Patriot and visting mechanics save time, money with westover C-5 repairs

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Tom Allocco
  • 439th Airlift Wing
Members of the 439th Maintenance Squadron wear on their unit patch the bywords Mission, Excellence, Spirit. The squadron’s structural maintenance shop, with the help of fellow maintainers from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and Tinker AFB, Okla., lived up to that standard recently when they were confronted by a potentially long, costly problem. 

The repair job could have kept a Patriot Wing C-5 in a depot hangar, but the maintainers had a better idea. 

When the maintainers discovered a defective panel in a hard-to-get-at spot under the rudder, no body would have blamed them for sending the aircraft to the depot at Robins AFB, Ga., to make the C-5 mission-ready. 

Instead, said their supervisor, they accepted a challenging maintenance job, rolled up their sleeves and made the Galaxy mission-ready in days, instead of weeks. At the same time, they saved the expense of flying the airplane to the Georgia depot.
“I really believe these people deserve a lot of credit for what they did to turn the aircraft around,” said Senior Master Sgt. Michael F. Dirienzo, chief of 439th MXS structural maintenance. “They are professionals.” 

During a periodic ISO inspection, Patriot Wing maintainers spotted a separation of the outer and inner sheeting of a panel in the extreme end structure of the C-5, the after body below the rudder. The maintainers had the good fortune that the problem appeared while experienced maintenance specialists from Lackland and Tinker were here to help on 60-day temporary duty. 

It took a team effort to turn the airplane around at Westover instead of Georgia. The maintainers worked two shifts and overtime. 

Squadron repair and reclamation shop workers removed the lower rudder to give the structural maintenance crews access to the panel. They pulled the panel, ordered a replacement, and then matched up to the defective one. They drilled holes in sequence with the old panel and installed new fasteners. The panel was sealed and repainted to finish the job before the lower rudder was restored. 

“It was a complex job, and it took everybody working together to make the aircraft mission-ready quickly,” Sergeant Dirienzo said. “There was a lot experience among Lackland and Tinker people, which helped expedite the job. We couldn’t have done what we did without their help.” 

The structural maintenance specialists who did the job were: Master Sgt. Joseph M. Whalen, Tech. Sgts. Ronald J. LeBreton, Daniel O. Sullivan, Robert J. Delano, Christopher Davis and David J. Pelletier of the 439th MXS sheet metal shop; Tech. Sgts. John Enriguez and Gerardo O. Vasquez and Airman 1st Class John Scherwitz of Lackland AFB; and Master Sgt. James E. Longendelpher and Tech. Sgt. Melvin M. Tuggle of Tinker AFB.