Heavy Crew Chiefs

globemaster2112 · 04-03-2006, 19:30

I've read a few posts from the fighter guys, is there any other heavy
maintainers out there besides myself? Just wondering. I'm a C-17 hydraulic mechanic with the only guard C-17 squadron in the Air Force. Look forward to hearing from some of the AMC guys.

habu3 · 04-03-2006, 19:49

I'm not sure I can call myself a heavy crew chief anymore but I started out my career as a B-52G crew chief. They stood down our Bomb Wing after Vietnam so I moved to KC-135Q tankers. After a short while there I transfered into the SR-71 program. Can't really call them heavy though. After that I went on to other career areas.

tyesai · 04-10-2006, 11:05

I started the other thread and realized I never posted anything.
C-130 crew chief, woked Iso for a little, flight line for a little A.R. shop for the bulk of my career and now I am finishing up Instructor duty. 1 more year of it.

globemaster2112 · 04-13-2006, 10:46

tyesai,
Did u get in on any of the training for the iraqi air force 130 guys?
I'm assuming you are a trainer at LRAFB. What model 130's did those guys get?

tyesai · 04-13-2006, 15:01

No, we didn't do any of that. I think that was mostly aircrew training that they did. We do get foreign students occasionally in our FTD, but I don't do any of that.

I am one of the MRA instructors. We get mostly NPS students and a few prior service guys that are going into the Guard or Reserve. I really am a "Tech School" instructor. We do their last little bit of training after they leave Sheppard before they goto their permanant duty station.

I just teach basics, refuel, launch, recovery, tow, ect. I try to show them as much as I can in the 3 weeks I have them but it can be frustrating. Most of my classes I start at the most basic level. Sometimes they mess up opening and closing troop doors, they can't set the brakes, things that I used to take for granted and assumed they knew they are mostly clueless on.

They don't know what accumulators are much less were they are located and what they are supposed to be serviced to, the last class I had on the first day I asked them wich side the utility hydraulic system was on the aircraft and they were about 50/50. Keep in mind they are supposed to be learning this stuff for the last 5 months.

So if any of you C-130 guys get a newb and they tell you that their instructor was TSgt Pierce, I did what I could. A turd is a turd even if it is shiney.

MDLibertarian · 04-20-2007, 12:14

I was a crew chief on C-17s at Charleston AFB from Nov 95 to Feb 99. The bird I was assigned to was 93000601 "Heavy Metal." Our hydraulic guys worked as crew chiefs until a hydraulic job came up, so they got their hands dirtier than most specialists did. The job was rather enjoyable, but I eventually had enough of the B.S. from some of the senior NCOs who seemed more interested in screwing over airmen and making a name for themselves than actually leading...so I retrained and didn't regret it.

What did I regret was never being sent TDY which is what I wanted to do as a maintainer. I eventually decided to go to school since it didn't seem like I was ever going to get sent anywhere and then all of a sudden my flight chief asks me to go to Ramstein AB for three months. He said he was having trouble filling the slots for the TDY and asked me to go, which I jumped at the chance, putting off school for a semester. Well, it got to within five days of the departure date and I still didn't have orders in hand. After speaking to someone at our mobility office it turned out my slot was cancelled and no one, not even the flight chief who asked me to go, told me anything about it or why it happened. That was the proverbial nail in the coffin that made me decide to retrain when the window of opportunity came up under the CAREERS program. I hope you have more luck than I did.

Alpha 4 · 05-25-2007, 23:46

I was a Crew Chief in MAC on C-141A at Norton AFB California, 63rd OMS, 1976 to 1979. Alas, the 141s are gone, MAC is gone, Norton AFB is gone! The 141 was a great plane, easy to maintain with lots of sleeping room.....I was on grave yard shift. Did many, many refuels and early AM launches. I sure miss the smell of JP-4 and hydraulic fluid.
Any other ex-Norton AFB Crew Chiefs out there??????

glockatlanta · 06-17-2007, 19:09

I was a C-5A crew chief/flight mechanic out of Travis (60th OMS). Got out in '77.