"Chuting" for Safety

  • Published
  • By Airman Cody H. Ramirez
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo.- --  It's a sunny Tuesday afternoon when you receive an unexpected call. The man on the line informs you an F-16 containing the parachute you personally packed, just went down. Do you trust your work? Are you in fear for the Airmen's lives?

Master Sgt. Timothy Mertes, 509th Operations Support Squadron superintendent of aircrew flight equipment, said he still remembers the call when his parachutes were put to the test.
"Two Airmen were flying out of my base, using my equipment, when the F-16 went down," he said. "Both parachutes were under my name, both worked, and both Airmen walked away unharmed."

Those were the first two lives his equipment saved, but in his career field, saving lives is what's expected.

Approximately 30 Airmen of the 509th OSS AFE maintain safety equipment for 509th Bomb Wing aircraft and run inspections year-round to ensure they stay safe. These Airmen operate out of four shops; two are B-2 bomber dedicated shops, one is a T-38 trainer shop and the final shop, or "main" shop, supports all equipment repairs of the flying squadrons, to include packing of parachute, survival kit and life-preserve units.

"We conduct inspections on all the gear the pilots wear or use during flight and ejection," Sergeant Mertes said.

The in-flight gear these Airmen are responsible for include a helmet for communication, a mask for air and a harness to connect to the parachute. Other items include the parachutes, survival kit and ejection seat as a whole.

Quality assurance sheets are used to assist unit members with preparing the equipment and to instruct trainees on the step-by-step process. Once the trainees finish the job, a supervisor conducts a quality assurance check to ensure the job was completed to perfection.

The parachutes and survival kits involve more detailed work, which in turn includes more inspection criteria. In-process inspections, or checks throughout the packing process, are required for these critical items.

"The parachute has a lot of folding involved and the survival kits must contain specific survival-essential items, so the manuals for these items have stopping points throughout the process," said Tech. Sgt. Clinton Dalton, 509th Operations Group NCO in-charge of quality assurance. "The trainee can't proceed to the following steps until his work is reviewed by a supervisor."

Sergeant Dalton said this maintains necessary high standards, "The in-process inspection enforces their core competencies and work ethics while ensuring they know how to do their job."

Personal evaluations are given on a reoccurring basis to test the trainee's on their job knowledge and skill while continuous training keeps all equipment up-to-date.

"I notify each respected NCOIC an Airman of my choosing and what equipment I designate to be inspected each month" said Sergeant Dalton. "I make sure they are following the step-by-step procedures, ask them technical questions to measure their job knowledge and time them on their performance based on the type of equipment."

Sergeant Dalton said that over time items are going to have problems, whether minor or major, and the QA and IPI inspections are there to prevent pilots from flying with any non-safe equipment."

"That's our testament to the equipment," he said. "If a pilot returns with no problems then we're doing our job right. You never want a crew member to punch-out, but with our fail-safe procedures we ensure their safety in case they do. It's a good feeling when the pilot has a flight complication and returns unharmed thanks to our system."