Behind the scenes maintenance

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Gino Reyes
  • 4th Fighter WIng Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  There are times, despite their training, when a maintainer cannot fix a broken piece of avionics equipment on the flighline.

When this happens, the equipment is pulled from the jet and sent to the 4th Component Maintenance Squadron's avionics back-shop for repair. The Airmen at the shop are responsible for troubleshooting, repairing and inspecting faulty avionics equipment on the F-15E Strike Eagle using interface testers. The Airmen locate exactly which components are faulty on each avionics system. Once the component is indentified it is repaired, re-inspected for functionality, and re-installed on the aircraft.

"Our job is to identify what is wrong with the equipment sent to us from the flightline," said Senior Airman Tiffany Schenk, 4th CMS intermediate avionics specialist. "We identify the problem, fix it and send it back into use."

The avionics back-shop also supports the flightline avionics team by having parts readily available for minor repairs. Without these available parts, large components must be sent to the back-shop to be inspected, wasting valuable man-hours.

"By just replacing these minor pieces it saves countless man hours in troubleshooting and inspecting," said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Landis, 4th CMS production supervisor. "It also allows a quick fix, which keeps the aircraft flying without delay."

Airmen in the back-shop work around the clock to perform the tests necessary to identify and fix these problems, most of which h, need an immediate turn around. With no required annual or biannual serviceability inspections the equipment is only sent to the back-shop when it is in need of repair.

"Our job is very important" said Staff Sgt. Derrick Sherwood, 4th CMS intermediate avionics specialist. "We work around the clock to make sure these jets avionics systems are always good to go and ready to fly."