EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Flying high over the Aleutian Islands well on their way to Northern Edge 17, the largest joint training exercise in Alaska, a couple of pilots with the 13th Fighter Squadron from Misawa Air Base, Japan, realized something just wasn't quite right with one of their mighty F-16 Fighting Falcons.
Capt. Mark Jaszczak, a 13th FS pilot, and his flight lead, Lt. Col. Christopher Moeller, the 13th Fighter Squadron commander, noticed the colonel’s jet was experiencing an engine malfunction. The two were about 50 miles north of Shemya, which is a small island in the Near Islands group of the Semichi Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska.
In short, they were in the middle of no where.
They quickly diagnosed the severity of the issue; Moeller could not maintain a safe speed to refuel with the KC-135 Stratotanker and therefore could not make it all the way to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Immediately, they scoured the flight plan for an alternate landing location.
“We discovered Cold Bay would be the closest and safest landing location. We explained our plan with the tanker’s aircrew so they could relay that to the Anchorage Center,” explained Jaszczak. “On the way there, we reassessed our gas levels and found we had just enough gas to continue on to King Salmon--getting us closer to the mainland and making it easier for additional support to get to us.”
King Salmon is 517 miles southwest of Eielson AFB. It is a remote area with no transportable access to it but the airfield they landed on. The new problem became getting the maintainers into King Salmon, because the pilots could not get the planes flying again without their tireless crew chiefs.
“I called over to the 517th Airlift Squadron and asked them if they could help out,” said Capt. Brian Buschelman, an 35th Aircraft Maintenance Unit Officer in Charge. “Within hours we had support.”
Buschelman organized the flight and Maj’s. Dustin Watkins and Stephen Gandy, 517th AS C-12 Huron pilots from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, provided the transportation to King Salmon.
The team, consisting of three 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Airmen including Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Grochowsk, the lead production superintendent, Staff. Sgt. Anthony Brown, an engine mechanic, and Senior Airman Brenden Fletcher, a sheet metal specialist, determined to resolve the issue, immediately started wrenching on the jet after their arrival.
To ensure the maintainers always had a pilot to work through the jet’s issues with, Capt. Matthew Harris, a 13th FS pilot, flew down with them. He also came to relieve Moeller who was needed at Eielson AFB to lead the 13th FS during NE17.
Harris, Brown and Fletcher worked all night and by early morning the next day the engine proved ready for a test run. While the other three rested, Grochowski and Jaszczak performed the test and put the jet back together.
“When I woke up at 4 a.m., they had the jet complete and ready for an engine run,” explained Grochowski. “It’s amazing what our maintainers accomplished in such a short amount of time. Our teamwork made sure the jets returned to operational status within 24 hours.”
The small group overcame a remote location with minimal amounts of supplies and people. The bad situation turned into a great warm-up for the teamwork and flexibility needed during NE17.
“There was no way of doing this with less people,” said Jaszczak. “We had one of each key component…sheet metal for aircraft frame and engine mechanic…they all worked impressively.”
After receiving fuel for the jets, the pilots and maintainers arrived safely at Eielson AFB for Northern Edge 2017.