Work Continues to Replace T-38 Levers

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Work Continues to Replace T-38 Levers
October 29, 2008
Air Force Print News|by Bill Orndorff

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah - To meet the challenge of building more than 1,000 aileron actuator levers for T-38 Talon aircraft, workers in the 532nd Commodities Maintenance Squadron's New Manufacturing and Repair Division literally had to start from scratch.

The levers, which control moveable flaps on the T-38's wings, are being machined by the shop from a solid block of aluminum. The five-step process takes about a week from the initial milling to the final delivery to units in the field.

"In cases where there are shortages of airplane parts, customers come to us and we build these parts," said Tom Henrie, shop foreman. "Not only do we build emergency parts, we build a fill-in quantity to keep them going until the contractor is up and running again."

Hill AFB's 309th Maintenance Wing got the initial workload in July, as did manufacturing shops at Tinker AFB, Okla.; Robins AFB, Ga.; Edwards AFB, Calif.; and the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, Calif., to meet the Air Force request for 3,400 levers -- two for each aircraft.

The workload resulted from an April T-38 crash at Columbus AFB, Miss., which killed two pilots and destroyed the airplane. An accident investigation board determined the cause of the mishap was a mechanical failure of the right aileron, which failed in the full down position before takeoff.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/air-force-news/work-continues-to-replace-t38-levers.html