Arctic Warriors battle ice, heavy maintenance

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jared Marquis
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Keeping aircraft flying can be a difficult task under the best of conditions. However, the men and women of the 3rd Maintenance Group rarely face the best of conditions, especially during the frigid winters. 

"Extreme cold temperatures slow maintenance considerably. The amount of clothing, to include wearing bulky gloves, reduces dexterity," said Chief Master Sgt. Terry Keene, 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron superintendent. "We also have to use heaters in certain areas of the jets and have to operate deicer trucks prior to launching aircraft." 

These requirements and safety measures often add time and additional manpower to common maintenance procedures. 

"From the first frost around late September, early October to late April aircraft deicing and anti-icing adds an additional two hours of maintenance on every aircraft launch. Given we need at least three maintainers on every deicing job, and four on the weekends, that's six extra man-hours per aircraft, per mission, and the 517th Aircraft Maintenance Unit does an average of 85 missions a month," said 1st Lt. Joseph Douglass, 517th AMU officer-in-charge. 

That amounts to approximately 510 man-hours each month for the 517th AMU alone. Elmendorf has five similar units with similar requirements. This makes it tough on the units. According to Lieutenant Douglass, you also have to factor in proper rest cycles for the Airmen doing the work. 

"At 15 degrees Fahrenheit with calm winds, for every hour of maintenance conducted outside we're required to have 20 minutes of indoor warming per person. For a regular Basic Post Flight/Preflight, which normally takes six-eight hours, this task now takes eight-9.5 hours," said Lieutenant Douglass. "We'll conduct 55-60 BPOs a month during the winter months. This equates to an extra 120 man-hours of work per month." 

Keeping the Airmen warm while they work is also important and sometimes very costly.
"We spend more of our squadron budget on cold weather gear for our Airmen than almost anything, about $1,000 per person. This includes winter boots, Carhartt-type outer garments, and undergarments," said Chief Keene.

With a squadron of more than 500 people, and one-third yearly rotation average, the money adds up quickly. 

The manpower and monetary effects to regular maintenance schedules make it desirable to perform as much maintenance as possible in heated hangars; however, Elmendorf's current hangar space makes this a challenge. 

"Aircraft breaks often come in cycles. When this occurs, there are not enough facilities to work all at once," said Lt. Col. Jeffery King, 3rd Component Maintenance Squadron commander. "One of the issues we're running into is the 'new mission, old foundation' factor. Most of our facilities were built in the 1950s for legacy aircraft, and the newest aircraft have unique requirements that many of our facilities cannot yet support. Future military construction projects will overcome many of these shortfalls for F-22s, so keeping that funding on track is very important." 

While plans are in the works to take care of these shortfalls for Elmendorf's newest aircraft, older aircraft have not yet been updated. 

"Funds are not available to update the maintenance hangars for all aircraft, like the E-3s, and many F-15 facilities," said Colonel King. "While some improvements have been made over the years, many hangars still experience extreme flooding during 'break-up' and have frequent issues like [Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning] failures."
Chief Keene agrees that updates and more options are needed. 

We take great pride in our facilities and maintain them to the best of our ability," said Chief Keene.
"The primary concern is that we just don't have enough of them. We could really use weather shelters and additional hangar and storage space to be most effective. As we move equipment inside to shelter from the cold, the hangars become more cluttered, causing an additional hazard when we have to hangar jets during an approaching storm." 

While updated hangars and weather shelters with the ability to support the requirements for Elmendorf Airmen would greatly improve their ability to conduct required maintenance, there is no doubt they overcome the challenges they face.