Reserve maintainers keep aircraft flight-ready

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt Leslie Forshaw
  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Every morning as the sun comes up over the Atlantic Ocean, just over a two lane highway from the flight line here at the 920th Rescue Wing, Air Force Reservists are already hard at work on the Wing's aircraft.

Due to the nature of the 920th RQW's combat search and rescue mission, most of the training flights occur at night.

The aircraft maintainers greet the sun while fixing the aircraft after a hard night of flying.
 
"Pre-flight inspections are the core of ensuring any aircraft is prepared to fly safely, " said Chief Master Sgt. Randall Becker, reserve maintenance superintendent.

The reservists make sure everything is flight-ready from the engines, to the rotors on the HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters.

"The helicopter pre-flights must be done every day, especially when the aircraft flew the previous day," said Becker.

Pre-flight maintenance inspections on both the Wing's aircraft, the HC-130P/N tankers and helicopters, are thoroughly completed daily, Becker said.

With the 920th RQW gearing up to deploy to the Horn of Africa later this year, the top priority is getting the Rescue Airmen combat-ready. This will put the maintenance reservists in high gear these next few months, ensuring all aircraft are ready to fly at a moment's notice.

Within the past year, Rescue Wing Airmen have deployed overseas to Afghanistan and Germany providing humanitarian relief and combat rescue. The 920th RQW Airmen have saved more than 3,000 lives since the wing's inception in 1956.

Rescue Airmen are the only members of the DoD specifically organized, trained and equipped to conduct personnel recovery operations in hostile or denied areas as a primary mission.

For more information on the 920th RQW please visit their website, Facebook and Twitter.