JOIN USAn aircraft’s best friend
They are the men and women behind the machine. The maintenance crew may not be in the spotlight as much as the pilots but it is their job to ensure that all spick and span in their designated aircraft. So what does their work involve? Metrolife finds out.
Squadron Leader Simardeep Kaur is the first woman engineering officer in C1 30J flight. “As an engineering officer, it is my responsibility to keep the aircraft always mission ready. After or before a flight, if there is any technical problem with the aircraft, we are the ones who rectify it, along with our airmen,” she says.
The nature of her work is that she can be called upon for duty anytime and anywhere. “We are on 24/7 standby for any kind of HADR (humanitarian and disaster relief), as well as any kind of national calamity. Any operation which is maintenance-extensive, including landing on dirt strips, needs us so we accompany the helicopter.”
In her seven years of service, she has been part of flood relief operations in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttranchal, Sikkim and even Malé. “Other than that, we also do special operations which include jumping of paratroopers and taking combat loads from one place to another.”
Wing Commander Ashish Sudhir Moghe of the Sarang Helicopter Display team says the crew comprises highly trained pilots,
technicians and support staff. About the challenges on the maintenance side, Ashish says, “Being a display team, the challenge is to have four serviceable aircraft on the tarmac for each display. Our highly trained team of technicians has delivered on this each and every time since I have been flying displays. Diligent planning and flawless execution is required here.”
Jamie Mehm, Staff Sergeant on the C17, has been on the maintenance side of the aircraft for about four years now. “The advantage of working on the maintenance side is that you tend to develop your entire knowledge of the airplane. You become a master troubleshooter for issues and develop the ability to quickly find solutions,” explains Jamie.
About the challenges, he says “There are certain times when we are on really tight missions and fly a lot and are put under a lot of stress where to ensure nothing goes wrong. Everything we do has its own challenges. I can’t single out any one thing.”
Jamie points out that working on the C17 is a learning process with no full stops. “We have a lot of reading material that we have to absorb and use in our job and you learn on the job too. This aircraft is automated, so there are times when it develops certain erroneous errors that you have to understand, decipher and find solutions to,” adds Jamie.
Jamie comes from a strong military background where his whole family has served in the US Armed Forces. Did he always want to get into aircraft maintenance? “I like to work with my hands and enjoy the mechanics that come with it,” he says with a smile.
Fighter Pilot Musa Themba Mbhokota is one of the test pilots for Saab JAS 39 Gripen, a light single-engine aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. Saying that the Gripen is one of the safest aircraft that he has ever flown, Musa adds that it has inbuilt systems that have the capability to detect failure and adjust accordingly. So what happens when there’s an engine failure? Musa answers, “The engine has never failed. We have something called graceful degradation. If a component fails, then the aircraft has a backup system and this prevents wastage of time. It is a step by step way of handling failure.”
He points out that the system is smart enough to tell you what’s wrong. “The modular design and smooth logistic support of this aircraft is built to act without any hitches.”