U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis Lechleiter receives a coin from U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Lawrence Wells for being the dedicated crew chief of the wing’s flagship competition overall winning team at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., Jan. 13, 2012. Wells, 9th Air Force commander, visited the base to acknowledge Airmen for their outstanding performance during the past year. Lechleiter is a 333rd Aircraft Maintenance Unit dedicated crew chief who hails from Redding, Calif. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Gino Reyes/Released)

4th FW holds flagship competition

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  Dedicated crew chiefs and their assistants are Airmen who stand above their peers; they have earned coveted recognition from leadership for their hard work and attention to detail.

A flagship competition took place here pitting the best of the best, those flagship DCCs and their assistants, against one another to determine which team was overall the sharpest and what aircraft had the best appearance during a visit by Maj. Gen. Lawrence Wells, 9th Air Force commander, Jan. 13.

"We put together this competition in less than three weeks," said Senior Master Sgt. Anthony Guest, 4th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron assistant superintendent. "We wanted to showcase these aircraft and Airmen."

During the competition flagship judges ranked DCCs and their ADCCs on their aircraft's aesthetics and forms and the crew chief's ability to answer maintenance questions based on their skill levels.

"Each team was asked the same questions," said Guest, who coordinated the competition. "The winning team was the only one to get all of the answers correct."

The overall competition winners were U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis Lechleiter and Airman 1st Class Kasey Shelly who maintain "Spirit of Goldsboro," the wing commander's F-15E Strike Eagle. This was the first time either of them participated in a flagship competition.

"I was nervous because I wasn't completely sure of what the competition entailed," said Lechleiter, who has been a DCC for five years. "As the completion became closer, I became confident in my jet and assistant because I knew we had our stuff together, for a lack of better words."

Preparation for this competition was business as usual for the "Spirit of Goldsboro" crew chiefs.

"My team and I worked as normal," said Lechleiter, a native of Redding, Calif. "Basically, we keep our jet in pristine order all the time."

This constant standard of excellence is what Shelly, who has been an ADCC since February 2011, attributes her team's win to.

"I was very confident going into the competition my DCC and other crew chiefs had put a lot of time and effort into preparing the aircraft for the competition," said the native of Muncie, Ind. "However, I was a little nervous since I had never done anything like this before. I did know that we all put in the extra time and effort so we would come out on top. It was awesome winning the competition. Plus, meeting a two-star general and him taking a minute to talk with us was the highlight of the day. It's not very often you get to meet a general."

The winner of the visual excellence award went to tail number 1704 maintained by U.S. Air Force DDC Staff Sgt. Chad Hammett and U.S. Air Force ADCC Senior Airman Sean Sandidge from the 334th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.

"If you are a chew chief at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base you should want nothing more than to be a DCC on one of these aircraft," Guest said.