd with them to pass the time.

They were infantry....i could tell by their CIBs. I didn' t recognize their division patch but one guy had a 2nd Id combat patch. and the way he was faced i couldn't see his other arm for his division patch. So i asked all the dumb questions airforce crewchiefs ask army guys. Which division are you with?....i forgot what they said as they listed a buch of units they were with and it was kinda hard to hear, but i think they were a guard unit out of Ft Lewis, i might be wrong , it was kinda noisy and hard to hear....but they did mention ft lewis.....weather they are currently assigned there or were previously i can't be certain. I don't know why i said it.......because it is actually pretty unrelated....but i said i knew some 1st Group guys .

And they asked me who i knew, because they have worked with some guys from 1st group out here. I said "John Donovan". And they asked "Captain Donovan?" And i said , yeah.........

Wow we have like thousands of passing thru every day at all hours, during all shifts.... and this small little group of guys (five or so).....their plane breaks.......so they swap them to another....and of all the planes here they swap the one i'm working on is the only one that can take the mission....and of all the crewchiefs here ....i'm working on that plane at that very moment when "Jonh Donovan's" guys need a lift. I think one of there names was "Brugnee"...It was a few hours ago....alot of soldiers ago....and a few broke planes ago.......

And Then.......... it's about shift change and the plane was finally ready to go........and one of the crewchiefs assisting me comes up to me and holds his hand up to me....and it is covered in hydraulic fluid. So he shows me where it came from.........in the cargo compartment......along the wall by the door (where you walk in)......oh boy ....not good !

There were several lines there hidden behind insulation and a panel.....and emergency exit light....all that i had to remove just to get at it. I was hoping it would just be a line that loosened.....and it would be a quick fix......because i knew that if these guys didn't get off the ground soon they would be stuck here over night because the aircrew would "time out"....(or run out of duty day)....and there was no one else available to fly cuz of current taskings....which is another "blue moon" type deal......but John's guys musta been going for the "murphys law for traveling" expert badge....or something.

So of course, the line didn't just loosen up ......it burst........or the ferrule cracked and it is a pressure line for the brakes and that means these guys are going nowhere until it's fixed. (another blue moon type event)......so now we had to "cannabalize" another plane for parts....becuz that particular line never bursts ....so it isn't in the supply system.

The flight crew was getting whiney about their duty day.....and i could tell that they were getting ready to scrap the mission. and let another crew fly them tomorrow.........

so i totally busted tail to make sure those guys would be one step closer to there familys when we parked the planes for the night. And i at least got them out of here..........hopefully there luck will be better from here on out.

Those guys probably don't know how close they were to spending the night here. There traveling was not a good experience for them so far.... but that would not have helped.

Even though it was sucky for them..... running into people who know your freinds ....so i can share my " this one time at band camp stories" & it gives purpose to the days that i find myself wondering .....if i went to the doc today for an ear infection.....i wonder how many bags of fluid i would get this time.....cuz today i can tell i'm dehydrated.......but it was one of the best days i've had out here.... it's little things................the people, that matter