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Ec-130 Squadron Exceeds 10,000 Combat Hours
The squadron's 10,000 hours were accumulated over a period of four years, beginning with their first Operation Enduring Freedom deployment in March 2004 from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. “Our primary mission is to support the ground troops at the (forward operating bases) with communications jamming,” said operations officer Maj. James Bands. “For this aircraft it is extremely difficult (to reach such a milestone). There are only 14 of these aircraft in the Air Force. So it's taken four years of constant flying at about 2-3,000 hours on one aircraft a year, in order to accomplish this.” Many of the Airmen with the 41st EECS have deployed multiple times, as there are only two operational EC-130H squadrons in the Air Force. Capt. Jared Howard is on his fourth Operation Enduring Freedom deployment and has more than 900 combat hours under his belt. “It's all pretty much the same mission. The sorties seem to be getting longer and longer. When we first started off, we were just doing one thing, because everybody didn't know all our capabilities. So now we've told people about our abilities, and they are employing us much more.” While a typical fighter squadron will deploy with about a dozen aircraft, the 41st EECS deploys with only one or two EC-130s. The 41st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit Airmen makes sure that those aircraft are mission ready every day. “The 10,000 flying hours are probably represented by 80,000 maintenance hours,” said Master Sgt. Carla West, the production superintendent. “Having one or two airplanes can be easier because there is less work to do, but it also doesn't allow for much maintenance down-time,” said Staff Sgt. Alex Rosales. “If it breaks we have to fix it. We don't have another plane to fly. It's a little more stressful.” The 41st EECS staff boasts a mission capable rate exceeding many other airframes in US Air Forces Central Command. Senior Master Sgt. Mike Zielinski, the maintenance superintendent, credits this accomplishment to teamwork. “Without everybody pitching in as a team, this mission would not happen. I've been here since June and every week something surprises me. We continue to hit new plateaus. When I think we are not going to be able to fly, we manage to come up with something and are able to fly.” Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Source: community.warplanes.com Skye Lanse is an avid aviation fan who loves to spend her free time reading about aircraft and collecting scale model planes. |
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