Enhancing productivity of the installation’s work force

Staff Sgt. Craig Seals

Routine flight line maintenance keeps Cannon’s F-16 Fighting Falcon fleet at maximum warfighting capability, but the 27th Equipment Maintenance Squadron’s phase dock keeps that very same fleet on the flight line one or two jets at a time. A phase inspection is an in-depth teardown and close look at the inside and outside of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, accomplished whenever each individual jet has reached a 400 flying-hour increment.

“We really tear into what makes the F-16 tick and get to the bottom of anything that could be fixed. We look at all the guts,” said Master Sgt. Antonio Garcia, 27th EMS phase dock flight chief. Upon completion of 400 flying hours, the jet is assigned to the phase dock where the team begins the de-paneling process to access areas of the jet requiring inspections.

Each career field assigned to the phase dock has its own inspection criteria in the form of technical orders, which tell them where and what to look for.

Electricians may look at wiring harnesses and search for chafed or broken wires, or they may perform an operational check of a system with a previously discovered discrepancy, said Sgt. Garcia, adding that a crew chief might check the engine bay for any broken or loose hardware to replace; it just depends on the career field.

“With

having our own support section that means we have everything we need, from tools to equipment,” Sgt. Garcia said. “We’re pretty self-sufficient here.”

Once the inspection, fixes and follow ups are completed, the team then takes the jet out of the hangar and completes operational tests of all systems affected during the phase to ensure proper functionality, said Sgt. Garcia.

Once all systems are found to be fully functional, the jet is returned to the flight line in a fully mission capable status, ready for its next mission, thanks to the dedicated and meticulous methods of the phase team.