Crew chiefs keep Wing's A-10s flying

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Bill Huntington
  • 442nd Fighter Wing
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  It was the Greek historian, Herodotus, who in 500 B.C., coined the phrase, "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." He said this in reference to the Persian mounted postal couriers who, without fail, carried out their dangerous tasks during war.

Had Herodotus been on the flight line during A-10 operations he could have easily applied the adage to the crew chiefs and added another laudatory sentence or two.
In every condition, in every climate imaginable - all over the world - crew chiefs can be found plying their trade ensuring Air Force pilots take to the skies in the best prepared aircraft in the world.

It's the crew chief who launches, recovers, services and inspects the aircraft. It's the crew chief who makes sure larger maintenance needs are addressed and, in short, it's the crew chief whose focus is to keep the jet and all of its systems fully mission capable.

"What makes the job unique is the vastness of opportunities to get experience," said Senior Master Sgt. Chuck Samson, now a flight chief and a crew chief with more than 20 years experience on F-4 Phantoms and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs. "I'm talking about the entire spectrum of the aircraft. You get experience in airframes, engines and hydraulics.

"When I was crewing jets, nothing happened on the airplane without me knowing about it," he said. "That's it. You really get to know the airplane because you put your heart and soul into it."

A crew chief's job is to make sure the aircraft is serviced and ready for flight; then launch and recover it to get it ready for the next flight.

Airman 1st Class Samantha Lane, a crew chief with seven-months experience and a student at the University of Central Missouri studying to be a commercial pilot, knew when she enlisted that the experience as a crew chief would be beneficial to her aviation career.

"After asking me what I wanted to do, (my recruiter) said, 'we've got office jobs, we've got munitions ...,'" Airman Lane said. "(I told him) I need to get my hands on the aircraft. I need to get as close to the aircraft as I can and learn more about the systems and how things work."

He told her he had just the ticket ... to be a crew chief ... and after receiving a brief tour before going to basic training she knew it was the right decision for her. Her experiences in technical school, during the follow-on training and working on the flight line have only reinforced that conclusion.

"It has been more than I expected," Airman Lane said. "When you are in tech. school they tell you when you get to your duty assignment you probably won't get to do much hands-on stuff right away, you know you have to work your way up before they'll let you handle the jet. When I got back here everyone was really nice and helpful. They wanted me to get in there, get my hands dirty and learn."

According to Sergeant Samson, learning continues throughout a career.

"To me, a crew chief never stops learning," he said. "If (a crew chief closes) the book on learning then, personally, they are no good to me anymore. I've been on A-10s since 1984 and I still learn something about those airplanes. Never stop learning."

It's a job that takes perseverance, dedication and a willingness to do just about anything to accomplish the mission. According to Sergeant Samson, a crew chief must have a desire and a dedication to aircraft maintenance ... someone who likes working on the airplanes ... who doesn't seek the pat on the back but does it because of personal pride and a sense of purpose. It has to be "a person that doesn't mind getting wet, a person that doesn't mind getting bloodied, dirty or greasy."

The job can be a bit consuming and the aircraft often exhibits a "personality," which forms an emotional attachment for the crew chief.

"I've always called my jets 'she' or 'old girl.'" Sergeant Samson said, "but my A-10 was (aircraft tail number) 123 and I called her 'Luck of the Irish.'
"My F-4 was tail number 161 but we used to call it 'One Dog One' because it was one sorry dog. It was a high-maintenance airplane. I can't really say what we called my A-10 at (RAF) Bentwaters. You'll curse them, you'll want to kick them in the rear end but there is something about them that just makes you want to get up in the morning and give her everything you have. They do take on a personality."

There's visible proof of the dedication of 442nd FW crew chiefs that's most easily seen when the wing deploys, especially with another A-10 unit. To the untrained eye, an A-10 is an A-10 is an A-10. However, when a 442nd A-10 is parked next to another unit's aircraft, the differences in cleanliness, maintenance and pride are striking.

It's something noted, often with disbelief, by their counterparts in other wings.
"I've had pilots (from other units) say, 'wow man, that jet looks like it just came out of the factory.'" Sergeant Samson said. "When I was pro-super over in Afghanistan, their pro-super came up to me and said, 'how come your jets look so much better than ours?

You don't fly them during the week. There's no way you can.' You can really see the difference, the pride."

For the pilot's who fly the 442nd jets (every day of the week incidentally) this translates into trust and confidence. According to Sergeant Samson, among wing crew chiefs it's by design.

"A pilot must have respect for their crew chief and the crew chief must have respect for the pilot," Sergeant Samson said. "The pilot gets in that seat every day and I'm sure that there is an unspoken trust that whoever worked on this airplane ... whoever signed off the preflight ... did it with integrity and thoroughness. I tell these guys, 'Look, the pilot is putting his life in your hands.' When they step up to that airplane they trust that everything is right."