The quick just got quicker thanks to AFSO21 efforts

  • Published
  • By Nick Stubbs
  • Thunderbolt staff writer
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  It's called a "quick turn" when 6th Maintenance Group personnel run through a four-hour and 15 minute process of getting a KC-135/R Stratotanker ready for its next flight after landing. It wasn't quick enough.

Employing Air Force Smart Operations 21 principles, it appears the quick turn can be reduced to just three hours, maybe less, said Master Sgt. Greg Kuhn, 6th Maintenance Group Sortie Support Flight chief.

He's heading up efforts to net new efficiencies in aircraft maintenance as part of MacDill's application of the AFSO21 program.

While it goes without saying that time saved is money earned, the quicker quick turn offers a benefit even more valuable - increased mission capacity.

Sergeant Kuhn said the saved time means the same plane used in a morning mission can be turned around for an afternoon mission that in the past would have been handled by a second plane. That frees the second plane for another mission if needed, he said.

While the total amount of time saved will not be known until the study and data collection process is complete around the end of July, it appears the savings will be significant enough to improve MacDill's level of refueling and other air missions notably, said Sergeant Kuhn.

"It's a good amount of savings and allows us to do a lot more," he said, adding that it looks like at least 75 minutes can be gained by streamlining the process of preparing for flights.

Among the significant changes proposed include eliminating the "bird bath," or rinsing with freshwater, that each plane undergoes after landing to remove salt residue due to proximity to Tampa Bay. After carefully studying the regulations, it was realized that the rinse was required once for each plane at the end of its flying period and not every flight.

This means that a plane being used twice during a flying period would only have to be rinsed once. Additional savings were gained by parking planes closer to the runway to cut down on taxi time and to schedule refueling, the most time consuming process of all, 30 minutes before the plane lands.

In addition, not having to preflight a plane going up on a second mission, nets additional savings, Sergeant Kuhn said. Another change involves setting up a wireless local area network along the flightline. That will allow maintainers to fill in electronic forms on site via wireless laptop computers without having to return to the office and their desktop computers.

"Every little bit adds up to more savings said Sergeant Kuhn, adding that "safeing" and "deconfiguring" processes have been combined and streamlined to save even more time.

Once implemented, the changes will give flight schedulers more flexibility and the ability to do more with MacDill's KC-135/R fleet than possible in the past.

The value of the increased capacity would be realized best at times of very high operations tempo, said Sergeant Kuhn. In some scenarios, MacDill's ability to offer more support could mean saved lives and greater overall mission success.

Maj. David Collette, chief of AFSO21 efforts at MacDill, is encouraged by the preliminary success of Sergeant Kuhn and his team.

"It is definitely a force multiplier," he said, adding it also provides more training opportunities for flight crews."

The speeding up of the quick turn process is just one of many examples of efficiencies being discovered as part of the ongoing AFSO21 efforts, said Major Collette.

"This program is moving forward with great successes and folds at MacDill are recognizing that improvement potential is everywhere."

The AFSO21 initiative is a three year project throughout the Air Force. It has 22 months remaining, at which point it is hoped the "continuous improvement culture" becomes ingrained in all servicemembers and among those in leadership, said Major Collette.
To ensure ongoing success, AFSO21 rapid improvement programs must be reviewed every 90 to 120 days, he said.