News

Reservists implement money-saving fix

  • Published
  • By Sandra Pishner
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. --  Saving the Air Force money doesn't always mean cutting the budget. Sometimes it means just looking at a task and realizing some good old fashion do-it-yourself effort will do the trick.

In recent months, maintenance workers on the C-17 have come across cracks in the engine exhaust turning lip assembly. The standard response was to condemn the whole assembly and wait several weeks for a replacement. But, Mike Wess, 62nd Maintenance Squadron (and former 446th Airlift Wing Reservist), realized a local repair could save the Air Force both time and money.

Repairing the turning lip assembly locally versus replacing the entire exhaust assembly saves about $900,000 per unit.

There have been six cracks to repair just at McChord, according to Senior Master Sgt. Tim Ebora, 446th Maintenance Squadron structural maintenance section chief.

"It's a fairly newly-discovered problem. This is not your typical sheet metal repair. It's unconventional because you're supposed to use similar material. This is not; it's carbon, fiberglass, aluminum," said Ebora.

The repair is only done at McChord right now. Wess identified the issue and suggested a way to do the repairs locally. Boeing engineers designed the repair, and technicians here have executed it.

Seven traditional Reservists and five air reserve technicians in the 446th Maintenance Squadron's structural maintenance flight took part in the repairs.

"The bulk of our involvement was that we fabricated the carbon fiber repair parts from a mold on a couple of UTA's and my ARTs did the repairs during the week," said Ebora. "Master Sergeant Richard Ohira, who is one of the ARTs in our section, has been working closely with Mike Wess on these repairs."

It took a few tries to get it right.

"We had to make sure we got all the wrinkles out (literally), so you have to make sure the material is perfectly laid in the mold. We had to figure it out as we went," said Tech. Sgt. Mark Stair. "We had to modify the first mold because it required too much heat. The second mold takes less heat and takes half the time for the part to cure."

According to Ebora, it's a pretty involved repair.

"We're all having fun doing this," he said. "We're applying aluminum repair with advance composite skills. It's complicated to form sheet metal, so we had this mold made. We use carbon composite materials to form the part we use to repair the area were the cracks are forming. It's crazy; doing sheet metal repair with carbon composite."

Not only are the Airmen mixing materials, they're mixing skills used.

"Every aspect of what we learn (in training) is put to use on this repair," said Airman First Class Justin Ziwres, 446th MXS. Ziwres is on seasoning training program orders.

Where as before the whole assembly would have to be condemned and we would wait for a new one to be shipped in. It could be weeks. Now, it takes about 24 hours to repair it and the jet mechanics can have their engine back up and running in about 72 hours.