Crew chiefs generate Fighting Falcons before Sunrise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Alyssa C. Wallace
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  Crew chiefs from the 13th Aircraft Maintenance Unit prepared several F-16 Fighting Falcons for flight to the Republic of Korea in support of operational readiness exercise Beverly Sunrise 15-2 on March 1.

An ORE tests Airmen's ability to incorporate wartime procedures into their daily duties. This means crew chiefs are tested on their ability to generate serviceable aircraft in a timely manner.

"OREs are important to get us ready for real-world scenarios," said Staff Sgt. Seth Puit, 13 AMU dedicated crew chief. "When we were last deployed, we were flying normal training missions like we do here, and then all of a sudden we were hit with a real-world mission and all our jets had to be loaded and ready. Since we do these exercises normally, we knew exactly what to do - it was very easy and fast paced - we completed everything we needed to do within the allotted time frame."

During normal operations, crew chiefs may take several hours to complete an aircraft inspection checklist - they service tires, check engine and hydraulic oil, inspect the interior and exterior of the aircraft for damage and check the engine's intake and exhaust.

Time requirements are much more demanding during an ORE like Beverly Sunrise, and the higher operations tempo puts more pressure on the crew chiefs to quickly generate aircraft for flight.

"We have a limited amount of time to complete our checklists - the enemy isn't going to wait, and neither can we," said Staff Sgt. James King, 13 AMU dedicated crew chief.

"It puts on extra stress, which is a good reason to go through these exercise scenarios, so we get used to that stress," said Tech. Sgt. Pablo Jimenez, 13 AMU crew chief expeditor. "We don't want to rush around and miss items; the point is to do it with a sense of urgency and pay attention to the details.
 
"It's crazy, but it's controlled chaos," he said. "We're constantly helping each other out to ensure we don't miss the little things."

Although pilots perform quick, on-the-spot checks of aircraft before takeoff, the crew chiefs know the hours they spent servicing aircraft will help the pilots carry out the suppression of enemy air defenses mission. 

"Pilots have so many things they have to worry about on their side that we crew chiefs don't know about, but knowing we have completed our job and that the jet is safe is one less worry they have," King said. "It's satisfying to see the work you did for 12 hours a day helped complete the mission."