JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Fighter planes, they're all glamour, thrust, being inverted and huge amounts of swag, right?
Few people consider the small army of logisticians and maintainers who work quietly behind the scenes to keep these beasts topped up on fuel and ammunition, and in good working order.
During Exercise Northern Edge 17 (NE17), maintainers in 67th Fighter Squadron from Kadena Airbase, Japan, are working 24 hours a day in three shifts to keep the 12 F-15C Eagles they flew here from Japan, in top working order, said Air Force 1st Lt. Joel Sanchez, the officer in charge of maintenance for the 67th during NE17 and a Bloomfield, New Jersey native.
The Eagle first flew in 1972 and and entered U.S. Air Force service in 1976. So what's this venerable aircraft from the disco era doing in an exercise involving the two hottest fifth generation fighter jets, the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II?
“I love the F-15, I think it's the best fighter we have out here. We've got C-models, they can do your air to air attack, I've also worked on E-models, where you get your ground strike capabilities,” said Senior Airman Mitchell Donovan, an F-15C crew chief with the 67th FS and Cromwell, Connecticut native, “It's a great jet to work on, they've been in service a long time, so we have a lot of guys who know a lot of information about the jet.”
Sanchez explained maintenance cycles are a huge part of what he is doing here at NE17, with a 400-hour phase cycle in place, or the amount of time that can pass between maintenance that grounds the aircraft for a short period of time, and nearly 3 hours per sortie flown during NE17, the selection process of the 12 aircraft they brought to NE17 was crucial.
Just getting the Eagles into the sky on a routine day can be complicated and takes a lot of coordination, Donovan explained.
“First thing we do in the morning, we come out and we check the spot, make sure there are no leaks, no fasteners missing, just general health of the airplane stuff,” said Donovan, “Then the pilot comes out to do his walk-around inspection and make sure the jet is up to their standards.”
After completing the initial preflight checks, the crew chief has to wait for weapons specialists to make their way down the line and arm the aircraft, Donovan said.
“[Weapons specialists] come by and essentially do an end-of-runway inspection,” said Donovan, “they come by and pull out all the safety pins to get the jet armed up.”
“It's a really good feeling to watch them get off the ground and know, 'I did that, I made that happen, it's one of the best feelings in the world'” Donovan said.
The squadron brings a lot of capabilities to NE17 in the form of air-superiority fighters, and hope to take a lot back with them.
“So far it's been a really cool experience, you get to see a lot of different aircraft flying around, and I love Alaska, I'm glad to be back here,” Donovan said of NE17.