Local contingency ISO inspections completed

  • Published
  • By Capt. Caroline Wellman
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Airmen from the 445th Maintenance Group here recently completed contingency isochronal inspections on four C-5 Galaxy aircraft.

The inspections, which are required every 420 to 480 days, depending on the program, couldn't be accomplished at the Regional ISO Facilities before the aircraft would become overdue and grounded.

To prevent the loss of mission-capable aircraft, Col. Anna Schulte, the 445th MXG commander, volunteered in June 2009 to accomplish four minor ISO inspections to assist the C-5 enterprise.

Instead of accomplishing the complete ISO inspections here, the 445th MXG completed four contingency ISO inspections under two different sets of inspection criteria.

Airmen began the inspections here in Oct. 2009, with Air Force Reserve Command's approval. The wing was expected to complete the job by Sept. 30, 2010. But the Airmen of the 445th MXG bolted on the final panel of the fourth aircraft in early April. Master Sgt. Steve Rhodes, a traditional Air Force Reserve aero-repair craftsman who was placed on active duty to serve as the ISO dock chief, signed off on the final inspection April 15.

The accomplishment is impressive considering the 445th MXG had to stand up a qualified ISO program, which the group did in less than three months.

"(Getting this done) is pretty good for a unit that's not equipped or manned to accomplish ISOs," said Chief Master Sgt. Aaron Mouser, 445th MXG superintendent.

To stand up a qualified ISO program, the Airmen involved in the ISO inspections had to develop a consolidated tool kit to track the tools they used, put together a stock of commonly-required hardware, set up a training program and accomplish the training, write and implement a tracking program, and develop a project management-type flow chart, Sergeant Rhodes said.

After standing up the ISO program here and completing legacy contingency ISO inspections on two aircraft, 445th Airlift Wing maintainers faced another hurdle: converting the work package to new Maintenance Steering Group, or MSG-3, inspection criteria.

"In the last few years, the Air Force has adopted a different inspection concept," Sergeant Rhodes said. "The original concept which we used until earlier this year was legacy inspection criteria. They changed the inspection concept to something more in line with the commercial airline model, which they call the MSG-3 inspection criteria or concept."

The conversion from the legacy inspection criteria to the MSG-3 inspection criteria required the ISO team to develop new job standards and a new tracking program.

In addition to standing up an inspection program and converting it half-way through the process, the 445th MXG overcame the loss of use of a hangar after the fire suppression system in the facility activated.

Under the watchful eye of Air Mobility Command - Colonel Schulte provided daily progress reports to the command - the 445th Maintenance Group overcame every potential obstacle in completing the contingency ISO inspections.

As a result, one of the wing's own C-5 Galaxy aircraft; two from Memphis Air National Guard Base, Tenn.; and one from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, are mission-capable.